20) “Alien3” – The Chase
The saga of “Alien3” is now 25 years old, and you sense that many of those involved still aren’t really over it: a fraught production, studio battles, and a reluctance to make franchise pictures that director David Fincher has only just gotten over. But while it undoubtedly has huge problems, it’s better than its reputation: a film with a distinct world; tons of visual style; and an unsentimental, bleak, blow-it-all-up point-of-view on the franchise. And Fincher, even early in his career, knows how to construct a killer sequence, as shown in the final chase, in which the dwindling number of inmates/workers team with Ripley to try to lure the latest incarnation of the xenomorph to a molten-metal trap. It’s a labyrinthine sequence with a strong hold on geography, and some cracking Raimi-esque POV shots that see the Alien run along ceilings and walls in service of its prey.
19) “Alien: Resurrection” – The Underwater Scene
Partly because “Alien: Resurrection” was such a critical and commercial disaster, Jean-Pierre Jeunet never got much of a reputation as an action director, but for its flaws, ‘Resurrection’ indicated that he knew how to shoot set pieces cleanly and efficiently. The best such scene in the fourth movie is when Ripley’s clone (Sigourney Weaver) and the space pirates she’s reluctantly aligned with have to get through an flooded section of the Auriga, only for the xenomorphs to catch up to them and proving just as deadly in the water as they are on land. The CGI hasn’t aged brilliantly (though it’s a step up from “Alien3,” to be sure), but there’s a real sense of panic and claustrophobia, and it all looks rather beautiful too.
18) “Aliens” – “57 Years”
Like many such films, the chronology of the “Alien” franchise is a pretty tortured thing — hundreds of years pass without much changing in the world, it seems, while prequel syndrome kicks in with “Prometheus” with technology markedly more advanced than in what came after. As such, it’s easy to forget the shock of the impact of the first time we realized that time in this series might have some gaps: as the newly awakened Ripley meets corporate scumbag Burke (Paul Reiser) for the first time, and he tells her that she was drifting in space for 57 years, meaning (at least in the Special Edition) that her daughter has grown old and died in her absence. It’s a devastating moment that feels unexpected if you haven’t seen it coming, and informs so much about our heroine moving forward, particularly because Weaver plays it beautifully. Unfortunately, the only clip we could find has had some wag cut in the “Mad About You” theme tune every time Reiser appears, which somewhat dulls the impact, but beggars can’t be choosers (also it’s quite funny).
*SPOILER*
17) “Alien: Covenant” – David, Oram And The Neomorph
Though the entire cast does really strong work throughout, my favorite performances in “Alien: Covenant” come from Michael Fassbender (twice) and Billy Crudup as Oram, the captain of the ship, a man of faith thrust into power that he wanted but that he’d been previously denied, someone grappling with his own weakness and fears and, seemingly, lack of natural leadership. It’s a really interesting, compelling character, and a highlight of the film comes when Oram stumbles upon David attempting to tame the neomorph that’s just decapitated one of his crew. In just a few moments, we see both Oram’s weakness and, perhaps for the first time, David’s true madness as we see the creator’s love for his child and, after Oram kills the creature, a shocking blast of grief. Fassbender’s howl might be the single best bit of Fassbender acting in a film that has a lot of great Fassbender acting.
*END SPOILER*
16: “AVP: Alien Vs. Predator” – Alien Vs. Predator
There’s a certain section of the cinephile community who are vociferous defenders of the work of Paul W.S. Anderson. We think they’re mostly barking mad: we’re almost allergic to the plasticky action and poorly acted vibes of his films. But it would have taken a director far below Anderson’s level of competence to make a movie about an Alien fighting a Predator and not manage to get some pleasure out of a scene where an Alien fights a Predator for the first time ever, and Anderson does at least deliver there. It’s not high art, or even particularly inventively choreographed, but the first throw-down between the two movie monsters is undeniably satisfying, particularly when the Predator swings the Alien around by the tail (first blood, ultimately, goes to the xenomorph).
