James Cameron: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best

2. Aliens (1986)

Following the critical and commercial success of his breakthrough feature The Terminator, James Cameron's next move saw him take over the reins of the Alien franchise. Taking the sequel away from the 'haunted house in space' nature of Ridley Scott's original, Cameron turned the sequel into a sci-fi action spectacular and delivered not only one of the decade's best action movies, but one of the greatest sequels ever made. Despite the undoubted quality of the finished product, the ten month production was a difficult one. Cameron often found himself arguing with the predominantly British crew, who in turn believed that the director was too inexperienced to be working on a project of this scale. Clearly, they were yet to see The Terminator. The crew even walked out on the production after Cameron had fired the director of photography for refusing to follow instructions on how to light a scene. Then there were the problems in successfully operating the 14 foot tall Alien Queen puppet, which required no less than 18 puppeteers and a combination of hydraulics, cables and cranes. It's incredible to think that the movie wasn't even completed until the week of its release! When it finally hit theaters, Aliens was a critical and commercial success and ended up grossing over $130m against an $18m budget. Led by an Academy Award-nominated performance from Sigourney Weaver, the movie is a thrilling blend of action, horror, adventure and sci-fi that almost 30 years later holds up as one of the most accomplished pieces of action filmmaking ever released.