Given the task of following upAlien, a lesser director would have simply provided more of the same.
Another ship, and another crew to impregnate, stalk and terrorise by an apparently indestructible alien creature.
The events of the first film, Cameron establishes, had caused Ripley to lose everything.
Her 57-year drift in hypersleep had left her lost in time as well as space.
We see the ant-like hierarchy of the aliens themselves, with soldier aliens protecting the egg-laying queen.
With a quiet nod from the queen, the soldier aliens back away.
As a pure action movie,Aliensis as well constructed and paced as any in Hollywood history.
Then theres Camerons endlessly quotable script and broad, memorable characters.
Wisecracking space marines have since become a cliche of cinema and videogames.
Camerons biggest achievement, however, was in creating a film that dovetails so perfectly with the originalAlien.
Watched back to back,Alienbecomes the first act to Camerons lengthier story.
The Alien Anthology Blu-ray is out now.
Tomorrow, we look back at David Finchers Alien 3.
