Aliens - Special Edition (1986)

Cameron's Aliens (plural because there's more than one xenomorph - it's the law of sequels) occasionally references the cold isolation and horror that helped make the first Alien (1979) film work, but his style is very different to Scott's; it's still reliant on subtleties, but is much more action driven.
The SE reinstates to the theatrical cut 17 minutes of previously excised footage, including important details of Ripley's personal journey, slowing the pace of the first half to even more of a crawl than it was before.
If you're not a fan of the Heinlein-esque colonial marines and their big guns (I'm not), then it's a slow advance to the good stuff; i.e the last half hour. Even though it's action-heavy then too, it stays relevant by having an interesting subtext present, made more poignant by those initially troublesome extra minutes. So in the end it balances out and I feel that the SE is the more developed and enjoyable option for that reason.

3½ real monsters out of 5