10 Movies That Prove The '80s Was The Golden Age Of Action

10. Aliens

Fresh off the success of the Terminator, signing on to direct a sequel to somebody else's movie didn't seem like the logical next step for cinema's latest wunderkind, but the decision to tackle Aliens turned out to be an inspired choice by James Cameron.

Ridley Scott's first installment is one of the greatest entries in both the sci-fi and horror genres, and with some pretty lofty expectations to live up to Cameron was under huge pressure to deliver. And he did, by shying away from the horror aspects of the franchise and crafting Aliens as a guns-blazing action classic.

Full of nail-biting tension, blitzkrieg action, memorable dialogue and a cast of three-dimensional characters led by Sigourney Weaver's Academy Award-nominated performance that cemented Ellen Ripley as a cinematic icon, Aliens is a nonstop edge-of-the-seat thrill ride from start to finish.