The Alien films are amongst the leading elements of the sci-fi genre. Alien, Aliens and Alien3 have all been great commercial successes, and Alien Resurrection looks likely to continue the appeal.
ALIEN was very much a product of the late 1970's genre revival that had begun with Star Wars. Arriving as it did in 1979, it made a nice contrast to the benevolent extra terrestrials in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind which showed that space creatures could be just as evil and horrible as their 1950's counterparts.
Critically and financially it was a ground breaking piece of cinema, boosting the carrers of director Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver. Of course, nobody knew this at the time as she was just one of seven great character actors; John Hurt, Dean Stanton, Ian Holm etc. but the rest is history. Added to this is H.R.Giger's captivating alien design. see pic below
ALIENS was a much belated sequel, airing in 1986, showing a gap of years where thought and debate had been growing to make an equally good film.
By now the Star Wars films had come and gone, but the mid 80's saw the era of a tough, new, hard hitting kind of sci-fi film, such as the classic The Terminator.
Director James Cameron was much praised for this influential adventure, so it seemed the natural choice to make the second part of the saga. He injected the same technological approach, giving it much the same feel as The Terminator, bringing with him several of the same actors; Michael Bein, Lance Henrickson and Bill Paxton, along with Sigourney Weaver as the Rambo inspired Ripley.
Considered to be the best of the saga, Aliens is a real epic, more so with the release of the extended special edition. The big bonus of this film is the Queen Alien, perhaps the best monster in sci-fi, a truly memorable creation.
ALIEN3 in 1992 was given a bad reception, especially in the USA, as it was a difficult task to follow the second film. Although it was seen by some as a stylish and slick movie, the lack of aliens was a slight anti-climax after the array of creatures from the second film.
20th Century Fox could have ended it there, but several years on in 1997, they launched the fourth installment, Alien Resurrection, which sees a new, cloned Ripley. Although initially some people disliked the idea (thinking it was just another rip off), reports from its release showed it to be very popular indeed. It's also interesting to note that Danny Boyle and co turned it down because of commercial reasons to make A Life Less Ordinary, which met with a lukewarm reception and is not the success that Trainspotting was.
NEW INFO Alien 5 News
