Aliens anses af mange som værende ikke bare en af de bedste action-film nogensinde, men også en af de bedste efterfølgere. Det er til trods for at James Cameron gik i en helt anden retning, og droppede Ridley Scotts intense, klaustrofobiske horror-struktur til fordel for noget lidt bredere.
Selvom at begge film er legendariske, så afslører Ridley Scott nu her mange, mange år efter, at han faktisk blev rigtig vred over retningen. I et interview med Deadline siger han dette:
"Well, Jim is about that, the way he designs, his whole process is The Ride. As I learned somebody else was doing this, I actually had been trying to develop something. When Jim called me up and said, listen ... he was very nice but he said, this is tough, your beast is so unique. It's hard to make him as frightening again, now familiar ground. So he said, I'm going in a more action, army kind of way. I said, okay. And that's the first time I actually thought, welcome to Hollywood. Jim and I talk often. We're not exactly friends, but we do talk and he's a great guy. I was pissed. I wouldn't tell that to Jim, but I think I was hurt. I knew I'd done something very special, a one-off really. I was hurt, deeply hurt, actually because at that moment, I think I was damaged goods because I was trying to recover from Blade Runner."
Scott har desuden været åben omkring en depression, der kom sig af at produktionen af Blade Runner var særligt besværlig. Måske har det noget med sagen at gøre?