Is Alien better than Aliens? Every Xenomorph movie ranked

❘ Published: 2024-08-14T16:16:06

Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Aliens.

Disney

With Alien: Romulus’ release, there’s a great excuse to dig through Weyland Corp’s files and rank all the Alien movies. Our to-do list: devise an improvised flamethrower, destroy fields of Ovomorphs, and kneel at Sigourney Weaver’s feet.

2024’s Alien: Romulus marks the ninth entry in the series, with director Fede Álverez reviving the horror movies for a new decade and putting his own breathless, bloody spin on the fight against Xenomorphs.

The Alien franchise features some of the best sci-fi movies ever, as well as infamous, adventurous flops with cult followings. It’s only right that a couple of the greatest films of all time be accompanied by absolute schlock.

From straight-up masterpieces to divisive world-building sequels that spit on them, this list has more twists than an excursion to LV-426. We’ve excluded Predator 2… because skull cameos don’t count.

8. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Cast: Steven Pasquale as Dallas Howard, Reiko Aylesworth as Kelly O’Brien, John Ortiz as Sheriff Eddie Morales

What it’s about: Set after Alien vs. Predator, the Predalien (a hybrid of Alien and Predator) crash-lands in a small Colorado town. As the deadly creature begins to reproduce, a lone Predator arrives to clean up the mess. The townspeople must band together to survive as the two deadly extraterrestrial species wage war, with the town becoming a battleground.

What we think: AvP was received terribly but made enough money to justify a sequel, sadly. ‘Requiem’, in essence, means remembrance. A poor title, given how unmemorable AvP 2 is.

It goes further with the violence than its predecessor, and with that came confusing editing, incoherent visuals (even cinema-screening reviews from the time mention incredibly dark lighting), and a total lack of narrative creativity.

This is a B-movie. If you like those and are a completionist, give it a spin. Otherwise, feel relieved by the fact these films are no longer considered canon to the main timeline.

7. Alien vs. Predator (2004)

Cast: Sanaa Lathan as Alexa “Lex” Woods, Raoul Bova as Sebastian de Rosa, Lance Henriksen as Charles Bishop Weyland

What it’s about: A team of archaeologists and explorers, led by industrialist Charles Bishop Weyland, discover an ancient pyramid buried beneath the Antarctic. They find that it serves as a battleground for two deadly extraterrestrial species: the Predators and the Aliens (gasp!).

What we think: Once upon a time, Paul W. S. Anderson was the go-to guy for extremely 2000s sci-fi. His Resident Evil movies have more ups and downs than most rollercoasters, but are an entertaining bunch with a video game feel.

Unfortunately, Alien vs. Predator has no such saving grace. Fine for a teenage sleepover party, and nothing more.

The cardboard cutout characters, ineffective gore, and forced tie-in to the Predator films create a cheap, corporate product. It looked like a good bet to suits in a boardroom, but some ideas should stay on paper.

It’s not without merit – the core concept of these two iconic species battling it out is cool – but it’s too poorly executed to stand alongside the much better films in this list.

6. Alien 3 (1992)

Cast: Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Charles S. Dutton as Dillon, Charles Dance as Clemens

What it’s about: After the events of Aliens, Ellen Ripley crash-lands on Fiorina 161, a maximum-security prison planet populated by male inmates. The only survivor, Ripley discovers that an Alien was aboard the ship and is now on the loose within the prison.

What we think: Alien 3 is the cult film of the franchise. Ignored or downright disliked by many, but held in high regard by a growing group of fans. That makes sense, given David Fincher’s isolated and thematically heavy entry makes a lot of the franchise’s subtext literal.

Gender politics and bodily violation (Facehuggers and their incubation were conceived by H. R. Giger to be phallic in design) run through the series from beginning to end. Ripley waking up in a penal colony housing only male inmates brought it to the surface.

The inmates are being manipulated by a ‘spiritual leader’, and are believed in-universe to be genetically predisposed to violence. The threat of a rogue Xenomorph is as tense as the implications of Ripley being the only woman the colony has seen in years.

Big ideas are there, but Alien 3 commits an unforgivable sin: it’s a bit boring. Additionally, the hard-fought development and win at the end of Aliens is completely tossed aside. It doesn’t feel appropriately bleak; it feels like a waste.

5. Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Cast: Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Winona Ryder as Annalee Call, Ron Perlman as Johner

What it’s about: Two hundred years after Ripley’s death, scientists on the spaceship USM Auriga clone her in an attempt to extract the Alien Queen from her body. However, the experiment results in a hybrid version of Ripley with enhanced abilities. As the Aliens inevitably break free, Ripley teams up with a group of mercenaries to stop the creatures.

What we think: If Alien 3 is the emo cousin of the family, Resurrection is the black sheep that doesn’t get invited to Thanksgiving dinner. It’s so absurd that many fans invalidate its canon; Resurrection is Alien at its most expressive and silly.

Is it good? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But it is the kind of movie you enjoy while wine-drunk with a friend. While Fincher’s dreary production resulted in a threequel that took itself too seriously, Resurrection is what happens when you hand your IP over to a French director known for low-budget art house.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet could not speak fluent English while filming, requiring a translator on set. But what good are words in the face of a half-Ripley-half-Xenomorph baby anyway? Some things transcend language.

Resurrection is not good enough for a cultural reappraisal where it gets its flowers, but tag it in if the bleakness of the rest of the franchise has got you down and you want something weird.

4. Prometheus (2012)

Cast: Noomi Rapace as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, Michael Fassbender as David, Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers

What it’s about: A team of scientists, led by Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, embark on a journey aboard the Prometheus to a distant moon after discovering clues about humanity’s origins. They hope to find answers from an advanced alien race known as the Engineers. However, what they discover is far more dangerous than they could have ever imagined.

What we think: Alien has always been gloomy, given the nearly impossible-to-kill nature of the Xenomorph and the human hubris that usually results in one boarding a ship and murdering all its crew. However, when Scott returned to his creation after decades away from it, a new cynicism crept in.

It’s funny that Prometheus observes explorers and scientists seeking their creators, expecting to be embraced by them due to the strides humanity has made, only to find that their creator hates them.

You could almost make the argument (it may not be convincing, but it’s amusing) of Scott’s spiteful attitude towards its characters and the glee he takes in decimating their self-importance as him reaffirming the elegant simplicity and humble beginnings of his 1979 original.

Prometheus is a prequel, vaguely outlining humanity’s birth in the cosmos and the sparks of Xenomoprhs, but its people and androids only think of the future. They’re punished for it in stomach-churning ways. The refined, stark cinematography and graceful music smother ugliness and cold tragedy in vapid beauty.

The circle of life is an important part of the Alien franchise’s pathos, but Prometheus stomps out any sense of wonder it holds. The need for knowledge is framed as a dangerous addiction that pushes us past our limits. We can’t help but desire to know our place in the stars, even if we learn it’s in the dirt.

3. Alien: Covenant (2017)

Cast: Michael Fassbender as David/Walter, Katherine Waterston as Daniels, Billy Crudup as Oram

What it’s about: The colony ship Covenant is bound for a remote planet when the crew receives a distress signal. Upon investigation, they discover a seemingly perfect planet for colonization. They soon encounter the android David, a survivor of the Prometheus expedition, and realize the planet harbors a deadly threat.

What we think: Though it takes place before Covenant, Prometheus feels like the older sibling. Covenant has all the latter’s mean-old-man traits with little of its mature, heady dialogue and existentialism.

Covenant is a near-50-50 blend of what Scott was attempting with Prometheus and the original classic horror.

Katherine Waterson’s Daniels’ character arc is one of the few beacons of tenderness within Covenant’s cold exterior. The film’s idea that intense grief is as much of a fight for survival as a 1v1 against a Xenomorph prevents it from being overly callous.

Still, watching it feed characters – who are much less arrogant than Promethues’ – to aliens, you can’t help but sense an odd blend of pessimism and empathy for human suffering. Its body horror is especially pointed, as crew members watch lovers and friends be ripped apart from behind shower curtains, windows, and doors. There’s a helplessness that runs deep and is difficult to tolerate.

Interestingly, Daniels’ boyfriend, who dies at the start of the film, is remembered in video diaries where he’s seen climbing a mountain, happy and alive. Scott has publicly discussed the death of his brother, Tony Scott, in recent years, mentioning that mountain climbing was the joy of his life.

Covenant is as close as the franchise gets to a slasher flick, but has just enough scope and touchstones to keep it from being just nasty. It’s mean, but not without exception.

2. Alien (1979)

Cast: Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Tom Skerritt as Dallas, John Hurt as Kane

What it’s about: The crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo is awakened from cryo-sleep to investigate a distress signal. While exploring the signal’s origin, they discover a derelict alien ship and a strange organism that attaches itself to one of the crew members. Back on their ship, the organism gives birth to a deadly alien creature that begins hunting them down. Ripley, the ship’s warrant officer, must find a way to outwit and destroy the creature before it kills them all.

What we think: From Giger’s bio-mechanical designs to its use of the terrifying unknown, Alien’s craftsmanship has made it age like fine wine.

Scott’s film is a small-scale extinction event – the ‘perfect organism’ is a meteor over the heads of the naive crew. They face an enemy that’s larger, crueler, and more developed. It hides in the shadows of the Nostromo, its body at one with the inky blacks and ribbed tubing snaking through halls.

Alien’s strength lies in how the Xenomorph is a singular entity, as opposed to the hordes in later films. It’s perfectly engineered, yet the product of unstoppable natural evolution. The crew is reduced to caveman tactics, fighting an apex predator off with fire.

The commentary on expendable workforces and acceptable losses isn’t loud, but it’s there. We can argue about whether the Xenomorph represents the universe’s indifference or cruelty, but you can apply the same thinking to the corporation that allows its laborers to fight for their lives in barren space while censoring information.

The alien is efficient because it’s not colored by “conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.” The Company employs the same philosophy.

Enter Ripley, who is clinical only when she needs to be. During the third act’s fire and panic, she still believes it necessary to rescue her cat.

Choosing between Alien and Aliens levels the stress of picking between your two favorite, but wildly different, ice cream flavors. At this point, just double-scoop me.

1. Aliens (1986)

Cast: Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Michael Biehn as Corporal Hicks, Lance Henriksen as Bishop

What it’s about: Ellen Ripley is revived after being in stasis for 57 years. She learns that the planet where her crew first encountered the Alien has been colonized. When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley reluctantly agrees to accompany marines on a rescue mission. The marines discover the colonists have been wiped out, and find themselves in a desperate battle for survival.

What we think: Aliens should have been a disaster. It abandoned the straight horror tone of the original for action movie thrills. ‘Less is more’ is not a phrase James Cameron is familiar with.

We know it was a troubled production thanks to an insightful episode of Netflix’s The Movies That Made Us. Cameron was at his most tyrannical, according to the British crew who disrupted filming to argue for their right to tea breaks. Aliens is a masterpiece despite this. Pressure destroys projects, or makes diamonds.

Its practical effects, miniatures, and tactile production design elevate it, but the real foundation of the sequel is Ripley.

Her character development cemented her as an action hero, with the famous express elevator to Hell set piece earning her a place in pop culture iconography. Ripley was fiercely intelligent in Alien, but in Aliens it’s her resilience that makes the the third act a white-knuckled unforgettable showdown against the Xenomorph queen.

It’s not that Alien didn’t tend to her; it’s just that Aliens places all bets on the audience rallying behind her to amazing effect. If movies can be miracles, this is one!

For more, check out the Alien Romulus timeline, why Sigourney Weaver isn’t in Alien Romulus, and Alien Romulus age rating. Or, read more about the Alien Romulus and Isolation connection.