Alien Movie Rankings
Working their way into our hearts... and then bursting out of our chests
Another quite short list like that done for the Matrix movies, but I wanted to keep this to just the Alien films, which mean the crossovers with the Predators are out. And yes, I know one of these movies doesn't have 'Alien' in the title, but it still very clearly sits in this same world and is a far bigger part of any continuity this franchise has than some others on this list.
6. Alien Resurrection (1997)
This was never going to be anything other than dead last thanks to just how superfluous it feels, with the xenomorphs only present to be a generic threat rather than being as unique as they can be.
5. Alien³ (1992)
I think this is a better film than Covenant, and acts as a nice end to the 'trilogy' of Ripley's story, but - Ripley aside - it feels so disconnected from the four films I've rated above it that it's also quite easy to ignore.
4. Alien: Covenant (2017)
Okay, so the stupidity of some characters in Prometheus becomes a crippling flaw here, but this is still a gorgeous movie, with a brilliant double-performance from Michael Fassbender - and it more concretely acts a bridge between Prometheus and Alien, giving it a greater level of importance too.
3. Prometheus (2012)
Much better than I remembered, while being even prettier than Covenant and Fassbender putting in yet another top performance with Noomi Rapace also giving a star turn. A thoroughly enjoyable fleshing out of the fictional world started with Alien.
2. Alien (1979)
Being honest, there is an absolute chasm between this and Prometheus in terms of quality despite this movie's age - and pretty much the entire cast are excellent at portraying fun, interesting characters in what is essentially a haunted house horror movie in space.
1. Aliens (1986)
It's James Cameron who snatches the crown from Ridley Scott's triumvirate though, with one of the greatest action movies of all time, filled to the brim with brilliant character work too. It just edges out Alien by virtue of looking far, far better - there are only 7 years between the two, but this looks so much better that you'd think the gap was much, much bigger.
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