The “Alien” films are considered to be one of the most iconic and influential franchises in film history. It redefined multiple genres and set the stage for many other adaptations with its story and world-building. Many pieces of media have taken inspiration from these films and their own spin on the genre which has added on to the legend of these incredible films. Even though these films are historic in what they have created for the film industry and the advancements in production and technology, not all of these films are perfect and quite a few of them have their own issues and what I’m going to be doing is talking about my personal favorite “Alien” films, specifically with my top three.
The original “Alien” from 1979 was a groundbreaking film at the time because a movie of its caliber was unheard of and was difficult to accomplish due to the technology not being up to par with what the production team and the director, Ridley Scott, had wanted for the movie. A lot of what the team used was practical effects which, for the time, were amazing for what they had to use and the amount of time they had to create the film.
It made the movie feel a lot more real and added a sense of fear for the audience to where they could believe that the creature could exist in their world. I also believe that it has the best story throughout the entire franchise between the characters and the world that they are set in.
The film takes place in the year 2122 where the mining ship known as the Nostromo was on its way back to earth where it was estimated that it would take about 10 months for them to make it back. The seven crew members on the ship Parker, Ripley, Lambert, Brent, Ash, Kane, and Captain Dallas had just finished a successful mining mission with about 20 million tons of raw ore on the ship. But following a call from “The Mother”, they were sent off course to go investigate a living organism on the planet LV-426. This would change the entire course of the film as once they had landed and wandered around the planet.
One of the crew members, Kane, had an alien life form strongly attach to his face while they were exploring on the surface. Once they had gotten back to the ship, they were able to get the organism off of Kane, but once he had woken and began eating at the dining table, an organism known as a “Chestburster” would come out of Kane and ultimately kill him. This then would lead to the crew trying to search for him but eventually, the “Chestburster” grew into what it is known to be, the “Xenomorph”. Once it had fully grown it went on to kill almost all of the crew members except for Ripley. She was able to escape off the Nostromo using an escape pod but the “Xenomorph” had found a way to enter the pod and Ripley had to use a grapple gun in order to push it out the pod and burn through the thrusters.
The film was loved by critics for its phenomenal visuals and cast. It would launch the career of Sigrouney Weaver and allow her to become one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood.
Following the first film, there was a multi-year hiatus from the franchise due to a number of reasons such as the studio having no faith, major lawsuits, etc. But eventually, the film would still come to be made but not by the man who helped originally create the first film. Instead it would be up and coming film director who had started to make a name for himself after his hit film, Terminator, James Cameron would be the one to lead the project and bring the franchise to new heights. Finally after a long production, “Aliens” would be released in July of 1986 and would become a genre defining film such as the first.
Much like the first film, it received critical acclaim for its world-building, characters, and its incredible set design. As for the story of the film, we see Ripley wake up from hyper-sleep after she is rescued by the Weyland Yutani Corp after 57 years. Once she’s recovered from hyper-sleep she is questioned about what she saw on LV-426 and what the alien creature was like, nobody in the room would believe her. Later on in the film, she is asked to go back to LV-426 where a colony known as “Hadley’s Hope” has lost contact with the corporation. Ripley is then assigned to lead a group of soldiers to investigate Hadley’s Hope and find out what happened to the people of the colony. While they were searching the area, they discover that the colony was taken over by the “Xenomorphs” with Ripley eventually discovering later on in the film that a queen had been brought upon the colony. By the end of the film, most of the soldiers were killed by the “Xenomorphs” with Ripley having to fight the queen by herself using a mechanical suit on the ship they came in. She would eventually be able to defeat the queen in a similar way to the first film by launching it out into space.
“Alien: Romulus” is the most recent Alien film following a seven-year hiatus from the previous film, “Alien: Covenant”. The film takes place in between “Alien” and “Aliens” which follows a new protagonist known as Rain. Aboard the ship known as Romulus, Rain and her crew investigate the wreckage of the Nostromo. Once they had found what was left of the ship, they picked up a cocoon that was left in the wreckage of the ship and tried to take it to a research station. Upon opening the cocoon, it is revealed that the original “Xenomorph” from the first film, was still alive and was now on the Romulus with the rest of the crew. Once most of the crew is gone, the remaining members are trying to escape to a planet which is similar to earth known as “Yvaga”. But before they could leave, one of the crew members, Kay (who’s pregnant throughout most of the film), gives birth but it’s not what it was supposed to be. What does come out of her is a Xenomorph/Human hybrid that begins to rapidly grow and becomes as tall as an average “Xenomorph”. Kay is killed because of the birth and Rain and the “Android” Andy, are left to fend off the hybrid known as the “Offspring”. It would eventually be defeated by Rain and Andy as they launch it out into space similarly to how the first 2 films did it.
The film would go on to be praised for its back to basics like story and its new variation of the “Xenomorph” which follows a trend that the previous films have been following since “Aliens” back in 1986.
I ranked these films in the order of how I’ve written them so in the end it goes from “Alien”, “Aliens”, and “Alien: Romulus”. Although these films can be similar in some ways, they all have their differences that allow them to stand on their own from the rest of the franchise and create what I believe to be the best films out of the entire series.
