[MikelTackNailer]

To clear up 'The Thing' spoken of here...not Biden's "You know - the thing" thing when he can't recall a thing. There's three movies so far. John W. Campbell's story "Who Goes There?" was first filmed in 1951 by Howard Hawkes. "The Thing From Another World" was an allegory to the Red Scare of the time (they were right). John Carpenter's 1982 version "The Thing" remains the gold standard of practical pre-CGI special effects carried by non-stop suspense. 2011's prequel "The Thing"'s flat acting and gross-out CGI was made by people who admired Carpenter's masterpiece while failing to understand what made it one.

Freeper 'dead' mentioned Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which truly has everything great sci-fi should, but it's director James Cameron has a twofer here with "Aliens". These films are good examples of the rare sequel surpassing it's original, though many consider "Alien" the better film. Different genres/different tastes.

"Blade Runner" may well be the greatest. The attention to details, cinematography, costumes, practical effects, set designs, daring lighting choices - all in mere service to the writing and excellent actors who drove it home.

[Seruzawa]

Well, BR was certainly better than Alien3.

[ShadowAce]

These films are good examples of the rare sequel surpassing it's original, though many consider "Alien" the better film. Different genres/different tastes.

I (personally) consider Alien and Aliens to be two different genres of film. Alien is the classic monster-in-a-closet suspense/horror, while Aliens is just pure action flick.

Both awesome in their way, but very different.

I prefer Alien and Alien³ as I like the suspense type of movie .