I'm often amazed that people prefer Aliens to the original, I guess it's down to personal taste but in my opinion the first film is far and away the best. It's the way Ripley's whole world just unravels gradually from the get go, the pacing is sublime and it simply doesn't have to rely on tons of action set pieces like the second film does. My assumption is some people find it too slow but everytime I watch it I just marvel at every scene, the effort that went into every detail. The true mark of what an achievement this film was for the time is also how nothing appears dated even now in HD or in 4k, there are countless instances in the second film where it's blatantly obvious scale models have been used and it always bugs me. You have to remember this was made when Christopher Reeve's Superman was about which vfx's look terrible in comparison, blows your mind doesn't it?! Don't get me wrong I enjoy all of the Alien franchise movies, they do gradually worsen in sequence apart from Prometheus which is joint second place for me. I won't go into script or acting, needless to say both are top drawer and feel completely authentic and natural.
A masterpiece! Simple as that.
A masterpiece! Simple as that.