It’s a rare thing in Hollywood for a sequel to live up to the standard set by the original film, but there are a select few that have managed to carve out their own identity as great movies in their own right. The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight, Toy Story 2 — and of course, Aliens.

The original 1979 Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, has been praised by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest science fiction films ever made for its eerie atmosphere and practical effects. Its 1986 sequel Aliens, directed by James Cameron, has proven to be equally iconic, providing some of the most memorable scenes, quotes, and characters in sci-fi history. It’s far from controversial to say that Aliens is one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made — but does that necessarily make it a good sequel?

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After all, the change in director between films also came with a major shift in style and tone. The original Alien was a horror movie, centered on the sense of dread that came from watching the Xenomorph hunt down and kill the crew of the Nostromo one by one. Aliens is closer to an action movie. It isn’t about escaping the Xenomorph threat, but facing it head-on. And as such, the sequel diverges greatly from the qualities that made the original film so beloved.

Aliens Queen Xenomorph

For instance, the Xenomorph itself is portrayed very differently between the two films. In Alien, it’s an unstoppable, unknowable being — a perfect hunter, silently and ruthlessly slaying its victims. It’s a threat that inspires absolute fear in the characters and the audience alike, due in no small part to the fact that it can’t be opposed with brute force. Even Dallas, the captain of the Nostromo and the film’s would-be hero, is easily dispatched by the enigmatic alien.

Instead of an epic final battle, the film’s climax consists mostly of Ripley running for her life in fear. She only manages to turn the tables on the Xenomorph at the very end, when she launches it out of the airlock in one of the film’s most well-known scenes. The alien of Alien is one that can’t be defeated through combat — only through cleverness, ingenuity, and resourcefulness is its reign of terror finally brought to an end.

By contrast, Aliens features not one Xenomorph, but an entire army of them, as the title implies. It’s certainly easy to see the logic behind this creative decision — after all, if one alien is scary, then a whole planet filled with them would be even scarier, right? It sure seems like it would be that way, but the threat of the Xenomorphs in Aliens is severely diminished by the sequel’s change in tone. As mentioned before, Alien is a horror movie, while Aliens is an action movie.

A natural consequence of this genre shift is that the Xenomorphs are no longer untouchable killing machines that can only be defeated through wits and quick thinking. With the greater emphasis on action, facing the Xenomorphs head-on suddenly becomes an effective strategy. Far from the relentless monster of the first movie, the aliens of Aliens are little more than cannon fodder, getting mowed down with ease by the Colonial Marines. And while the action of the film is certainly thrilling, it nevertheless becomes a little harder to take the Xenomorph seriously as one of the greatest horror villains ever put to film when you see that its greatest weakness is getting shot by bullets.

However, the lessened threat posed by the  Xenomorphs isn’t the only change that Aliens makes to its titular extraterrestrials. The other change is a more subtle one, to the point that viewers may not even pick up on it at first. Throughout the original Alien, the Xenomorph is portrayed as incredibly alien, for lack of a better word. It’s something truly unlike any life form on Earth — due in no small part to the masterful, grotesque design of artist H.R. Giger, the man behind the monster’s fearsome look, but also because of the alien’s unnatural method of growth. There’s a reason the Chestburster is one of the most famous parts of the movie — the idea of a hostile creature growing inside a human body before violently forcing its way out is nothing short of blood-curdling. One deleted scene even shows the Xenomorph transforming its victims into eggs, making it even more strange and terrifying than in the final cut.

Aliens, on the other hand, goes in a very different direction with its portrayal of the Xenomorph. Instead of building an air of unknowable mystery around the creature, the sequel seems intent on explaining the species in ways the audience can easily understand, even introducing the name Xenomorph to refer to the aliens. Far from the lone hunter that grows inside its victims, the Xenomorphs of the second film are essentially giant evil bugs, following the orders of a single Queen. And while the Queen herself certainly makes for a memorable final boss to the film, her existence both diminishes the threat of the standard Xenomorphs and robs them of some of their mystique.

Ripley in the final battle of Aliens

Aside from its handling of the Xenomorphs, Aliens also diverges from the first film with how it depicts its protagonist, Ellen Ripley. Ripley is, without a doubt, one of the most legendary leading ladies in film history, earning a spot among the ranks of Terminator’s Sarah Connor and the Bride from Kill Bill as one of the toughest action heroines in all of cinema. However, the Ripley seen in Alien is almost unrecognizable as the same character — she’s patient, cautious, and analytical. In any other film, she’d be the stuck-up bureaucrat standing in the way of the heroic captain Dallas. Far from the action icon she’d become, the Ripley of the original movie is just an ordinary woman trapped in extraordinary danger, desperately trying to make it out alive.

Meanwhile, Aliens makes Ripley a much more prominent force in the story, giving her a more proactive role in taking on the Xenomorphs. But as cool as it is watching Ripley fight the aliens head-on, it also takes away from the everywoman characterization she had in the original. The film tries to compensate by giving Ripley a new character arc, focused on her becoming a surrogate mother to Newt. However, this arc loses much of its impact due to the removal of a deleted scene where Ripley learns while she was in hypersleep for 57 years, her daughter died of old age. Unlike its predecessor, Aliens prioritizes high-octane action over human drama.

Of course, none of this means that Aliens is a bad movie, or even a worse movie than Alien. It’s still undeniably an iconic work of sci-fi cinema, with its own distinct style that makes it stand out from the original. But in the process, the sequel deviates drastically from everything that made the original so great in the first place. But no matter which one you prefer, it’s safe to say that both films will be remembered for decades to come as some of the best science fiction movies ever made.

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