For big-budget, high-octane showmanship, Aliens is hard to beat.

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2010)

The sole survivor (Sigourney Weaver) of the space team in Alien (1979) goes back with a Marine squadron to the mystery planet, and finds some more monsters.
James Cameron took over the directing reins from Ridley Scott for this second film, and Weaver established herself as the series star. This was a vastly different, and more expensive film than its predecessor: with its dialogue-heavy first half setting up the relentless action of the remainder - a fight to the death between the aliens and their human adversaries. It's well-executed and technically brilliant, if not as memorable as Scott's effort. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly named Aliens as the second-best action film of all time, behind Die Hard (1988).