Aliens vs Predator: Requiem

Rating ***/*****, or 6/10

Second attempt at an epic battle between the two species of space monsters at least caters to the fans: this movie is rated R, and rightly so. Due to the sudden appearance of a vicious Xenomorph/Predator hybrid – the silly named 'Predalien' – a Predator spaceship crashlands in a rural American area, where there are plenty of humans to kill off in increasingly disturbing and gory ways. Soon the survivors fight to leave their overrun town alive, while a lone Predator seeks a way to cover the whole incident up and kill as many aliens as possible. The Predalien however, turns out to be a formidable opponent for both humans and Predator alike. The overall story is largely nonexistent and the cast list consists solely of no-names good only for getting brutally slaughtered, but the movie never pretends to be anything other than hardcore Alien and Predator action, and delivers in that regard, as well as in great creature design once more. Also, the many little references to almost all installments of both movie franchises make it obvious this is mostly intended as little more than a fanboy's dream.

Starring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz

Directed by Greg & Colin Strause

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 2007

Alien vs Predator

Rating ***/*****, or 6/10

After almost 15 years of having two of the greatest movie monsters duke it out in various other media (most notably games and comics), the pair finally square off on the big screen, with mixed results. The action scenes are quite solid and the overall look is great, especially where the creatures are concerned, but the story of a team of human cannon fodder discovering an ancient pyramid on Antarctica, which soon turns out to be ground zero for extra-terrestrial sparring matches, leaves much to be desired. There's little surprise as to who's gonna die when, plus the fact the film is rated PG-13, whereas the other entries in both franchises had hard R ratings, makes for little appropriate gore, much to the chagrin of the legions of fans. Plus, considering the Predators are running the whole show, the outcome of the battle is fairly predictable.

Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 2004

Aliens

Rating *****/*****, or 10/10

Superb sequel utilizes a completely different style from its dark and brooding predecessor, exchanging the slow suspense for high action, to great results. Could very well be considered superior to Alien. After spending 57 years drifting through space in hypersleep, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver again) returns to Earth, where she soon finds herself asked to join a team of overly bold and raunchy space marines to LV-426 to check out whether there's any connection between her wild stories of monsters and the loss of contact with a group of colonists on that planet. Naturally, the settlement is overrun by the xenomorphs who soon turn the marines into a bunch of wimps, at which point Ripley has to take charge to get the team out alive, along with the lone survivor of the colony, a little girl nicknamed Newt, for which Ripley soon develops maternal feelings. A carefully crafted exciting sequence of action scenes culminates in the film's brilliant climax, Ripley battling a huge Queen Alien (another triumph of special creature effects work) with a power loader suit. Also featured is a surprisingly trustworthy android called Bishop (the impeccable Lance Henriksen), Bill Paxton as an hilariously loud mouth marine who wets his pants at the first sign of any real trouble and Jenette Goldstein as a very manly latina private. James Cameron, fresh off The Terminator, established himself as one of Hollywood's leading specialists in the field of sci-fi action blockbusters with this movie, which still remains the best in his oeuvre.

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen

Directed by James Cameron

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 1986

Alien Resurrection

Rating ***/*****, or 7/10

Fourth installment in the successful sci-fi thriller saga returns to the more action driven approach first taken by James Cameron for Aliens, though never reaches the same level of total immersion in the on-screen excitement. However, there's still plenty to enjoy in this rather comic book style flick, courtesy of French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, though it's obvious the story isn't the main argument here. After 200 years, Ripley (still Sigourney Weaver) is revived by zealous scientists via cloning, in an attempt to harvest the baby Queen Alien inside her. The scientists, including the ever sinister Brad Dourif, soon find out they got more than they bargained for when both the xenomorphs and the resurrected Ripley herself turn out to be more dangerous and unpredictable than they ever imagined. Add to that a big ass military ship as the film's setting and an absurd but hilariously eclectic group of mercenaries armed to the teeth to combat the monsters, and you got yourself some terrificly entertaining action scenes at the least. Winona Ryder plays the obligatory android this time, and does a rather lousy, quite poorly acted job at it unfortunately.

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 1997

Alien³

Rating ***/*****, or 6/10

Slow paced second sequel to Alien (1979) returns to the stylistic roots of the series by focusing on eerie atmosphere and mounting tension more than relying on all-out action. This time it pays off less successfully, though this is partially due to the chaotic production history of this project. First time director David Fincher handles himself decently enough and gets a decent number of chilling scenes of suspense and compelling performances out of it all, but as a whole, this film is certainly not on par with the previous two installments of this franchise. While in hypersleep, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver again, believably introvert now, since she lost the few people she cared about) crashes on a prison planet where she finds herself confronted with another Alien soon enough, as well as untrustworthy inmates and a dark secret brooding inside herself. A so-called Assembly Cut of this film is available, running over 30 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, incorporating many different scenes as well as a less powerful climax: an interesting compendium to the original film worth checking out if you enjoyed the regular cut.

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance

Directed by David Fincher

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 1992

Alien

Rating ****/*****, or 9/10

Disturbing and claustrophobic space horror. The crew of the commerical towing space vessel Nostromo is sent to answer a distress call originating from a barren world, where they find a derelict extra-terrestrial vessel inhabited by a lone alien corpse long dead that ought to be a warning of the terrors to come. One of their party is subdued and impregnated by an alien parasite, after which a monstrous creature hatches from his chest in a graphic bloody manner and starts picking off the crew one by one. To make matters worse, there's a corporate agent in their midst who has been ordered to keep the alien alive and take it back to Earth for scientific study. Ridley Scott's breakthrough science fiction chiller is as powerfully scary today as it was over three decades ago. Also the movie that launched Sigourney Weaver to stardom thanks to her performance as the 'last man standing', except she's a woman, which at this time was still mostly unheard of in this type of film. The bizarre Alien creature (dubbed a 'xenomorph' in following sequels), a courtesy of master of grotesqueries H.R.Giger, still rules on an unsurpassed design level all its own, as do the evocative, sexually charged environments of the derelict and the iconic dead Space Jockey, as well as the realistic, claustrophobic 'used future' corridors of the Nostromo vessel.

Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm

Directed by Ridley Scott

USA: 20^th Century Fox, 1979