It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. Director Fede Alvarez is set to unleash Alien: Romulus on audiences on August 16. You can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be there day one. But that’s not the only good news surrounding the Alien franchise. Showrunner Noah Hawley is getting ready to terrify television audiences next year with a show tentatively called Alien: Earth. The show just wrapped filming and is set to go into post-production soon with a grand total of 8 episodes for the show. Not much is known about the story except that it seems to be set on Earth. Again, as a huge fan of Alien, I’m actually excited for this. The franchise has taken a few hits over the last 30 years. But, I think the franchise is as strong as it has ever been with comics, books, video games like Alien: Isolation, which is one of the scariest games I’ve ever played. But we’re not here to talk about that. Because of the new film and show coming out, I want to rank from best to worst all the movies that have been released thus far. So, let’s shine a light into that dark corner of the universe.
Alien/Aliens
I think most sci-fi fanatics can agree that Ridley Scott’s original Alien is a sci-fi horror classic in every way. What they can also agree on is that James Cameron’s 1986 follow-up, Aliens, is one of the greatest sci-fi action movies ever made. Depending on who you ask which movie is better, you’re going to find a lot of people saying that Alien is the better movie or that Aliens is the better movie, and neither camp would be wrong. For me, personally, I would put these first two movies on equal footing. They’re different kinds of movies, but they are equally compelling featuring, even though the first movie introduced us to the monstrous Xenomorph, one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time. Where the first movie was a haunted house in space, Aliens is essentially a war movie. Both movies are brilliant in their own way, and both deserve to be heralded as some of the greatest examples of their respective genre.
Alien 3
And this movie is where the divisions begin, and rightfully so. Alien 3 is what I would personally call both a missed opportunity and a misunderstood masterpiece. People were pissed because after Aliens, audiences had the expectation that Ripley would form kind of a family unit with Hicks and Newt. Instead, Hicks and Newt were killed off screen, leaving Ripley alone, yet again. She’s trapped on a backwater prison planet with a bunch of convicts. It’s a pretty bleak movie, and people really didn’t like it. The movie also suffered from major studio interference, not letting David Fincher make the movie that he wanted to make. He would end up leaving the project and has no real kind words to say about the movie. From a visual standpoint, it’s a very interesting movie to look at, plus it’s got great performances from everyone involved including Charles Dance and Charles S. Dutton. I’m amazed the movie turned out as well as it did, considering the issues behind the scenes. Personally, I love this movie, especially the extended cut. Believe it or not, I’ve encountered people in my X/Twitter feeds saying that Alien 3 is their personal favorite of the franchise. Who am I to argue?
Alien Vs. Predator
Alien Vs. Predator is the first crossover between the Alien and Predator franchises, obviously. But the idea that these two different species existed in the same universe not only came from the comics, but the film Predator 2, in which Danny Glover’s character discovers a wall of trophies collected by the Predators. One of the skulls was a Xenomorph skull. So you can imagine the excitement from audiences when they saw that little easter egg. It would be about 12 years before the movie would actually get made, but it did. The reception wasn’t that great, but the movie absolutely delivered on its promise of Xenos vs. Predators. It was iconic. For a lot of people, myself included, it wasn’t as gory is it probably needed to be. It couldn’t be because it was PG-13, but ultimately it was a lot of fun. That’s more than I can say for the sequel, which I’ll get to later.
Alien: Covenant
When Ridley Scott decided to revisit the Alien universe, he made Prometheus, which came out in 2012. The initial plan was to create a legitimate Alien prequel that would explain the origin of the Xenomorph. But as happens in Hollywood, scripts change, and while Prometheus would end up taking place in the same universe in Alien, it really wasn’t an Alien movie. It was a different kind of science fiction film that tried to explore the origins of mankind. While I loved the movie, a lot of people didn’t, so Alien: Covenant was made. Again, Covenant is a prequel, but it does explore one potential origin of the Xenomorph. As happens, people didn’t like that, either. This absolutely was an Alien film, but the mystique of the creature was lost. Still, Michael Fassbender’s performance and the brutal and gory violence made this a fun movie to watch.
Alien Resurrection
Of the Sigourney Weaver-led Alien films, THIS is the one that feels completely out of place. The tone is nowhere near as dark or as serious as the original three. In fact, the B-movie feel of this movie is completely off the charts, with over-the-top acting, visual effects and a really bizarre yellow color scheme. To me, this has more of a fan-fiction feel to everything. The story takes place 200 years after Alien 3 and involves cloning Ripley to get the Xenomorph queen. That said, the movie isn’t boring at all, and it moves really quickly. The visual effects and creature design are actually pretty top-notch. While I don’t think Jean-Pierre Jeunet was the right director for the job, he gave us something pretty interesting.
Prometheus
When it was announced that Ridley Scott would be returning to the franchise that put his name on the map, Alien, people got excited. This was the guy that gave us the best sci-fi horror film ever made. But like I said with Alien: Covenant, scripts and ideas change. So, the idea for an Alien prequel became something very different. Instead, Scott wanted to explore the idea of mankind being created by something other than God. The ancient pilot from the original Alien was a bit of a springboard for this movie. While I absolutely loved what Scott was going for with this movie, taking things in a different direction, a lot of people didn’t. The amount of vitriol that Scott received for Prometheus may have led to him to course correct with Covenant. I really wish he didn’t listen to the fans, because what we have here now, is a completely anomaly that really has no place in the greater Alien universe. Unless Romulus explains some of that away, and I don’t think it will, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant will be completely isolated from the rest of the series.
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem
And here we are at the worst Alien film on this list. I’m not going to lie. There’s stuff in this movie that I absolutely love. I honestly love the fact that the movie is so mean-spirited. NOBODY’S safe here, not even kids. The violence and gore are top-notch…when you can see them, and that brings me to the hugest problem this movie’s got: The lighting. I don’t mind that the tone is dark, but the cinematography is dog-shit. You can barely make anything out in the darker scenes. That’s not good film-making. Aside from that, the characters and the writing are atrocious. There’s not a character in this movie that I thought needed to survive. The ONLY reason to watch this movie is for the carnage, provided that you turn up the brightness on your screen. I don’t flat out hate it, but AVP: R is, without a doubt, the worst Alien film in the franchise.
To tell you the God’s honest truth, I don’t think there’s a dreadful film in this franchise, but the quality is all over the place. I can’t say for sure that Alien: Romulus is going to be a great movie, but considering that Fede Alvarez is directing, it could be. Like the Predator franchise, Alien is in desperate need of an adrenaline shot, and I think Romulus is the film that’ll do it. That and next year’s Alien: Earth. Some people think that the franchise has run its course. I don’t think so. Granted, there’s only so much you can do with the Xenomorph that’s fresh and exciting, but depending on who is writing and directing, the possibilities are endless. You’ve got to be creative enough. Anyway, that’s my ranking of the Alien films from best to worst. What do you think? Should certain movies be in another spot, or am I complete nutjob?