>>6972458>>6972781James Cameron's Aliens is the best out of all of them. Ripley came through with the aesthetics and mythology behind it, but Cameron made more of a movie out of it. Although, I'd say they aren't really comparable. Aliens is a much better action film, Alien is more of a horror. Cameron's film is an extenuation on the Alien mythology, as is Aliens 3. It's a retelling of a story but with a different narrative.
In all honesty, James Cameron is what kept the Alien franchise alive for so long. If he hadn't followed Alien with Aliens, we may have never had an Alien 3.