I would have to put “Aliens” right up there with Empire for best movie sequel.
The genius of Aliens was that it didn’t try to be “Alien II.” Instead, it took a completely different path. Trying to just extend the original story would have resulted in a flop, because once we saw the alien the mystery and suspense upon which the original film depended was gone. Cameron was smart to realize that and instead make Aliens a full-on action movie that could stand on its own.
Of course, the best thing about Aliens was Bill Paxton’s hilarious one-liners. Who can ever forget, “Game over man!...game over!”, or “Why don’t you put her in charge?”, when Ripley said that Newt had been able to survive for months without any weapons?