Me, I'd put Aliens first not just because I prefer action to pure horror, but because I like the family motif that Cameron used with Ripley, Newt and Hicks. I thought that it was a very interesting theme to put in a sci-fi/horror jaunt and it worked very well. I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff. 10/10
Putting Alien second is a tough decision for me because frankly, without Alien, Aliens would be pretty worthless. Part of the reason the second film is so good at showing Ripley purge herself of the terrors she's experienced is that the first film was damn near perfect at showing that terror. Alien was also the first R-rated film I was allowed to see, so it holds a special place in my nightmares as a kid. In a good way. 10/10
After that comes Alien: Resurrection. The moment I simply decided not to even entertain it as the full-on sequel and just enjoy it as movie on its own, I ended up really liking it. With the exception of Winona Ryder, the acting is pretty good, the visuals are nice as well, action scenes, especially the underwater scene, are well-executed. Overall I enjoy it for what it is, and I'm glad that the franchise isn't continuing Ripley 8's story. 7/10
After that I'd put the first AVP film, mostly because I'm enough of a Predator fan that that film is enjoyable to me. And in the 1-on-1 face-off between the Xeno and the Predator, the Xeno wins. I love that. The worst part about that film was the human characters though. You could have taken them out, made a 30-minute film of 3 Predators going into the temple and fighting the xenos and it would have come out better. 6.5/10
Prometheus comes next, and I probably need to watch it one more time before I make up my mind about it. I've said that the past 7-8 times I've seen it. It's such a confusing film at times that I'm never really sure it like it or not. Which for all I know was Ridley Scott's intent. Prometheus is the alien-related film that makes me laugh the most though, I'll say that. If only because of the Honest Trailer on youtube. Funny as hell. ?/10
Then comes Alien 3. And I'll be up-front about my hate for this film. I honestly don't like anything about it. First, I dislike the tone of the film with the depressing and nihilistic feel. The original Alien had nothing like that, only pure terror. That's what I liked about that. Alien 3 tried to add a feeling of hopelessness and despair that ended up draining me of any reason to care for the litany of generic bald prisoners that the dog-xeno kills throughout the film. After a while, I realized that the only thing to cheer for was the alien. I didn't even care about Ripley, and when she died it seemed like putting down a dying dog rather than the heroic sacrifice it was meant to be. I love David Fincher as a director, and I don't blame the film's faults on him. But honestly don't hold a single thing about this film in high regard. Killing off Hicks and Newt was a very tough sell for me considering what I loved about Aliens, and the film only got worse after the opening credits. I've seen the film only twice, once for the theatrical release and I saw the Revised cut about year ago. Each time it's left me only furious at the direction Fox decided to go with the franchise that has two of my very favorite movies. 3(ha)/10
But I will say this about Alien 3: it least it was watchable. A competently-made movie whose tone, storyline and characters I had no love for, but I could finish the film before I decided to hate it. I honestly wasn't able to do that with AVP:Requiem. As soon as I realized that they'd gone with the generic bullied kid pinning after the popular girl with the jock boyfriend, I could see where the film was going. After a short while, I just stopped watching. It was just so far removed from what made both Alien and Predator great that I could no longer bring myself to finish the film. To this day I still haven't seen the whole thing, and I doubt I ever will. It's just so BAD. 0/10
