By George & Josh Bate
With the release of Alien: Romulus, now is the perfect time to look back at the 45 year history of the Alien franchise and assess all of its triumphant highs and disappointing lows. Check out our ranking of every Alien movie from worst to best below….
9. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Quite a significant step down from Alien vs. Predator, AvP: Requiem was hindered by poor lighting and editing that makes the film incomprehensible at times. Setting the film on Earth in the modern day offers the film a degree of novelty, but the slog of mindless violence and jumbled plot make it feel uninspired.
8. Alien: Resurrection
Give Alien: Resurrection its credit, propelling the story 200 years forward and featuring a clone of Ripley certainly took the franchise in a different direction. Unfortunately, though, Resurrection is a difficult watch. Sigourney Weaver is characteristically excellent as Ripley, but the narrative risks and downright weird twists and turns this movie takes don’t quite work.
7. Alien vs. Predator
AvP is a far cry from the prestige and refinement of the franchise’s debut film, but there is still plenty to enjoy about this admittedly flawed crossover picture. The acting is iffy (to say the least) and the film is unintentionally funny on a number of occasions, yet there is still something so undeniably enjoyable about AvP. Fundamentally, it gives fans exactly what they’re looking for – a clash between Xenomorphs and Yautja – with scenes that look like they have been taken straight out of a wacky comic book.
6. Alien: Covenant
Covenant is arguably the franchise’s darkest movie. Retreading previous films (in particular Prometheus) far too closely, Covenant nonetheless excels as one of the franchise’s most visually stunning entries. The world-building and philosophical themes become heavy-handed and convoluted, although Michael Fassbender triumphs as one of the franchise’s most disturbing villains.
5. Alien 3
David Fincher’s directorial debut was marred with production and post-production issues, so much so that Fincher itself has admitted he hates the movie. Picking up right where Aliens left off on a strange note that sees Newt from Aliens die off-screen, Alien 3 makes strange decision after strange decision and, as a result, is far worse than the previous two installments. Despite this, some of the risks it takes are admirable, the visuals are solid, Weaver is great (as always), and there are some decent scares and action sprinkled throughout.
4. Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus lacks the ingenuity of Alien, the charm of Aliens, and the philosophical ambitions of Prometheus. Desperately crying out for an ounce of novelty, Romulus stumbles in its similarity to better movies in the franchise. The third act injects a much-needed twist to the proceedings, and there are some well-crafted action sequences and scares, but, at this point in the long-running franchise, Alien requires something more unique.
3. Prometheus
Ridley Scott returned to the franchise that put him on the map when he helmed Prometheus in 2012. And, in doing so, Scott crafted what is most beautifully shot films and arguably the most aesthetically stunning of the Alien franchise. Matters get a little heavy-handed, dense, and overly abstract as Prometheus admirably expands the world-building of Xenomorphs and attempts to explain their origins. Michael Fassbender’s David is a revelation to a franchise that stagnated for so long, while Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green bring an endearing quality to the narrative.
2. Aliens
This list was always going to come down to these two films. And, for some, ranking Aliens as second (and not first) in anything but a chronological listing of the franchise would be considered blasphemous, but that’s what we’ve decided to do here. Aliens swaps its predecessor’s brooding and ominous tone for a lighter, more 80s action movie-type of feeling. That being said, Aliens still packs some terrific scares and, in turn, proves to be the rare excellent blend of sci-fi, horror, and action. With the sequel, James Cameron essentially took the first film, gave the characters guns, and multiplied the number of Xenomorphs by a terrifying result. All of this converges on an ending in which Ripley goes head-to-head with the Alien Queen in what ends up being the franchise’s greatest action sequence. Aliens single-handedly dispels the notion that sequels are always inferior to originals and followed in the footsteps of The Empire Strikes Back in raising the bar yet again for what sequels can achieve.
1. Alien
But, ultimately, Alien takes the top place on our list. Alien features some of the most methodical and purposeful pacing of any film of all time. It is reductionistic to say the film is a slow-burn, as this statement downplays the sheer dread that progressively builds from the very first frame onward. Alien introduced the world to the Xenomorph, which quickly became one of the most iconic movie monsters of all time, and Ripley, a new flavor of protagonist brought to life to perfection by Sigourney Weaver. From the infamous chest-burster scene to the shot of the Xenomorph blending in with the wall of the escape, Alien is filled to the brim with some of the most well-known shots in cinema history. Masterfully crafted from beginning to end, Alien is a triumph in every sense of the word.