No one knew that the Alien franchise would last 41 years. With Ridley Scott's 1979 original and James Cameron's 1986 sequel, the films became sci-fi/horror film legends. The 90s gave us two more sequels (1992's Alien 3 and 1997's Alien: Ressurection) with Scott returning for 2012's Prometheus and 2017's Alien: Covenant.
One aspect that makes the franchise so popular is the characters. Each film has been successful in finding great actors to bring their well-written characters to life. Not all of them are endearing, however. Here are the 5 best and 5 worst from the franchise.
10 Worst: Andrews (Alien 3)
David Fincher's Alien 3 is already a point of contention for fans, with it being the most debated of all the films. An issue with this entry was the lack of interesting supporting characters. One of the worst was Andrews (Brian Glover), the angry prisoner who is at odds with everyone.
Brian Glover was known for playing bulldog-like Englishmen with attitudes. The actor did it very well. The downside is that it is the only kind of character he played for most of his career. As written, Andrews brings nothing to Alien 3, and Glover does a lesser version of the role he had done ad nauseam.
9 Best: Parker and Brett (Alien)
Alien is rightfully considered to be one of the great sci-fi/horror films ever made. Its cast is full of some of the best character actors of their decade.
The characters of Parker and Brett (Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton), the ship's mechanical crew, give the film its few bits of humor. Parker cracks wise and rails against his and Brett's lesser pay scale while Brett usually responds with only one word, "Right." Kotto and Stanton bring life to the pair and their great performances make us believe the two have known one another for years.
8 Worst: General Perez (Alien: Resurrection)
1997's Alien: Resurrection was not the box-office gold the studio had hoped. While the film took the series in a daring and unique direction that took a more twisted turn that paid homage to the "Creature-Features" of the 1950s, fans didn't savor the strangeness of the proceedings.
While a good film, many of the characters were badly written and performed. One of the worst would be Dan Hedaya as General Perez. Hedaya is usually a reliable actor but somehow managed to induce pure cliche and cheesiness in his portrayal. His performance was all grumble and bad posture and stood out as a bit cartoonish.
7 Best: Bishop (Aliens)
James Cameron took the franchise up to rollercoaster levels with his 1986 sequel, Aliens. His film perfectly complimented the originality of Scott's film and gave us even more well-drawn characters who were perfectly cast.
After the cold violence of Ian Holm's Ash from the first film, Lance Henriksen's Bishop was a different sort. A newer model of Artificial Human that had a more peaceful slant to the way he interacts with his human co-workers. After understandably distrusting him for a majority of the film, in the end, it is Bishop who saves the day for Ripley.
6 Worst: Call (Alien: Resurrection)
Unfortunately, while a good film, Alien: Resurrection suffers from too many badly written and performed characters. On that note, Winona Ryder as Call was a big mistake.
The mistake was in both the writing and casting. The writing of the Call character was lacking and, in the scheme of things, the film would have been no better or worse without her. Winona Ryder is a good actress but seemed to drown in this particular role as the acting chops of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley showed how miscast Ryder was here and how useless the character was to the story.
5 Best: Corporal Hicks (Aliens)
When fans speak of the best film in the Alien franchise, many choose Cameron's Aliens as their fave. It plays to everyone, with its thrills and chills. One important ingredient was casting. Everyone was perfectly cast and each one had a big moment and/or memorable lines.
Already a genre favorite for his portrayal as Kyle Reese in 1984's The Terminator, Michael Biehn solidified himself into genre film history with his heroic yet down to Earth portrayal of Marine Corporal Hicks. His character took a shine to Ripley and protected her at all costs while recognizing her warrior spirit of survival.
4 Worst: Tennessee (Alien: Covenant)
Ridley Scott's 2017 film was a critical hit and did okay at the box office. Alien: Covenant took us back to a post-Prometheus timeline and introduced us to a whole set of new characters.
Unfortunately, Danny McBride's Tennessee was a walking cliche. His name coupled with his wearing of a Cowboy hat and his knowledge of the song "Country Roads" by John Denver is right out of the cliche playbook of "good-ol'-boy." McBride showed some acting skill but the script didn't allow his character to breathe.
3 Best: Private Hudson (Aliens)
There many memorable lines from the Alien franchise. James Cameron's Aliens probably holds the most. More than a couple are due to the great character, Private Hudson played to the hilt by Bill Paxton.
Hudson talks tough but when things begin and the Aliens attack, he is pure wild man fear. Paxton's performance is one of the late actor's most popular. his line, "Game over, man! Game over!" is perhaps the best-known line in the franchise.
2 Worst: Oram (Alien: Covenant)
While Alien: Covenant had a solid cast, a couple of the characters just didn't work. Billy Crudup's Oram was the worst in the film.
A mix of bland writing and the seemingly-uninterested performance from Crudup, the character failed to register any fire. Oram was allowed one great encounter with an Alien but the character, as a whole, wasn't well enough defined.
1 Best: Ripley (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection)
Alien was Sigourney Weaver's first lead role. After two television films and parts in an Israeli set film and Woody Allen's Annie Hall, Weaver made a career with her role as Ellen Ripley.
Tough, smart, and a true survivalist, Ripley would go on to become not only a genre film icon but an important character in the portrayal of women on screen. Weaver played Ripley in four films spanning almost twenty years and each time infused her with a humanistic ferociousness that made her a standout amongst the series entire.
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