For sci-fi fans, and especially for fans of the alien franchise and its signature xenomorph, the introduction of another Alien film is a time of excitement and high hopes. Miles Surrey recently wrote a fun piece at The Ringer arguing that Alien is the best franchise in Hollywood.
This is partly because Alien directors have been given lots of freedom to realize their vision. I would add that the franchise is also great because each film, save for the two Alien vs. Predator movies, is a serious attempt to make a great work of science fiction. Before delving into all seven movies I will go ahead and say that Alien: Romulus is well-done and worth watching in theaters. And yes, spoilers ahead.
We can divide this primer into three sections. The original four films, released between 1979 and 1997, all starring Sigourney Weaver. The two Alien vs. Predator movies, released in the 2000s, and generally not considered part of the official Alien canon. Finally, the three most recent films, which include Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise and the newest release, Alien: Romulus.
The Original Four
Alien. Alien is one of the greatest films ever made. The opening sequence slowly panning through the quiet spaceship, the incredible screenplay and naturalistic dialogue, Ridley Scott’s visualization of every set piece and slow building of tension, the incredible cast, the haunting score, the monstrous life cycle of the xenomorph, conceived by the writers and then realized by H.R. Giger. All of these are masterful. And, wow, the scenes—the space jockey, miles of eggs, and metallic architecture of the derelict ship, Dallas in the dark tunnels of the Nostromo, the Ash twist, the escape shuttle. The chestburster! These are landmarks of science fiction.
Everything about the film is influential and iconic. The used future, which we witness only on the Nostromo, is not a glittering utopia but dirty, grimy. The ship and its crew are gritty, industrial, banged up. These are Space Truckers, not scientists or heroic colonial explorers. They express reluctance about descending to an alien planet, concern for money and working conditions, struggle against an opaque and evil company, all set in a dystopian future that some critics consider a radical critique of capitalism.
The cast is amazing—witness the tension between Ash and Ripley, or between mechanical workers Parker and Brett versus the rest of the crew. Consider the tired leadership of Dallas or the inclusion of Jones, the ship’s cat. What else can I say that hasn’t already been said? This is a film of slow, beautiful terror. It is a futuristic dream twisted into an exquisite nightmare.
Aliens. Why is Aliens so great? Simply put, it’s a perfect sequel because it is a distinct movie from the original. Sequels are often inferior for many reasons, including the obvious fact that they frequently have no reason for existing other than profit. But another important point is that most sequels just redo the first movie but with a bigger budget. Aliens, however, is not Alien 2, if by that we mean simply a rehashing of Alien. Director James Cameron, fresh off the first Terminator movie, rightly centers Ripley as the main character. But he takes a sci-fi horror concept and transfers it to a sci-fi action movie. The tagline, “This Time It’s War,” is right. And Cameron, at the height of his powers, executes it perfectly. As with Alien, what can I say that hasn’t already been said? The characters, acting, writing, intense action set pieces, score. It’s all great. The movie has an ebb and flow where it builds up to manic sequences and then draws down again as characters (and the audience) regroup. Watch things rapidly spin out control during the first marine encounter with the xenomorphs.
It is blistering, addictive, exhausting. Cameron said the movie is forty miles of bad road. There are so many amazing characters (Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez, Apone, Bishop, Newt, even brief characters like Frost and Ferro are memorable. You can rattle off a dozen instantly recognizable names). There are so many great lines--game over, man! And don’t forget the queen alien, the Vietnam allusions, the continued role that corporate malfeasance plays, even if the overall critique is less radical than in Alien. Watch this movie!
Alien 3. The movie is obviously flawed and audiences and critics were understandably very disappointed at the time of its release. Why? For one, expectations were sky high after two of the greatest sci-fi films ever made. But it wasn’t just a matter of impossible expectations. The film’s story is not very likable, most of the prisoners, with the exception of Charles S. Dutton’s character, seem like disposable canon fodder, and the movie (spoiler alert) kills off all the key, beloved characters from the previous two films. How’s that for a start? The movie’s bleak, almost nihilistic tone can’t help but drag you down. Yet, with time and the success of David Fincher’s later films, many people (me included) have been willing to revisit Alien 3 and appreciate the things it does well. No, it is not a masterpiece on par with the first two. But it is a film that has some strengths. The atmospherics are genuinely creepy, Sigourney Weaver is wonderful once again as Ripley, the lack of weapons and advanced technology was a nice way for the story to distinguish itself from Aliens, and the four-legged dog (or ox) alien gives another little twist to our favorite monster. As I will keep mentioning, every movie in the franchise brings a few new things for audiences to savor.
Alien: Resurrection. This movie, which features a cloned Ripley two hundred years after Alien 3, is not any better than its predecessor. In fact, it is a bit worse. But with lowered expectations (no one was expecting a masterpiece, just two hours of entertainment) it easily delivered. The cast of characters doesn’t have anyone as memorable as Charles S. Dutton’s Dillon from Alien 3 but probably has a few more decent characters, played by (especially) Ron Perlman and Winona Ryder. The whole pirate crew led by Michael Wincott’s character is reasonably entertaining. What can we say? The movie has some gruesome additions, like the horrifying Ripley clones seen halfway through the movie and the unsettling newborn in the film’s finale. At the same time, the tone of the film flits between somber and camp, with close-ups on smirking actor’s faces and quippy lines from the Joss Whedon script. Add in a bit too much slimy xenomorphs running around on two legs like space velociraptors and you have the weakest of the four original films. That said, it is filled with cool ideas, visuals, and some savvy action sequences (underwater aliens, anyone?) and remains far superior to the next two features. A weird contribution, worth watching.
The two Alien vs Predator Movies
These two films are the only time the franchise has turned to mindless slasher fare. Although even here they can be fun if you like watching xenomorphs run around on screen for two hours.
Alien vs. Predator. After Dark Horse comics and spin-off novels brought the iconic xenomorph and predator together it was only natural that there would be some interest in turning these ideas into cinema. This movie, which involves explorers in an underground arctic pyramid, is no masterwork, but it does have some cool effects. The Alien-Predator fight scenes can be genuinely entertaining, it’s fun to see Lance Henriksen again, and the overall effect is tolerably entertaining. But the film has a PG-13 rating, leading to a lot of euphemistic violence, and there’s only so much that can be said about a silly concept like this.
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Here I differ from the consensus. I actually think this is the better of the two AVP movies. First off, it’s rated R, the only appropriate rating for a series built around gore and body horror. Second, although it is visually too dark, the movie is set on earth (in a Colorado town) and it is a new twist to see police, waiters, high schoolers, and others contend with the creatures. Plus the Predalien is a cool addition. Overall, these movies are, by far, last on any list of Alien films and only of interest to those who love watching xenomorphs wreak havoc on screen (like yours truly).
The Three Latest
The latest three Alien movies mark a return to attempts to make good sci-fi films.
Prometheus. Released in 2012, Prometheus was greeted with huge anticipation. It was the first serious alien movie in 15 years (since Alien: Resurrection in 1997, and that movie wasn’t that serious, as mentioned above). To its credit, Prometheus is filled with ambition, stunning images, and great concepts. At the same time it has some glaring flaws. Is it, then, a flawed masterpiece? Here are some of the obvious flaws that frustrated many fans—the stupid decisions made by key characters, some parts of the script (“I’m a human being. You’re a robot.”), obfuscating elements of the story, abrupt changes in tone. For instance, why didn’t Prometheus tie more directly into the original Alien film? Why introduce the black goo and what, exactly, does it do? Or, say, the tension building up brilliantly and culminating in Elizabeth Shaw’s emergency C-Section, only to be dissipated moments later as she wanders into a room of uninterested crew members and discovers that Weyland is still alive.
Fan reception to Prometheus wasn’t so much mixed as divisive—many people hated it while others saw it as a misunderstood masterpiece. I recognize the truth to both perspectives although I lean more toward the second. I would not, however, go quite so far as to call it a masterpiece. But Ridley Scott is a visual genius and many of the scenes are truly striking. The opening sequence is masterful, not to mention David tinkering with galactic mapping holograms in the engineer ship pilot room, or the gut-wrenching Elizabeth Shaw surgery scene. I can watch Prometheus fully aware of the flaws while loving much of the film. Noomi Rapace is great as Shaw and Michael Fassbender’s David is a wonderful android addition, elaborated on in Covenant.
Alien: Covenant: This movie, released five years after Prometheus, has a number of cool elements while also being stuck between two competing imperatives—Prometheus sequel or Alien prequel? The good: the bloodburster* sequence is nauseating and terrifying as you lurch through the cramped corridors of the lander with a panicking Amy Siemetz (I watched this scene in the front row, yikes!). Michael Fassbender as the dutiful Walter and the menacing David is a delight, so is Danny McBride’s Tennessee. David, indeed, emerges as the most unique character in these two Ridley Scot prequels and one of the best characters in the franchise. He is altogether something new. Not one of the caring androids who protect us, like Walter and Bishop, nor is he an android secretly carrying out the company’s vile directives, as Ash did in the first film. When we meet David in Prometheus he is attempting to fulfill Weyland’s wishes but with considerable discretion. He mostly seems to be acting on his own whims and makes it clear that he doesn’t value his creator’s life. In Covenant we find him as the mad scientist, experimenting with black goo and various xenomorph creations. The fact that he is a fundamentally independent actor, obeying no directives but his own, and an amoral but deeply inquisitive and creative mad scientist, makes him endlessly fascinating. If we ever get a sequel to Covenant most of us agree that David would be its star. Ultimately, Alien: Covenant struggles between being Prometheus 2 and a standalone Alien prequel. There are compelling ideas, and compelling action sequences, but the two never sit quite right together, leading to unsatisfying and abrupt changes in tone and feel.
Alien: Romulus. The latest Alien film, which came out earlier this month, is directed by Uruguayan Fede Álvarez, who previously directed Don’t Breathe and the 2013 Evil Dead reboot, both solid horror films. What’s the deal with Romulus? It is set between Alien and Aliens and more so than the other sequels it is an attempt to capture the raw, gritty feel of the first two films, especially Alien. Although it doesn’t have one singular distinctive piece of body horror like the previous two films, Alien: Romulus is overall very well done. The opening sequence, the practical effects, the grimy settings, the relatively unknown cast, are all strong. The fact that the film takes place almost entirely in spaceships, rather than primarily on alien planets like the previous two films, is a wise choice. And the early stretch of the film set on a colony, in a nod to Aliens, is well-realized and compelling.
What else is there to like? There are plenty of easter eggs and bits of fan service but more than anything it is simply a well-made, entertaining sci-fi horror film. The wild, scrambling facehuggers are terrifying, the first xenomorph emerging is an awesome scene, and the final sequence is scary and unsettling. (Let’s just say I wanted that final creature defeated asap). As I mentioned, the cast is good: Cailee Spaeny makes for a strong lead and David Jonnson plays a scene-stealing android. Indeed, Jonnson’s character, named Andy, provides another example demonstrating how the alien movies are about a number of non-human entities, very much including androids, who frequently turn out to be some of the most interesting and challenging characters.
*Confused about terms like chestburster, bloodburster, queen, dog alien, neomorph, and so on? After nine films there is a considerable taxonomy of xenomorph and xenomorph-adjacent creatures. I won't go into more detail here.