I think the first one edges it ever so slightly for me. Bottom line, you couldn't ask for a more perfect pair of films, each distinct with their own strengths. It's basically impossible to choose, but Alien gets props for being the original and getting things so perfect, especially in atmosphere and aesthetic.
@@justbleedprod.9414 Covenant was Prometheus 2.0 with an Alien cameo in the last 10-15 minutes. Romulus is Alien with teenagers with a really really gory and quite disturbing Alien Resurrection ending for the last 10-15 minutes.
It's not, the fact the elevator returned to the surface after Ripley got off (because it was on the top floor when she was running from the queen) implies that they return to that level as a default... so when the queen got in, it automatically went to the top floor.
hey do you remember a movie where two brothers meet aliens roaming in thier house and they end up tracking where these aliens nest exists, go there and defeat them all and return ina UFO like thing to their college graduation towards the end of movie?
@@Dreadpirateflappy There were two elevators and Ripley hit both buttons while panicking hearing the Queen coming towards her and Newt. One of the elevators got there before the other and Ripley got in it. Then the second elevator arrived a few seconds after that and the Queen got in it.
They do have intelligence, just not in the same way as humans. They are made from humans after all. Remember in the command center? "They cut the power" - "What do you mean, 'They cut the power'? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!"
I'm gonna be honest. It really wasn't click bait. I just arranged the movies in the way that looked the best to me lmao. I didn't think about the movies themselves.
One more point of criticism towards Covenant is the absolute disrespect to Shaw's character, killing her off screen like that. Honestly, the whole film feels so bitter at times. Almost like "fine you didn't like the new original stuff in Prometheus? Fine HAVE AN ALIEN. HAVE A BUNCH OF THEM."
Honestly, I couldn't find a single redeeming quality about it. It felt ́ike a mish mash of previous entries, with terrible acting, CGI, and a nonsensical and repetitive plot. It felt completely pointless.
There is one thing you failed to mention about Alien: Romulus. Yes it had a lot of references to the previous movies but what is infinitely cooler about this movie (at least in my opinion) is the references they put to the games, especially Alien: Isolation. They are very small details but if you look closely, you will see similar room designs, wall decorations, and even a core game mechanic straight from Alien: Isolation. Not to mention that the movie has almost a perfect blend of characteristics from almost every alien film or game in such a way that it doesn’t feel overwhelming but also has a genuine connection to everything. It is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a LONG time.
only thing i didnt like that much was xenomorph saving her when she was falling, in covenant they were so aggressive, killing and charging wasting no time, in Romilus it took them so long to attack or do anything at all... that hybrid or whatever was much scarier tbh
@@mihailostankovic4480in the same frame you see a face hugger. They don’t have a queen and have to protect the hive. He was holding her still for the face hugger to jump on her
@@mihailostankovic4480 I actually didn't understand that myself at first but i saw a comment in another video mentioning that the aliens primary objective is to make more of them and reproduce basically, and that they can't make use of a corpse, which i actually think was a great point and helped me understand that scene better! But hey if youre not still not a fan thats okay! I just think that context definitely helped me get why it happened!
real, I'm a huge fan of Isolation and finding so many references of it made me so happy I can't even explain it. U can see how the design of the ship is clearly based on Alien AND the game. I went to see Romulus w my dad who's also a fan of the films and I was literally constantly tapping on his arm pointing out the references from the games and the movies lol
YES! And there needs to be a multiplayer feature so you can sneak around with your friends taking turns with distracting the alien and completing the objective. Like a better Nemisis Distress
@@ewokcalypse4470 While I liked some of the idea of the game, it wasn't truly a sequel to the story and it was played in a completely different way and was significantly shorter. Besides, it was also said by the companies responsible for it that it is NOT a sequel (which to be fair was after it received loads of backlash).
If you're into co-op shooters, I can recommend Aliens: Fireteam Elite. It's pretty good at what it tries to be. Also, I love the fact that they went with the Aliens branding for this, while using Alien for Isolation, because the different genres of the games kind of correlate with the different genres of the films.
Went with my friends to go see Romulus. They never saw any of the movies. All they knew was that the second movie inspired Halo and Doom. They never got the references but still understood the story and world. Andy's line just made sense for him in the context of the scene. It's the golden rule of callbacks: people who don't get it don't get distracted because it works in-character.
"The xenomorph was scarier when it wasn't smart" Lol, did you pay attention in the first 2 movies at all? The xenos constantly outsmart humans and even deliberately cut the power. Sorry to break it to you, but they've always been as smart as they are in Resurrection.
I think you know what they meant. They've always been smart, but seeing a Xenomorph smash a red button like a human being, just isn't the move. It makes them seem intelligent like a human, not like some extraterrestrial brute of nature.
@@egel7736 They've always been intelligent. They even have a human skull inside their heads. They're made from our genes, so of course they're going to have some of our intellect and reasoning abilities.
@@egel7736 They can learn from observation. And the Xeno had learned from watching the human press that button, he even used it to threaten them and they understood the threat. If basic house cats can learn to open doors, it is not far-fetched that Xenos can understand the function of a button.
Another thing about the og alien that I love is that you never get a real good look at the alien in the movie you see the overall shape and it’s teeth and each shot that gives a real view of the alien lasts no longer than 2 seconds and it really plays into the fear of the unknown and the design itself is perfect it’s so unnatural
Haha that is until the end of the film and you see it's a guy in a rubber suit. That's one of the main things Alien Romulus improved on, the build up and mystery of xenomorphs by primarily showing its outline or quick crouching shots. It ultimately makes the final reveal more rewarding and horrifying. Alien could have very easily capitalized on that build up as well but it's goofy final shot and “jazz hands” moment fumbled it so hard.
Completely agree. This review is utter bs. To rank Alien from 1979 one of the worst is insane. Perhaps this idiot did not grow up during that period but that film was ground breaking. Every actor in that film has had a highly praised career and the cast was brilliant from John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt, Iam Holm, Yappet Kotto and Sigourney Weavers’s ground breaking role plus the set and mood were incredible. The Director’s cut is even better. So many deleted scenes. F for Friggin’ Fantastic is Right! This reviewer is an idiot.
I saw Aliens before I saw Alien. I wish I hadn't. I wish I could've seen the chest-burster's first appearance. And, yes, the way the first movie didn't reveal the main character right away? Genius
I like Aliens more than Alien but if you are going to watch Aliens, then I agree I think it’s critical to watch Alien first and if you like horror, just watch it in general (because it’s a fantastic movie by itself)
I watched them as they came out, and i ended up liking Resurrection better than any other film in the franchise, save for Aliens and AVP. The rest is either a one-time watch, or sub-par nonsense. We need an Alien movie with Isaac Clark. The only proper successor to Ripley.
Resurection is one of the worst it has no direction or real identity at least Alien 3 tried to be really bleak and depressing though it doesnt even do it well. Res. is prob my least favorite too jokey
About Alien 3's points: "it's too orange" - it's supposed to evoke the idea that they're in Hell or at least Purgatory; "Ripley doesn't have an arc" - she's been having solid development throughout all the movies - every movie, a new Ripley - it just so happens that she's in her bleakest predicament yet: she loses everything, she grieves, becomes cynical, nihilistic, suicidal (although for practical/altruistic reasons) and ends up sacrificing herself to literally save humanity/the universe (mirroring Jesus and the Cross) - she even kinda forgives the prisoners that tried to rape her, leading Junior to repent and sacrifice himself trying to atone for his sins while trapping the "Dragon" (the devil); "romance with Charles Dance" - it's not too much of a romance, at least at first, it's more like, after all she's been through and where it got her, she might as well have some pleasure/sex as well as use it to avoid answering some questions. Sure it is a very flawed movie, we all know why, but taking that into consideration really helped me get to love it ultimately. I love the cast the most on this one. As for the Alien effects and missing score on some scenes, yeah, I won't defend it, it really sucks at times.
Fede Alvarez also directed Evil Dead (2013) which was honestly so good. I had high hopes for Alien Romulus and he actually delivered again. Definitely a director to keep an eye on.
Totally agree. The Evil Dead 2013 film is the best one. I never cared for the silly ones from the 1970’s but the 2013 is terrifying with just enough humor. When the first girl Olivia died I almost walked out I was so scared. I have to say that Evil Dead Rise was amazing too mostly because of the two main characters. The sisters. Fede Alvarez is great. Too bad he did not get the rights to the Halloween trilogy.
In Resurrection the Aliens are shown how the button works, so they learn... They were always smart. goes into far more detail in the official novels of the movies, but the fact they found ways around the sentry guns and cut the power in Aliens showed how smart they could be.
@@cosmicXtropics The point is, that in the 1986 movie - the xenos are not any smarter than an average 80's horror-movie prop-monster, even though we might like it to be otherwise. Definitely not as smart as Jason, Freddy or Chucky. For starters, this video has misled everyone that the smartest thing the xenos ever did - was that button thing. But that is not true: the smartest thing they did - was sacrificing one of their own in order to use the blood-acid to escape their holding cell (Resurrection). They could've used this modus operandi to disable the automatic guns, but they didn't; instead - they just ran into the bullets like a basic videogame cannon-fodder. Unless they charged at the guns at range - which would make them even less smart. (although the room and the aliens' attack MO do not support that approach) The second thing is that there is a reasoning blunder (or just blunder) in the script of Aliens: when Ripley looks at the station map and instructs Hicks to seal off the air ducts, - the map does not show any alternative ways to get around the complex, - which is why Ripley and Hicks come up with this plan. However, having an interconnecting crawlspace that goes throughout the entire structure (above AND below, btw) - and NOT having it appear on the blueprints - does not make any sense on so many levels (especially when the hollow ceiling is visible to a naked eye). But for the sake of a movie - let's grant that it was a "secret passage" - not shown on the map (yeah, like in Doom or something, lol). If that was the case, and the Aliens have been on Hadley's Hope for a while, then shouldn't a rat know its own maze🤣? Now if they did know, which in this case they definitely would, - then why to bum-rush the automatic guns? And if they didn't know - then are they really smart? No wonder Newt outplayed them for miles and miles. Finally, in the movie - the guns prove that the Aliens cannot get past them. Thus, if the guns had more ammo - there would be no way for the xenos around them in a direct confrontation. Which comes back to a better placement of the said guns (protection VS questionable wild goose chase). If anything, the script paints Ripley and especially - Hicks(!) lacking intelligence in this scene, rather than Aliens having an IQ edge. Also, we don't know what exactly caused a local power failure. There is no proof. Someone fear-speaking does not make it true. (if anything, Burke should be saying that nonsense, from Ripley it sounds cringe AF). Probably the pressure on the cables during "the Crawl of Cimarron" did it. Not deliberate. In the scene after Gorman's and Vasquez death - the lights are already on.
Btw I believe those beings in the flashback weren’t the actual engineers, but another species the engineers had created in their image. It explains as to why there is only one docking port, and they are smaller and seemingly a lot less technologically developed than the engineers
I did a little research while writing the script and it said they were the engineers. I assumed they were the non-scientist engineers who weren't involved in the space travel or black goop science.
@@AnotherNickMovies well then I’d presume the other engineers are fine then, so their story still has some potential. They likely have more than one planet since they are so advanced
I mean first 3 films were made in the UK, so the film crew etc make them very much British films. Cameron needed to get over himself for British workers wanting tea breaks.
On the defense of Hicks. He is seasoned corporal with combat experience. He is the most chill under pressure of the group. An experienced soldier catches sleep whenever they can because they dont know when is the next time they can sleep safely.
I always thought he's passed out from the weird movement of the capsule dropping. You see he looks disturbed when the drop starts, I never thought about why he would but that was my explanation lol
Forgive me if someone clocked this earlier about Romulus, but the Alien 3 references were visual - the yellow/orange backlit fan bank and the brief tracking shot that mimicked the xeno POV.
"I liked the xenomorphs when they weren't smart" they've been intelligent since the very beginning lmao. You seriously can't take these fans seriously anymore when they don't even remember the movies they claim to like lol.
@shanenephilim2727 that's crazy. Frankly it shows how much you truly know about the franchise. I mean the second half of Alien is literally about the Alien out smarting them
Romulus didn’t feel scary to me even though there was a few people in my theater who felt the terror. My experience with this film was more akin to the first time I viewed Aliens. It felt more like a thrilling action film with moments of horror. This film for me felt closer kinship with Aliens than Alien. I didn’t like any of the characters besides Andy and maybe Rain in some moments. My hope is that Andy and David will face off in a future installment because besides Ripley they are the most compelling characters in my opinion.
While the cast may not be likeable, they were definitely human And that's something I enjoyed The banter, the bond they shared It felt real. It didn't make their deaths sad, but unfortunate, seeing these young adults fight for a better tomorrow, only to get snubbed (in some seriously grotesque ways)
Spot on. It wasn’t a scary film and that only struck me after it ended when I realised I hadn’t at any point felt scared. That’s concerning for an Alien movie. I liked the characters more than you did but I think you make a great point.
@@OtisF96 I've always kind of hated this scariness argument. It's so subjective. I've only ever felt scared by one horror movie. But that doesn't mean all the other ones I've watched have been worse or better definitively.
I loved the fact that Romulus follows and kinda is a callback for both the Prometheus and alien storylines, which in a way bridges the 2 together. I'd also love to see another installment on the david plotline, and also when you do the predator tier list i know prey is gonna be an s tier. Good job man
S tier means godly. Prey was very good, but not godly. It's either an A or a very solid B+. It's hard to decide since so many people have so many different opinions on Prey, and there's nothing universally praised like how everybody's who's watched Romulus agrees that the cinematography and special effects are amazing.
Unpopular opinion here: Alien 3 Is on par with the first two movies, I've never understood why people shits on It so much, in fact, it's probably my favourite of the original series
I remember watching it at the cinema and being like wtf did I just watch lol. Needs a few watches to truly understand it. After watching them all recently I think Alien 3 might be one of the best.
I liked the Clone Ripley in 4, but it took a couple watches to get there. Her scene when she finds the failed clone lab is really gut wrenching and her acting totally won me over there.
That's coz the Ripley in Resurrection is Ripley 8, a different character with different genetic makeup than the original Ripley. They're not meant to be the same.
Agree on 2 & 3 but starting to think maybe Director's cut of Alien as well, mainly because of Parker seeing Brett get dragged upwards, as he's talking about the size of it in the next scene whereas that's not in the theatrical. Also the cocoon scene as makes more sense why Parker says there's no blood from where Dallas was taken out.
@@Paul_1971 The extended edition of Aliens is the one that James Cameron says matches his vision for the movie. It adds about 20 min of run time to it as well. I thought the extra scenes about Ripley's daughter and the sentry guns, really fleshed things out more
@@Paul_1971 Ridley Scott said that the theatrical release of Alien was the one he intended. He has since disavowed the deleted scenes with Dallas and the other guy in the proto-nest getting turned into Alien eggs. Both Ridley Scott and James Cameron thought that was a stupid idea and that's why JC came up with the Queen alien to explain how the eggs are made.
I really dont understand why Resurrection gets so much hate. I thought a good majority of the film was wayyyyyyy better than Alien 3. We got some cool scenes from Resurrection imo
Same. I like how Ripley's personality changed (She's no longer human, but an alien hybrid, ofc she gotta act different), like the new alien in the end (he was way scarier than the one in Romulus, and the love between him and Ripley was disturbing af). Aliens themselves in the movie are smart which makes them scary. Resurrection shows all the fucked up experiments the corporation did, which added a lot of disturbing things in the universe.
We all have different opinions. I personally think that Prometheus is S tier, Covenant D, and that Alien3 and Resurrection should both go up a tier. Different strokes for different folks.
I truly unironically totally believe covenant is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I can’t explain it really, just the whole plot moving from unknowingness and tame space exploration to literal horror, betrayals and plot twists is so good, I love how EVERY character is so fleshed out and the fact that you have someone from the inside of the ship being behind your downfall without you knowing is the actual horror, not the aliens. Not even the first alien had so much depth and as much as I like the og I couldn’t care less about most character besides two or three
... so there is a person who saw a newborn creature being torn to pieces and screaming for help and thought: "Yeah this is funny." Like what the hell, man.
I gave it an 8.5 / 10 on my second watch. It's really good, but some of the dialogue callbacks were minus for me. I think they have the opportunity to see what happens to Rain and Andy on their way to Yvaga though, I would definitely watch a Romulus 2
romulus is a run of the mill horror flick with an alien veneer on top. B tier at best, and only because the visuals & cinematography are absolutely delicious
I have no idea why everyone is bashing Alien 3. Could it really be a little bit of peer pressure?. All the negative points he listed never bothered me, which means I've seen it so many times that I could watch it again.
@@Reynard_11 What many haters of the film cannot understand is that I like the characters of the prisoners. I kind of like them. Except for the two rapists, of course. I also like the prison director because it seems he only wants the best.
Watching Ripley, Hicks & newt’s bond form in Aliens just makes me despise Alien 3 so much more. It’s insane how they made you not wanna like the movie right out the gate and it completely overshadows any good stuff in that movie
Great review, but I feel like Romulus at least hasn't gotten much love for its final act yet which I think was top tier. SPOILERS: By the end of the film one of the characters injects themselves with black goo and gives birth to an alien x human hybrid. It was already hinted at earlier in the movie but even though everyone in my theater was expecting it I don't think any of us were expecting just HOW horrific and intense the final stretch was. Alvarez knew exactly what people were interested in - how it would look - and did a great job drawing it out until its reveal. And its reveal isn't even anything visually fancy. Andy walks into the cryo chamber and finds Kay and all she can do is weakly point behind him, and all you see is a spindly humanoid crouched down in shadow just watching the whole time. The design is great as it puts it intentionally into the uncanny valley with too long limbs and an engineer face which plays to a totally different fear than earlier. And the final stretch where Rain is suspended on a cable while the ship is crashing was so intense that EVERYONE in the theater was dead silent, even the dude behind me who was laughing for half the movie.
Putting Covenant at the same Level as Alien³ should be considered a war crime. Covenant had some flaws, while Alien³ had some good things. Covenant aint perfect, but its at the level of Prometheus more than at the level of Alien³.
I’m gonna rank the alien films I’ve watched in order. 1. Alien | 9.5/10 (I can’t decide between Aliens and Alien but for now, it’s Alien, It does what jaws did by keeping the monster hidden and lurking in the shadows. Overall, one of my favourite films of all time.) 2. Aliens | 9/10 (Loved it, its more action oriented rather than horror, and I wish there was more horror in it, that doesn’t take it away from it being a fantastic film.) 3. Alien Romulus | 8.8/10 (No Spoilers Romulus is a Great film with the tense horror of the first film, and the fun action of the second film. No joke, the Ending is INSANE. I would recommend)
The Xenos have always been smart, they just didn't have any opportunities to really show it before Resurrection. Just take a look at how Big Chap stalks and picks off the Nostromo crew one by one, or how the Queen understands Ripley's threats.
It's very fashionable these days to hate on Alien 3, and poor reviews manifest poor expectations, so it's always going to be a downward spiral for Alien 3; when in fact, it's a fantastic movie, and Weaver has never been more bad ass, especially with that cropped hair.
The tone reminded me of the Dark Horse comics series / extended Universe stuff. I liked that about it, but otherwise I have to agree with the criticisms in the video
Fede Alvarez won me over with his remake of Evil Dead and been a fan of his work ever since so was hyped to see his take on Alien. The guy knows how to direct a horror.
As a long time fan, I absolutely agree w this ranking (except for Resurrection, but because it's a guilty pleasure movie of mine😂) Can't wait to see Romulus, the enthusiast reviews really excite me 👀
There is no need for theories about the engineers in Prometheus, we know that there are two main factions of them, one more militaristic, and one more peaceful and life cultivating. We know the engineers accidentally made humanity with the first shot of the movie, and we know that by the end they were planning to end the world but got defeated before and had to go into stasis. Also not all of the engineers were killed off, one planet yea (and the wrong faction at that), but with how they had a military base on another world they definitely were homed on multiple worlds
AVP and AVP Requiem should be erased from existence and they should actually make an AVP movie based on the original Dark Horse graphic novel that was incredible.
Alien 3 is still my favorite , idc what anyone else has to say especially rookie fans & all u other dumb YT weirdos that actually hate that unapologetic depressing masterpiece!!! Ur just not real true Alien fans , u only think u are!!!!! Fun fact: Aliens is definitely not original , its literally just the same exact concept as the 1956 movie "Them" except with Xenomorphs instead of giant ants 🐜 Even James Cameron admitted this & if u grew up with both films like i did as a kid , u will see all the similarities 🥱
Stealing dialogues verbatim really doesn't make for a good standalone movie. This whole movie felt like an amalgamation of all alien movies. It's just painful to see we can't have original entries to old sagas. This is Star Wars all over again. It has a few good moments, but so many times it made me die inside. I think Prometheus is a masterpiece next to this one.
You need to consider another Alien story in that tier list. It is Alien: Isolation. Despite it is a game, the atmosphere is truly fantastic at the level of initial film.
Agreed the climax felt unnesscerry, and brought the total movie going experinece for me down. This is how it could have been amazing. Spoiler..... Instead of Human x Alien hybrid baby. Why not Introduce an Alien King?
@@marcus_ohreallyus I just didn’t like the movie as much the second half. It felt rushed the compared to the first half and there is a difference between a reference and just taking story parts from the past films. The Matrix combines different ideas from several past materials but incorporates it into its own story and movie.
Romulus had two nods to Alien 3: the face off with Rain and the alien in the elevator shaft, and Tyler's last words "is that all you got" that echo Dillon's last words
Alien 4 is a really good movie. It's meant to be a dark comedy, Jeunet's first movie was a dark comedy, and he is good at it. And he made something deferent with the franchise like Fincher and Cameron did too. Something that Alvarez did not in Romulus.
Totally got me with the thumbnail, nice work! I was curious about your thoughts on Romulus compared to other reviewers and the uniformity is really encouraging. I concur with what you said about the engineer/David trilogy; I'm always disheartened that I'm in the minority who liked the originality of what Prometheus brought to the table. The philosophical tone interested me and I was intrigued as to how they were going to tie it to the original film
I dont rly get why everyone is freaking out about the third act. I mean it was a cool new alien design and the idea is cool but like it fulfills the exact same role as the Xenemorth in the original
@@lightscorer1320Because it was something that already happened in alien resurrection and it looked awful there, it looked awful here. Plus it pretty much just copied the first Alien climax but much worse
On that "in the earlier films the Aliens weren't smart" line. The Xeno in the first film was EXTREMELY smart. It was alone so it knew it had to hide, and where to hide, how to outsmart Dallas in the tunnels as well as sneak its way aboard the shuttle at the end. In Aliens, because there was lots of them, they knew how to use strategy to overwhelm the marrines.
Romulus was good, but the homages to the original Alien kept it from being a really good movie to me. It's better than 3 and Resurrection, but I think Prometheus is better. Aliens was great because it did something different, not because it did the same scenes as Alien. I don't mind certain call backs, like Andy calling the xenomorph a bitch, but when they had Rain doing the same exact scene as Ripley getting into the space suit, and the very end being shot the same way, it felt like lazy writing. It didn't have to do that, it would've been a fantastic movie anyways, and the chest bursting scene is probably the best one in the series.
One thing you get wrong about Prometheus is that they do not even slightly leave the Engineers open ended. From when they learn that humans are an exact DNA match with them to the scene where the captain character literally dumps everything onto Shaw, "we were created by them, but then they wanted to kill us this planet was a military installation and this is where they keep the super weapon they were going to use to wipe us out but I guess it turned on them we CANNOT let it leave this planet." I'm paraphrasing but honestly word for word he figures out the Engineers before they even find the last one and wake him up.
To everyone saying how great of a director Ridley Scott is I IMPLORE you all to watch his spiritual successor to Alien. It's an HBO Sci fi TV show called Raised by Wolves. It's utterly bananas. Words do not do it justice.
I was genuinely disappointed when I watched Covenant right after Prometheus. There's just so much whiplash that it becomes super duper obvious there were studio conflicts. Hearing that it was planned to be a whole trilogy, especially with the third movie allegedly focusing on androids, made this all the more frustrating, because Prometheus is truly a misunderstood movie. I have yet to watch Romulus, and I already have a feeling it's good. I've heard there was a desire from the director to create a 3rd Alien vs Predator movie, which at thid point would seem pretty easy. They never made a film set in the actual Alien time period, so it'd be nice if they actually did that rather than trying to ground the story in some weird mythology Alien prequel that ultimately contradicted Ridley Scott's vision.
