24. IN YOUR DREAMS: Heavy on the dream sequence, Jack.

After a 57-year slumber, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is abruptly awakened by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Her dream of alien impregnation and birth is shattered as she finds herself back on LV-426, now a mining colony.

Along with Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) and Colonial Marines Lieutenant Gorman (William Hope), Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn), Bishop (Lance Henriksen), Forst (Ricco Ross), Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein), Drake (Mark Rolston), Spunkmeyer (Daniel Kash), Crowe (Tip Tipping), Wierzbowski (Trevor Steedman), Dietrich (Cynthia Dale Scott), Ferro (Colette Hiller) and Apone (Al Matthews), she investigates what’s left. Despite Ripley’s warnings about the alien, no one listens. Newt (Carrie Hehn), a young girl, is the only survivor, and the bugs soon wipe out most of the Marines.

Ripley takes over and leads the survivors back to their ship. Sure, it’s simple, but it’s thrilling —a large-scale version of the first movie, now with big weapons and plenty of firepower. It’s hilarious that Fox thought a sequel would be a mistake and that the first movie wasn’t successful. I love this sentence: “Using Hollywood accounting methods, Fox had declared Alien a financial loss despite its earnings of over $100 million against a $9–$11 million budget.”

As for the next film, Cameron said, “I thought the decision to eliminate Newt, Hicks, and Bishop was dumb. I thought it was a huge slap in the face to the fans. I think it was a big mistake. Certainly, had we been involved, we would not have done that, because we felt we earned something with the audience for those characters.”

I walked out of the theater in minutes.

Aliens was a movie even more vital to me than the first movie. All of the promise hinted at in that movie is only increased and what emerges is a rollercoaster of a film, one in which quotable lines — “Get away from her, you bitch!” is excellent, but so is “What do you mean “they cut the power”? How could they cut the power, man?! They’re animals!” and ” Game over, man. Game over!” — and significant action moments come together in a way that only the 80s and Cameron could deliver. Sadly, no one was ever able to make this franchise work this hard again (outside of Kenner and Capcom).