Which do you think is better: Alien or Aliens?

My friend and I are having a little debate, so we decided to see what other people thought. Thus, I ask: which do you think is better: Alien, or Aliens?

 

Alien. Yes, it only features one Alien, compared to the multiple "Aliens" in the second movie, but it had a way better story. The second movie is one of the few sequels that is almost just as good as the first movie. It's just hard to rate it better than the first though. The first one had way more suspense and shocking scenes in it. The best scenes in the second one mainly deal with Ripley facing the "Mother" Alien and it ups her macho-ness with her taking it on mainly by herself.

 

It depends on if you prefer action or horror. Right now I like Alien better over Aliens. I'm burned out on the whole franchise right now though.

 

I find Alien has more rewatch value.

 

Aliens. They are both great movies, but Aliens is able to bring everything that Alien brings to the table, only better and it adds more to the mix. Aliens has better characters, far better action, better suspense, better horror, better pacing, and better acting, it's just better in every category there is.

 

But Alien has John Hurt.

 

Alien is good, but for my tastes Aliens is far better.

 

Oddly, I find it the other way round. Horror movies tend to burn me out more, so I need more time in-between watching them. Aliens I can just watch again and again.

 

Alien may be the critical favorite given its more cerebral brand of inducing terror and the fact that by the nature of the narrative the alien threat is decidedly more alien than in the sequels, but chalk me up as one who prefers Aliens. Alien is great at what it does, but to me Aliens is probably the best R-rated action/"sci-fi" film ever made. Throw in a similar, yet emphatically altered and even elevated atmosphere to Alien, as well as an extraordinary cast of dynamic secondary characters, and its easy to see why Aliens is such a classic.

Oh, and the fact that Hudson is a walking quote machine is a big plus for Aliens as well.

 

This is a tough one, since both are in my Top 10 favorite movies too, and each for its own merits. Depending on what mood I'm in. If I want to be terrified (still get nightmares to this day), I'll go with Alien. If I want to see what an action movie should be, I'll take Aliens any day of the week. (Well, the extended edition. It's far superior to the theatrical version).

 

I agree.

 

I like both, both are in my top 20. But, I feel aliens has more rewatch value. Horror movies work for me when I have not seen them before. After a few watches you know where the scares and jump moments are, you know how it ends.

Aliens has some of those, but even after you know the scares, you still have the great quotable dialouge, the great characters, the brilliant action and cool set pieces.

I can still watch alien, but its because I am a big film fan and a fan of the whole saga. If I wasnt I doubt I would enjoy multiple viewings as much as I do.

Plus aliens has pulse rifles and Hudson lol

 

Aliens

Alien is a great piece...but because of it's invested interest in the classic horror techniques, I think it lacks compared to Aliens.

Primary Factor: Story depth

Alien is about mystery...half-truths being pieces together...the unknowns of space travel, alien organisms, and the claustrophobia of being tapped on a giant ship that is terrifyingly "small" when dealing with the Alien.

vs.

Aliens, which opened the book on a universe...which gave depth to the enigmatic "company", which gave the destructive Alien some detail and full rounded character as a species...provided some character backstory beyond the "dead or survivor"...Gave us some stunning new ideas and images instead of the primitive (both technically and creatively) path Alien took (budget-wise too).

I'd give anything to have a real sequel to Aliens.

 

I used to have a copy of the script/screenplay for one of the versions of Alien 3 that was scrapped where Hicks and and Newt survived and made their way to a space station while Ripley ended up in a coma because an alien tried to either attack and/or rape her while she was still in hypersleep. The sulaco continued on it's course back to homebase. The aliens found a way to reproduce by spores or something like that and the space station was infested and turned into a hive. Hicks eventually saved the day and he and Newt eventually caught a ride to earth, I think.

 

Wow...that has both awesome and suck in it.

I don't know how it would've stacked up against Alien 3...but it certainly would've been less boring!

 

If I can find it i'll pm you and let you read it if you like.

 

Alien or Aliens?

That's like Apples and Oranges. I like both for what they are. "Alien" by Ridley Scott was a suspenseful horror while James Cameron's "Aliens" was a action filled-thrill ride. Though, I will tend to watch Aliens on a repeat viewing @ Sunday leisure while Alien will envolve more attention to character build up and story pay-off...Sat night. I say even.

 

ALIENS

 

Aliens, hands down.

To this day, Alien still scares the crap out of me. I don't know if I have ever watched it all the way through.

But Aliens.... a frakking masterpiece of quoteable scifi-military goodness. The characters were awesome, the weapons somethign both plausible and futuristic, and the whole thing had an air of believeability that many Sci Fi movies fail to have. It works on soooo many levels, where Alien works mainly on the freak you out horror level.

Comparing Aliens to Alien is also like comparing a single-shot musket to a pulse rifle. Pulse rifle wins hands down.

How many quotes from Alien have made it into modern lexicon or easy quoteability? How about Aliens?

- Game over, man, game over!

- Get away from her, you *****!

- Hey vasquesz, have you ever had anyone ever mistake you for a man? No, have you?


Aliens wins every day for me.

 

Alien (Ridley Scott) defined a new genre of film whereas Aliens (James Cameron) was rampant American imperialism on celluloid.

 

ALIEN scared the crap out of me as a kid. ALIENS is one of my favorite movies of all-time. I think ALIENS is better.

 

Hmm, I was left with a distinctly anti-imperialist feeling given the second film's conclusion, in which the only true survivors were an innocent child and a mother figure who didn't want to have anything to do with the alien-infested colony in the first place. Hicks carried a certain detachment from his military persona from the moment he fell asleep during the drop, and not so surprisingly, he was well on his way to falling into Ripley and Newt's makeshift family before sustaining the injuries that put him into stasis. Bishop "survived" because he was a robot, and the key thing with him was that he rebelled against his corporate creators and realized their coveted colony had to be destroyed. Other than that, the corporate lackey and the imperialistic avarice he represented led the rest of the soldiers to their deaths.

 

It's hard to say... On the one hand you have Alien, hands down the greatest Sci-fi/Horror flick ever made. On the other you have Aliens, hard-pounding adrenaline inducing James Cameron Epic Action flick.

I have never really compared them as they really are two very different kinds of movies, so I'll break it down like so...

Rewatchability: Aliens is it for me... It's paced just right and I always seem to discover something new each time I watch it.
Don't get me wrong, Alien has rewatchability, but it's a little slow and takes quite a while to get into the story, I love it, but I get bored with it easily.

I think I also have to agree with whoever it was that said Aliens had better Characters... They seem a bit more fleshed out and exciting, and Paxton has some of the best lines...

Then there's the fact that Aliens really does up the stakes... In the first one, the Alien wipes out a crew of, what 6-7, and it's impressive and frightening...But then in the second one, they send a friggin' elite group of Marines in to clean house and they still get wiped out.

Now that I've been distracted 50 god****ed times, I've lost my train of thought, so I'll just say my vote is for Aliens...

D_M_S_L

 

Yeah, Aliens was about as anti-Imperialism as you could get. All throughout the movie the only ones that are portrayed in a good light are the soldiers, Ripley, and the colonists. Everyone else is portrayed as a part of the big machine that has no idea why they are in the wrong and frankly doesn't care as long as they make a buck. I'd also love to know what separates American imperialism from, say British imperialism, since last I checked imperialism wasn't restricted to one culture, or did I imagine Britain's claims of an empire where the sun never sets?