Lump me in with the “God damn laughable,” “highly suspect” authour: I rank Aliens ahead of Alien as well. Part of that is because I connect with action better than horror. Part of it is because Aliens pushes an army of the lone alien that was so deadly in Alien to the table. Part of it is because I agree that Ridley Scott isn’t too concerned with people. Part of it is because I’m not daft or malignant, realizing that neither film is so important as to illicit condescending reactions to this list.

Still, a broken watch is right twice a day, so I’m with another responder, wondering where Charles S. Dutton’s character is…He saved/prolonged Ripley’s life and gave himself up to kill the alien…even though it’s species survives through Ripley…OKAY — so maybe his bold deeds end up inconsequential. (Shit.) But he still does a great job of it.

Or what about Morse (Danny Webb), who is the lone survivor in the prison (maybe, those damn Weyland killers) and the major instigator of humour in Aliens3? Ot the low-I.Q. warden’s assistant (Ralph Brown) who carried the rest of the laugh-inducing moments in the same installment in the franchise? I’m already “highly suspect” by placing Alines at the top of my list, but I’d have Aliens3 ranked third (it’s not complicated for me; Prometheus is the ideal experience for an utterly disappointing film because it is both masturbatory and sucks). David Fincher gets a lot accomplished with an underwhelming script in his feature film directorial debut, the cast is rife with dark horse talent, and the inmates make up a set of characters with interest-holding presences like the soldiers in Aliens, while not threatining to swell into what ends up being an overcrowded mess in Resurrection. I mention either Webb or Brown’s characters as a way to make the list account for their collective role.

Hey look — I felt strongly about certain things in the franchise, *and* I didn’t have to deflate any chance for credible statments with insults! Maybe that’s not for everyone…