I was watching this again the other day and it holds up so well. I remember the nerve-shredding tension the first time I watched it, the countless classic quotable lines and the awesome characters. It also did kickass female characters before it was cool. I got chills the first I watched Ellen Ripley gearing up and descending into a literal hellscape of fire and xenomorphs to try and save Newt. She's nervous, she's anxious but once the elevator door opens she's all business.
Hell, even the dropship pilot Corporal Ferro who has about 5 minutes of screentime tries to draw down on a xeno and kill it rather than screaming or panicking.
Shower thought - Ferro was played by Colette Hiller. Will Smith's character in Independence day was a pilot called Stephen Hiller. I always wondered if that was a nod to Corporal Ferro's actress. I always think of the scene where he punches the alien as Ferro's Revenge.