# Aliens (1986)

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Aliens (1986) and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Praised as a sci-fi action masterpiece with iconic set pieces. Caveat: excessive noise reduction erases image texture.

## Why people recommend it

- Acclaimed as a sci-fi masterpiece (2 comments): "Alien and Aliens were masterpieces" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46056973)) "Alien and Aliens were good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49497448))
- Better written than later franchise films (2 comments): "it's inarguable that Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, and Terminator 2 are all better written than the Avatar films" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50263447)) "nothing as solid as those" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062611))
- Influential template for action sci-fi (2 comments): "Doom and Quake films are begging to just be reskinned Aliens" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49467937)) "he just changed the genre from horror to action" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46053835))
- Iconic action set pieces (2 comments): "I believe the movie Aliens (1986) has one of the best movie uses of auto turrets." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606565)) "he just changed the genre from horror to action" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46053835))

## What people warn about

- Excessive noise reduction flattens image texture (1 comments): "the excessive noise reduction sucks all the texture out of the image" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49887449))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Blade Runner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/blade-runner.md): 54 recommend
- [Colossus: The Forbin Project](https://hackerapproved.com/p/colossus-the-forbin-project.md): 35 recommend
- [Jurassic Park (1993 film)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jurassic-park.md): 32 recommend
- [The Fifth Element](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fifth-element.md): 24 recommend
- [Terminator 2: Judgment Day](https://hackerapproved.com/p/terminator-2-judgment-day.md): 21 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Aliens (1986)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/aliens/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).