Rank the Alien films
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DACrowe
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For a second I thought this said "Allen films," and I'm like "all 40 of them?! Well, first is Manhattan..." 
Anyway,
Alien (10/10)
Aliens (9.5/10)
Prometheus (7/10)
Alien 3 (5/10)
Alien: Resurrection (4/10)
And a good 0 out of 10 for the AVP movies. Yes, they are that bad.
Anyway,
Alien (10/10)
Aliens (9.5/10)
Prometheus (7/10)
Alien 3 (5/10)
Alien: Resurrection (4/10)
And a good 0 out of 10 for the AVP movies. Yes, they are that bad.
GothamAlleys
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By the way, for any Alien fans out there, I highly recommend the must read websites about the sibject
Strange Shape is a blog which is an absolute study and encyclopedia and myth buster of the series, praised by Obannons wife and Giger himself - http://alienseries.wordpress.com
and from Cameron site, some cool stuff too like plot questions, design comparisons of the first alien creature to the second, how similar the first two actually are in plot/pacing structure and visuals, praises from the first movie filmmakers for the sequel etc - http://www.jamescamerononline.com/Aliens.htm
Strange Shape is a blog which is an absolute study and encyclopedia and myth buster of the series, praised by Obannons wife and Giger himself - http://alienseries.wordpress.com
and from Cameron site, some cool stuff too like plot questions, design comparisons of the first alien creature to the second, how similar the first two actually are in plot/pacing structure and visuals, praises from the first movie filmmakers for the sequel etc - http://www.jamescamerononline.com/Aliens.htm
The Endless
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Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Prometheus
Alien Resurrection
The first will always be my favourite. Ridley Scott as his very best. But Aliens is definitely one of the best sequels ever. Alien 3, the extended cut anyway, is very underrated in my view. Love the visuals, love the atmosphere, love the characters and the themes.
Aliens
Alien 3
Prometheus
Alien Resurrection
The first will always be my favourite. Ridley Scott as his very best. But Aliens is definitely one of the best sequels ever. Alien 3, the extended cut anyway, is very underrated in my view. Love the visuals, love the atmosphere, love the characters and the themes.
The Endless
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Aliens and mindless? What? Aliens is probably the most intelligently written action movie ever made. Great allegory for the Vietnam war. Themes of motherhood with the still to this day best female protagonist ever written.
The thing with Aliens is, people call it this massive action movie. Well, not really. It has what, 3 maybe 4 action set pieces in 2 and a half hours. The strength of the film is the way the tension is built. The set up. For nearly the first hour we don't even see an Alien, but there is a constant sense of impending dread.
The first Alien gets plaudits for atmosphere and tension, rightly so. But Aliens is still incredibly atmospheric and suspenseful. The world building is also some of the best ever. The world they are in is totally believable.
Teelie
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I saw that and a few others and chose to ignore them. Some people will dismiss any movie with moderate levels of action as "mindless" and ignore any points that show a movie can be action-y and still have a story and deeper meaning to it.
Aliens is actually praised for having a story but then thrown under the bus for inspiring a lot of knock-offs that took the action and left the story behind.
Aliens is actually praised for having a story but then thrown under the bus for inspiring a lot of knock-offs that took the action and left the story behind.
GothamAlleys
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Funny how Scott, Obannon, Giger and others praise Aliens but slamm the other sequels, but some fan choose to believe what they want. Despite being my fave movie, Alien 3 is very far removed from the first picture on many levels, from design to story structure, the list is very long and theres a tight unity in the first two. The people who made the first realize that and praise the movie. What can I say, haters gonna hate, its one thing to criticize something for valid point, its another to criticize something for what it isnt. Aliens was actually the only sequels that stayed true to what made Alien good, and those things can be even listed and ARE recognized by the filmmakers of the first
Again, the two links I provided arent some opinions or articles online, theyre just completions of interviews and many aspects of the films. One other link worth mentioning is one on unity of the first two - http://www.jamescamerononline.com/AlienandAliens.htm
from visual style, pacing, buildup and on and on, Alien and Aliens are much more like siblings, then Alien and Alien 3. Alien 3 strays away from both in many ways. The only thing it has in common with first is idea of one alien and no weapons. But as oppose to the first two, absence of the beats would not change the main story, its primarily a dark drama. In A3 for the first time the audience is ahead of the character, the pacing is conventional etc.
Again, the two links I provided arent some opinions or articles online, theyre just completions of interviews and many aspects of the films. One other link worth mentioning is one on unity of the first two - http://www.jamescamerononline.com/AlienandAliens.htm
from visual style, pacing, buildup and on and on, Alien and Aliens are much more like siblings, then Alien and Alien 3. Alien 3 strays away from both in many ways. The only thing it has in common with first is idea of one alien and no weapons. But as oppose to the first two, absence of the beats would not change the main story, its primarily a dark drama. In A3 for the first time the audience is ahead of the character, the pacing is conventional etc.
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UltraSuperGuy
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ALIEN is the best.
Aliens is very good.
Everything else is crap.
Aliens is very good.
Everything else is crap.
DA_Champion
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Isn't that what everybody expected for the space jockey?
That the xenomorphs were bioweapons gone bad?
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If we're including Predator then that goes straight to no.1 for me.
t: Arnie at his best in Predator, Terminator & Commando for laughs. Predator 2 is in the mix with the also rans way behind Aliens & Alien.
The Endless
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Fascist? The movie was anti-fascist and military. These high tech marines with billions of dollars worth of weaponry got their asses kicked by bugs.
It's a clear allegory for the Vietnam War.
I hate to say this, but you didn't "get" Aliens.
The Endless
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Morse, Dillon, 48. Morse is the loud mouthed cockney guy who survives at the end. Dillon the black preacher and leader or the inmates. 48 the disbelieving sycophant who actually sacrifices himself at the end. He had a pretty decent character arc actually.
Lord
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1. Aliens: The peak of the series and the point it will never be able to reach again unless Cameron comes back, it was a huge risk to turn a horror film into action, but in this case, it did wonders.
2. Alien: Can be a little too slow for many, but it's still a brilliant film.
3. Alien 3: The first time i watched it, i hated how the surviving characters from the previous film were offed like that, as it is, it's still really good, this was a very depressing way to close Ripley's saga, but it still did make sence.
4. Prometheus: Could have been better, sure, still not a bad movie, and if there's a film that needs an expanded version, it's this one since so many of the plot holes or problems are explained in the deleted scenes. They should have also went with the original idea of the mutation making people look more like Xenomorphs than zombies. I think comicbookgirl gives a great insight on that, i recomment anyone to watch her video.
This is the line that separates the decent Alien films from the bad, from here on are the ones i'm honestly very disapointed and that i don't think are worthy of being part of the film series.
5. Alien Ressurrection: I think that every single aspect is off in this movie, the mood, the characters, the dialogue, the tone, etc. I don't just blame the Director, i actualy blame the script more, Joss Whedon likes to put faults in everything but his scripts by saying the Direction was wrong, but from his work i don't think it would have been any less hollow if it was done the way he wanted it to be.
6. Alien vs Predator: The comics and games have shown that the idea actually has potential, the film gave the oposite impression.
7. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem - There is nothing good in this movie, you can't even see a thing of what's going on.
2. Alien: Can be a little too slow for many, but it's still a brilliant film.
3. Alien 3: The first time i watched it, i hated how the surviving characters from the previous film were offed like that, as it is, it's still really good, this was a very depressing way to close Ripley's saga, but it still did make sence.
4. Prometheus: Could have been better, sure, still not a bad movie, and if there's a film that needs an expanded version, it's this one since so many of the plot holes or problems are explained in the deleted scenes. They should have also went with the original idea of the mutation making people look more like Xenomorphs than zombies. I think comicbookgirl gives a great insight on that, i recomment anyone to watch her video.
This is the line that separates the decent Alien films from the bad, from here on are the ones i'm honestly very disapointed and that i don't think are worthy of being part of the film series.
5. Alien Ressurrection: I think that every single aspect is off in this movie, the mood, the characters, the dialogue, the tone, etc. I don't just blame the Director, i actualy blame the script more, Joss Whedon likes to put faults in everything but his scripts by saying the Direction was wrong, but from his work i don't think it would have been any less hollow if it was done the way he wanted it to be.
6. Alien vs Predator: The comics and games have shown that the idea actually has potential, the film gave the oposite impression.
7. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem - There is nothing good in this movie, you can't even see a thing of what's going on.
Lord
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I can only think up of Ash and Bishop, all the other characters had forgetable names, i expecially found the marines from Aliens very interchangeable.
The Endless
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Even Hicks, Hudson and Vasquez? Really?
Teelie
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A lot of those posts quoted are from more than 2 years ago.
Add to Aliens: Gorman, the one who had no combat experience and froze during the important "get the hell out" moment. Sergeant Apone, who Vasquez and Hudson were ready to go back into the hive to get. The rest like Dietrich, Frost, etc. were pretty much cannon fodder and still had at least a minor bit of character development. They all had names, custom armor and gear, they weren't completely interchangable (although this is also true of reality where you need at least a basic understand of various jobs).
The prisoners in Alien 3 are all variations on the usual murderers, rapists, sociopathic personality types with only a few that stand out from the rest (add the doctor Clemmons to the list).
That movie was a trainwreck though and even with the Assembly Cut (the "Director's Cut") there is more left to be fixed. That at least helped flesh out some of the other characters a little more and give more detail to the story.
Add to Aliens: Gorman, the one who had no combat experience and froze during the important "get the hell out" moment. Sergeant Apone, who Vasquez and Hudson were ready to go back into the hive to get. The rest like Dietrich, Frost, etc. were pretty much cannon fodder and still had at least a minor bit of character development. They all had names, custom armor and gear, they weren't completely interchangable (although this is also true of reality where you need at least a basic understand of various jobs).
The prisoners in Alien 3 are all variations on the usual murderers, rapists, sociopathic personality types with only a few that stand out from the rest (add the doctor Clemmons to the list).
That movie was a trainwreck though and even with the Assembly Cut (the "Director's Cut") there is more left to be fixed. That at least helped flesh out some of the other characters a little more and give more detail to the story.
regwec
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That they were really human? No: the Jockey in Alien is about five times the size of the Space Marine types in Prometheus, and have remarkably long, simian-like arms. There is also the fact that the skeleton in Alien looks like a skeleton, and not mush like a mechanical suit at all.
Fan fic alert: my favoured solution would be for Alien's Jockey to belong to an existing race that has some kind of symbiotic relationship with the Space Marines in Prometheus. Not great, but the best I can do.
DorkyFresh
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Aliens is my favorite because it has everything. It's a smart action/horror movie with lots of suspense, heavy drama, and the majority of the ground breaking effects hold up even to this day. On top of that, it's probably one of the top 3 sequels in all of Hollywood franchises and it's the one Alien movie that I can rewatch countless times.
Alien is my second favorite, obviously because it's a classic but also because everything was done so well. It's a bit slow, but it's a straight up horror movie in space and doesn't pretend to be anything else. It is only second because it's not as rewatchable as Aliens.
Prometheus is my third favorite because it's a solid and wondrous flick despite it's obvious flaws. It takes one of my favorite concepts, the ancient astronaut theory, and applies it to the franchise. On top of that, it's simply visually stimulating!
Alien 3 is my fourth favorite because it's a good suspense/thriller despite being plagued with production problems that lead to a sub par Alien film. It's bad in the sense because it crapped on Cameron's ending, a lot of effects were obvious and it tried to end the series in an unsatisfactory way. It's good because the concept of planet prison is interesting, it had some really well done scenes, and the design of the Alien creature is my favorite of the whole franchise.
Alien Resurrection is last because aside from the Alien designs, it barely feels like an Alien film. The only thing that remotely feels like an Alien movie is the underwater sequence. Too much humor, too much color, and that god awful hybrid design! In Alien 3 I remember thinking "I guess this must be the end of the franchise" when I saw Ripley fall into the inferno. However, I remember halfway through Alien Resurrection I thought to myself "no, THIS is the end of the franchise".
Alien is my second favorite, obviously because it's a classic but also because everything was done so well. It's a bit slow, but it's a straight up horror movie in space and doesn't pretend to be anything else. It is only second because it's not as rewatchable as Aliens.
Prometheus is my third favorite because it's a solid and wondrous flick despite it's obvious flaws. It takes one of my favorite concepts, the ancient astronaut theory, and applies it to the franchise. On top of that, it's simply visually stimulating!
Alien 3 is my fourth favorite because it's a good suspense/thriller despite being plagued with production problems that lead to a sub par Alien film. It's bad in the sense because it crapped on Cameron's ending, a lot of effects were obvious and it tried to end the series in an unsatisfactory way. It's good because the concept of planet prison is interesting, it had some really well done scenes, and the design of the Alien creature is my favorite of the whole franchise.
Alien Resurrection is last because aside from the Alien designs, it barely feels like an Alien film. The only thing that remotely feels like an Alien movie is the underwater sequence. Too much humor, too much color, and that god awful hybrid design! In Alien 3 I remember thinking "I guess this must be the end of the franchise" when I saw Ripley fall into the inferno. However, I remember halfway through Alien Resurrection I thought to myself "no, THIS is the end of the franchise".
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The good.
1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
The not good.
4. Alien 3 - Bad, but watchable
5. Alien Resurrection - Absolutely terrible, it feels like a direct to DVD or syfy channel movie.
6. AVP/AVPR - Can you even call these part of the Alien franchise? They were made by FOX just to milk 2 of their dead franchises for a little more $$
1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
The not good.
4. Alien 3 - Bad, but watchable
5. Alien Resurrection - Absolutely terrible, it feels like a direct to DVD or syfy channel movie.
6. AVP/AVPR - Can you even call these part of the Alien franchise? They were made by FOX just to milk 2 of their dead franchises for a little more $$
DA_Champion
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I think that Alien Resurrection goes off the deep end in its third act. The initial setup is a cool concept -- cloning experiment on an isolated spaceship in the future. It makes sense.
However, the part about the human reproductive system, and the beige baby alien at the end that sees Ripley as its mother ... all of that is just gross.
However, the part about the human reproductive system, and the beige baby alien at the end that sees Ripley as its mother ... all of that is just gross.
