Entertaining but mostly forgettable

Rating: 7/10 (6 November 2010)

I just finished watching the entire Alien saga from the first to the last film, and this is the run-down: Alien: 10; Aliens: 10; Alien³: 7; Alien Resurrection: 7.
Alien is a horror movie that introduces the ingenious concept of the alien species and then ramps up the terror right until the final scene. I almost forgot how scared I could get from watching a film, but re-watching Alien reminded me how un-scary most recent 'horror' films are.
Aliens also has horror, but focuses on action. It also ramps up this action steadily in such a brilliant way that every second of the film is thrilling. Watching Aliens again was just as thrilling as the first time. Films that can do that are rare, and certainly worth a score of 10.
Alien³ is a mess. It's way too obvious that there have been problems with the script and the directors, and the fact that they obviously got rid of most of the characters that survived from Aliens is jarring, but in the end Alien³ is not awful. It has a unique atmosphere and some memorable scenes. One of the biggest problems is that it has almost no characters to care about except Ripley. The only other interesting character is abruptly killed half-way the film.
Alien: Resurrection is also a mess but in a different way. Of course, the whole 'resurrection' concept is ridiculous but I could forgive the writers because there was no other way to continue the saga with Ripley included. What struck me the most is how little I remembered from A:R, even though my previous viewing was more recent than the other films. In fact, it has about three or maybe four memorable scenes and about two memorable characters. The rest is forgettable, albeit still entertaining.
While Alien³ still had some thrilling scenes, A:R relies mostly on gore in an attempt to be scary. Because all 'horror' films from the last decade followed this trend, I got used to seeing CGI monsters, horribly deformed mutants and people being ripped to shreds in all details. The original Alien is still scary because so little is shown and so much is implied. Seeing a dark corridor and knowing there's something horrible in there without actually seeing it, never gets old. Seeing a monster again and again, no matter how meticulously crafted it is to look hideous, does get old.
Overall, the last two films are OK and good enough to keep the Alien fan in me entertained, but you won't hear me protest at all if a director steps up and makes a *real* sequel to Aliens without even acknowledging the existence of A³ or A:R.