1. Alien
2. Aliens

*huge gulf*

3. Alien 3 (Assembly Cut)
4. Alien: Covenant
5. Prometheus

*huge gulf*

6. Alien: Resurection
7. AvP

*huge gulf*

8. AvP: R

Requiem is genuinely one of the worst films I've ever seen.
Matt Zoller Seitz tweeted that he believes Ridley Scott wasn't trying to make a twist out of that, and instead was deriving tension from whether this scene or the next would be when David reveals himself to the crew and screws them over.

It's not a bad way to read it, I think, but it amplifies the cruelty of Daniels discovering the truth. Also, it borders on another dumb character moment: surely I was not the only one who immediately thought "Oh, if only she asked him about the cabin at any other point before she's locked in a cryo-bed"

1. Aliens

1. Aliens- A+
2. Alien- A
3. Alien: Resurrection B+
4. Alien 3- B
5. Alien Vs. Predator C+
6. Prometheus C
7. Alien Vs Predator Requiem C
8. Alien: Covenant- D

Its higher budget can afford better cast and crew and of course effects. But it doesn't mask the fact that its about on league with the mechanics of a later Jason entry. The only thing I find interesting about these films is that Ridley is to the Alien franchise as David is to humanity. He's bored, thinks he's above it, and ultimately wants to destroy it.

With a franchise unfortunately more filled with lows now, this easily hits the lowest. Not only an insult and completely unoriginal cash in of the series, but a complete insult to whatever the hell Prometheus was. What a waste of 5 years and Scott putting the halt on the unofficial Aliens sequel.

I was disappointed with Prometheus, but this was easily worse. For the most part it's basically a retread of Alien with a little bit of Aliens thrown in at the end. It took such a long period of time for anything interesting to happen that by the time shit does hit the fan it lands with a pretty hard thud. The editing is such a mess in this movie that when the Xenomorphs are attacking people you can barely tell what the fuck is going on. Speaking of the Xenomoprhs the CGI on them looked awful in this. Even the AVP films had great, practical Alien effects and now it seems as if we can't even have guys in suits for at least one or two scenes. The only time it actually made sense to use CGI and where it worked was that big action set piece towards the end where it's trying to get in the ship which was the best part of the movie IMO, but other than that they felt so weightless and un scary in this film that it's not even funny. I'll agree with majority that Fassbender is solid here in his dual role as David/Walter even though the sexual overtones between the two androids was weird as fuck, however I can't say I honestly gave a shit about any of the other characters with the exception of Danny McBride and he like many of the people in this movie weren't developed enough.

Also, my ranking of all the Alien films including the AVP films.

1. Alien - 10/10
2. Aliens - 9/10
3. Alien 3 - 7/10
4. Alien Resurrection - 7/10
5. Prometheus - 7/10
6. AVP - 6/10
7. AVP: R - 5/10
8. Alien: Covenant - 4/10

I was enjoying this movie until they connected it back to Prometheus. The characters aren't great, but Covenant atleast gives a reason to care about the main 4. And the quarantine scene was very tense. I like Prometheus alot,and was looking forward to finally get some answers. But alas,the only answer is "David was behind everything muhahahaha". No Noomi, no engineers, just a pair of plot twists that take forevvver to get to.

And while the xenomorph on top of the ship would have been a nice action finale, the second one feels like its only there to have us drop our guard to the real villan. I really wish they had just let the good Fassbender win, a Hollywood happyish ending would have been a fresh way to end this gloomy and doomy franchise.

I was really enjoying the opening act of Alien: Covenant with the story of the colony ship*, before all those Stupid (with a capital 's') humans and aliens show up. Then it spirals down into a tediously predictable alternating cycle of quiet drama and violent outbursts. Ho hum. *C*


(* Hollywood won't make a movie about an interstellar colony ship without a disaster or monster, so I have just taken to piecing my own such movie together in my imagination, using the positive parts of Alien:Covenant and Passengers and Elysium.)

Aliens A+
Alien³ A-
Alien Resurrection A-
Alien B
Prometheus D
Alien: Covenant C

I have seen people online clinging to the idea maybe David destroyed another Engineer-created species or just one Engineer settlement, etc., etc., and I respect the passion, but if we do see another Ridley Scott-directed Alien film (overseas dependent?), I am 99-point-nine-nine-nine-percent certain it will be Engineer free. Scott washed his hands of every non-David Prometheus element with a single flashback.

I always get a kick out of these guys:

Well if he was to half assedly connect the series. A Jockey was still chest bursted in the original Alien. I would think if they created Earth and had a whole planet just for experimentation, there are still more out there.

Can we have a simple space jockey film. Ridley seems afraid to even tackle it. But it's funny watching his interviews explaining how important they are. He like many do not get the "alien" franchise. David overlooking his creation which gets no explanation is what should be iconic is easily cringiest moment in cinema in quite some time, which is impressive for a film that has a few year worsts.

Alien is such a simple concept. Cameron simplified it even more. Whedon almost got there, if he hadn't expected a sequel.

God willing he doesn't get the chance, but if Fox lets Ridley Scott finish his story, we are definitely finding out that David is the Space Jockey from Alien.

Im still waiting for him to finish the story of Prometheus.

That wouldn't work for Alien as the creature is clearly a Jocky. I mean hell all day of this series is based off a single shot. If it was David that would be awful.

Here is what the story should be, and I already hate it, but it plays. The Jockeys are so angry that David, who himself is a creation of a creation of theirs, attacked them. So they not only attack the colony but decide to destroy humanity for making David. But before they get to attack David implanted one with a egg layer. (Such an asshole that he won't accept a Queen)

Add in a Ripken knockofff and blank staring Fassbender which will for some reason gather praise, and poof there's the finale Ridley. That'll be $2 million for story credit

And why it would work, the weapon they've desperately wanted so many times not only was created essentially by them, but was meant to destroy them

Alien: Covenant

I have mixed feelings on this one. I liked its simplicity. It didn't get needlessly bogged down in linking to other films or setting up other ones. It told its story, added a short flashback scene, and it was done. I thought the whole David/Walter dynamic was great, and although the drawn out reveal was obvious from the second the switch happened, I still enjoyed it and David's change into evil voice British villain dude (as opposed to Walter's heroic American). Though when David and Walter heard their inner Bruce Lee, I cringed. But I can forgive that, as Fassbender's dual-performance is awesome (also quick shout out to Guy Pearce - always nice to see him!).

I actually liked what Ridley tried to do with Covenant (though I get the impression that he rushed it for closure's sake). For someone like me, I hate all the geeks trying to make sense of this shit franchise (and I cannot stand the Engineers), so when he pasted over all of that and just made a straight-up redo of Aliens but on a planet instead of in space, I appreciated it. He probably realised the problem with Prometheus, and so he added more of the aliens that made him a household name, and tied things up nicely. The cinematography was, at times, breathtaking, and the use of Wagner's "Entry of the Gods Into Valhalla" was pretty good too (though it is not the piece that I would have chosen).

One of the things didn't work was the alien itself. I mean, I like the designs (new ones included), but once it's on the ship it is disposed of pretty easily. The film (and Waterston in particular) does not earn their sigh of relief. The aliens are also hardly shown. I am not sure if that is just the Chinese censors at work or Ridley, but it was a bit annoying. If it was an attempt to tease and shock like for a horror villain, then it sadly failed. We've seen these aliens before. Nothing is new, and I would've liked to have seen more of them.

Waterston is not a new Weaver. Neither was Rapace. The females in this franchise are getting worse. Danny McBride was a tad annoying. Nobody cares about your fucking ugly wife, sit down and shut it! Anyway, not terrible, not great. I'd much rather watch this again than watch Prometheus or Alien.

C+

My list:

1. Alien Resurrection B+
2. Aliens B+
3. Alien³ B
4. Alien: Covenant C+
5. Prometheus C
6. Alien D

Alien: Covenant was fine blockbuster fare for me, not bad, but lacking creativity or well-paced storytelling to be considered good. I really enjoyed the David introduction, the tie-in to Prometheus and the development of that story line. Unfortunately it feels very rushed and I still wasn't able to grasp the full sense of how everyone connects together. As a whole it feels better than the convoluted Prometheus where I missed any real points being made. Covenant does it better, but as a whole, it still doesn't succeed in escaping average Alien action, of a crew slowly being reduced in traditional fashion. I pretty much enjoyed the film for the first 2/3's and Fassbender is an absolute treat in a double role. It's just unfortunate that it reduces itself with a female lead that didn't connect with me and predictable sequence of events. Otherwise it's generally well cast, Danny McBride brings a certain lightness and Crudup and Bichir deliver good performances. Lastly the film has nice visuals and I was very glad it was in 2D, but it's also frustratingly unsatisfying when all was said and done.

C+

Some other things; the double slipping in blood and the whole act of the blonde frenetic acting in that scene felt off, seemingly only as to find a way to render the lander ineffective. Just as the shower scene being out of place. And Guy Pearce was extremely cool, wished he was in it more and actually make me look for some of his other films to watch.

As for the list; I don't recall all of them enough to be specific, but I could easily group them as:

Good/ Great:
Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurection.

Average:
AVP, AVP: R, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant

If we're including the AvP films:

1. Alien Resurrection B+
2. Alien vs. Predator B+
3. Aliens B+
4. Alien³ B
5. Alien: Covenant C+
6. Prometheus C
7. Alien vs. Predator: Requiem C-
8. Alien D