The Alien franchise has been dormant for quite some time and now it’s back with a new flick set to release soon. Alien Romulus is coming out soon and with this announcement, you might feel like watching some Alien movies once again. So, in this article find out about all the Alien movies ranked from worst to best to make your perfect pick for this weekend!
8. AVPR: Alien vs Predator Requiem
This movie was a direct sequel to Alien Vs Predator released in 2004. I know the timeline is pretty confusing. But we’ve prepared a guide on how to watch Alien movies in order. AVPR once again takes us to the conflict between almost unkillable Aliens and lethal Predators tasked with taking them down. We see a lone predator take on the Aliens and the whole movie revolves solely around their conflict and humans being caught in the crossfire.
This one is by far the worst Aliens movie out there because the plot makes no sense and is in no way connected to the broader plot of the franchise, the movie mostly features straight-up mindless violence and it feels more like a Predator movie rather than being one from the Alien franchise. Overall, if you are looking for a really gory popcorn flick, this might just be it but other than this, it’s just going to be a waste of time.
7. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
Alien Vs Predator is the predecessor to AVPR. However, this movie is somewhat better than the sequel in a few aspects. This movie revolves around discovering a pyramid-like structure buried 2000 feet under ice. A team is sent to inspect the structure but as it turns out, this place is a battleground for a war going on between Aliens and the Predators, and now, the humans are caught in the crossfire fighting for their lives.
As I mentioned earlier, this movie is slightly better than its sequel but not on the storytelling part. This movie pitches the idea of Predators fighting against Xenomorphs which should turn out to be pretty cool but as it turns out, the execution of the movie made this exciting match up, not as exciting as it was supposed to be. The only good thing about this was that the VFX work on this movie was way ahead of its time and there was no illogical or unnecessary bloodshed.
6. Alien: Covenant
Taking place after the events of Prometheus, Alien Covenant takes us to the year 2104 where after the disastrous failure of the Prometheus mission USCSS Covenant, a deep space colonization vessel is sent to colonize a distant planet named Origae-6. However, in the middle of their transit, they come across a transmission in a human voice talking about an Earth-like planet. They can’t help but go check out the planet but as it turns out, they are not alone there, and soon, an exploration mission turns into a fight for survival against bloodthirsty Xenomorphs.
Alien Covenant had the potential to be good, with the stellar cast and some previously laid out groundwork to build upon however, it did not cut. This movie defies basic human logic at multiple points and is barely consistent with what is going on in the story. The only good thing according to me was the peak of how Xenomorphs came into existence but other than that, it does not really have anything strong going on for itself.
5. Alien Resurrection
Alien Resurrection takes the biggest leap in time in the entire Alien franchise. This movie takes place 200 years after the events we witnessed in Alien 3. We see that after Ripley’s death, they create a clone of hers mixed with Xenomorph DNA. Now with the aliens on the loose once again, it’s up to her to take them down.
Alien Resurrection is one movie that had the potential to be good but turned out to be bad. Most of it came out of the production troubles Alien Resurrection ran into leading to the ending of the movie being completely changed with which, writer Joss Whedon was not at all happy. Mixing Xenomorph DNA with Ripley was indeed an interesting concept but at times the movie tends to get overly boring and because of the massive time jump, is not really correlated to its predecessor in the original trilogy. It indeed is a fun watch but from a story point of view, this movie is not quite there.
4. Alien 3
Alien 3 is the final movie of the original alien trilogy and brings us Ripley who has crash-landed on the barren planet Fiorina 161 which serves as a prison and is being hunted by by a Xenomorph while being stranded. This is the movie where the tale of Ripley comes to an end as she sacrifices herself to save the fate of humanity.
Initially, when this movie was released, the response to this movie was not very positive but as time passed people started appreciating this one for the unique and different approach it had towards the usual plot of movies from this franchise. Overall, Alien 3 is a movie you may not enjoy in the beginning but it grows on you and you won’t even realise when that happens.
3. Prometheus
When Prometheus made its debut, the hype for it was through the roof and people went in expecting a lot from the movie. Prometheus takes us to the end of the 21st Century when humankind has started exploring space to find habitable planets and when they do so, lady luck is not in their favor as they run into bloodthirsty aliens.
This movie does a good enough job while bringing together the signature gore and horror the Alien franchise is known for. The screenplay is good with an experienced and stellar star cast. This movie sets the stage for everything we have seen in the original Alien movies and adds a lot of context to the origin of the Xenomorphs. This movie might not be the best Alien movie out there but it certainly lives up to what was expected of it.
2. Aliens
Aliens is the second movie from the original Alien franchise and is much more fast-paced than the first movie. This movie revolves around Ripley and a group of colonial marines teaming up to investigate a colony of humans on a moon because they have been unresponsive for quite some time and we all know why.
The movie in itself is brilliant for its fast-paced storytelling and unparalleled balance of gore, horror, and action. The highlight of this movie is Ripley’s encounter with the Xenomorph Queen which was the pinnacle of VFX for that time period. Overall, Aliens is probably one of the only movies for this franchise that you can rewatch as many times as possible but will still be equally fun to watch.
1. Alien
Alien is the movie that began the ever-running tale of Xenomorphs. This movie even though the first one, was the best movie from the franchise. It revolves around a group of explorers sent into space to seek out Xenomoprhs but one of the Aliens breaches their ship and picks them off one by one while the crew fights for survival.
This movie is a slow burner and while you might think that the movie being slow might be very boring, the reality is actually quite the opposite. Being hunted by just one Alien and the movie being slow-paced makes it truly unpredictable and gives you a taste of how stressful the situation actually is. Alien is a movie you can watch multiple times and it will still be equally compelling and terrifying to watch so yes, Alien, is the best movie in the entire franchise according to me.
