The Alien movies all have their own distinct flavours, at least partly provided by each one have having a big name director with their own style. The first was a subdued horror movie directed by Ridley Scott, James Cameron’s sequel leaned more into science fiction, David Fincher’s controversial third movie brought the action, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet made the fourth into a violent and dark comedy movie.
Therefore, its understandable that fans have strong opinions about which one is the best, with most choosing either 1979’s Alien or 1986’s Aliens. You may imagine that star Sigourney Weaver – who plays one of the best female characters ever Ripley – would hem and haw and hedge her bets when asked which Alien movie is the best.
However, she does actually have a clear favorite, as she told Collider in 2021; “The best-constructed story for the character to tell was in Aliens, just because Jim [Cameron] has such an amazing sense of structure of story. To take this character out of hyper-sleep, have no one believe her, have her be exiled into this limbo land where no one believes her and her family’s dead.”
“The whole set-up for Ripley in Aliens and then what she ends up doing with it, finding this new family by the end. The whole structure of that story, to me, was gold. I always felt that I could jump up and down on it. It was such a great, supportive, arc for the character. In that sense, the second one, for Ripley, is probably the most satisfying.”
Given that Weaver has worked with Cameron again on the Avatar movies, he does seem to have been the director that she gelled with the most of the four. Ridley Scott has continued exploring the world of Aliens in his prequels – Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. While not beloved by all, many fans are keen for him to complete that trilogy.
While we wait for Romulus, check out our guide the best alien movies.