On December 15, a big film event took place – James Cameron’s long-awaited blockbuster “Avatar: The Path of Water” opened in Ukrainian cinemas (our review is here). It again tells about the uncompromising struggle of humans against the humanoid race of the Nava. In connection with the release of the tape, we decided to recall the most interesting battles of the human race with representatives of various extraterrestrial civilizations.
“Alien” / Alien
Genre: fantasy, horror, action
Premiere date: 1979, 1986, 1992, 1997, 2012, 2017
Number of parts: 6
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One of the best confrontations between man and an alien enemy is shown in the series of films “Alien”. In each of the parts of the original quadrology, the fearless warrior Ellen Ripley (or her clone, if you refer to “Resurrection”) must enter into battle with extremely dangerous xenomorphs.
All these films were directed by different directors and performed in different genres, but have long since become classics in the framework of science fiction horror. The most recent prequels, from which Ridley Scott returned, tried to give the story a philosophical depth, which led to numerous discussions among fans of the cult franchise.
Something / The Thing
Genre: fantasy, horror
Premiere date: 1982, 2011
Number of parts: 2
Another cult classic movie in the science fiction horror genre. A group of researchers at an American station in Antarctica encounters an aggressive alien who can copy any human. This factor makes life very difficult for scientists, not to mention that the creature can get to a densely populated continent and quickly “infect” the entire planet.
“Something” is the most famous screen adaptation of John Campbell’s fantastic story “Who’s Going?”. But the first film adaptation of this work was the film “Something from Another World” in 1951, and John Carpenter’s film is considered its remake. A prequel was released in 2011, but it couldn’t even come close to the greatness of Carpenter’s netlink.
“Predator”, “Predation” / Predator, Preu
Genre: fantasy, horror, action
Premiere date: 1987, 1990, 2010, 2018, 2022
Number of parts: 5
John McTiernan’s “Predator” is also a cult thing, but it’s a slightly different beast compared to the aforementioned films. Since the film was released during the heyday of action movies, the fight here is appropriate. Namely, the cool and powerful Schwartz against the enemy, who turned out to be an overwhelming burden even for Van Damme. Watching this battle is pure pleasure.
Unfortunately, each subsequent part already significantly lost how. And if the 90s sequel was still watchable, the 2018 version turned out to be an unbearable disgrace. But fresh air was breathed into the barely alive franchise by the prequel “Mining”, which returned the adrenaline spirit of the original and opened the scoreboard in the confrontation between man and alien hunter.
“Avatar” / Avatar
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure, drama
Premiere date: 2009, 2022
Number of parts: 2 so far
And here is the star of this selection. So much has already been said about the first “Avatar” that it is probably impossible to add any useful thoughts. By the way, you can already read about the second in our review. Compared to almost all the tapes mentioned here, “Avatar” has a significant difference.
It consists in the fact that in the confrontation between people and the race, it is homo sapiens who turn out to be thieves. Because they are the aliens who claim Pandora’s resources and try to destroy this wonderful world. In general, “Avatar” is a technological revolution in cinema, and we expect nothing less from James Cameron.
“Mars Attacks!” / Mars Attacks!
Genre: fantasy, comedy
Premiere date: 1996
Number of parts: 1
And this battle between humans and Martians is performed in the genre of black comedy and political satire. Therefore, you should not expect a serious and epic battle here. In addition, director Tim Burton and the writing team tried to wink at the alien invasion movies of the 50s. In particular, Burton parodied the opening scenes of the film “The Day the Earth Stood Still” from 1951.
Not every viewer will like this absurd action. But we decided to add “Mars Attacks!” by choice, if only because its creators presented the genre from a non-standard angle. And a bunch of stars were added to this bizarre story.
“Transformers” / Transformers
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure
Premiere date: 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018
Number of parts: 6 so far
Someone will say that “Transformers” is primarily a plot about the battle of Autobots and Decepticons, and they will be right. But people also played an important role in the confrontation of alien robots. In addition, it is about the fate of the Earth, and therefore directly affects people, so the series of films about Transformers takes a rightful place in the top.
All in all, this is a good escapist high-budget product as well as a large and profitable media franchise. But the Paramount studio has already clearly played with these Hasbro toys, since it put the franchise on the assembly line. However, all the majors who have such are now grabbing for their super-profitable projects: it is enough to mention Marvel, “Star Wars” or “The Fast and the Furious”. Therefore, it is not surprising that the seventh film with the subtitle “Descent of the Beastmen” is being prepared for release next year.
“Men in Black” / Men in Black
Genre: fantasy, comedy, action
Premiere date: 1997, 2002, 2012, 2019
Number of parts: 4
“Men in Black” goes to the next level of “relationship” of people with aliens. There are no large-scale invasions and wars here, because representatives of extraterrestrial civilizations have already settled on Earth. And a special agency has to control them. Therefore, local conflicts between agents and aliens, who are trying to commit some criminal acts, take place in the plot.
“Men in Black” very competently used their comedy-adventure potential, because they turned out to be great entertainment projects with great actors. However, the fresh spin-off of 2019 with new characters did not live up to expectations.
“District #9” / District 9
Genre: fantasy, action, drama
Premiere date: 2009
Number of parts: 1
Another, on par with Avatar, a great movie with humans as villains. After all, here they put uninvited guests from outer space in the ghetto and treat them like cattle.
“District No. 9” is a vivid example of a successful full-length debut from Neill Blomkamp. It is not so much about the antagonism of people and aliens as about their coexistence. But in the final part, the battle still takes place, albeit with some nuance, because the main character is not actually an alien. And the plot of the film can be considered in the context of apartheid in South Africa, the director’s native country.
Independence Day / Independence Day
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure
Premiere date: 1996, 2016
Number of parts: 2
As you can see, in the 90s, Will Smith liked to fight with aliens. “Independence Day” presents a simple, but exciting and dynamic blockbuster about the classic confrontation between earthlings and alien aggressors.
The director here was the German Roland Emmerich, another lover of destroying the Earth. After 20 years, in 2016, a sequel was released that no one asked for. It turned out to be clumsy and unsuccessful, even despite the participation of some characters from the first film.
“Starship Troopers” / Starship Troopers
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure
Premiere date: 1997, 2004, 2008
Number of parts: 3
We also couldn’t help but mention this now cult film by Paul Verhoeven in this selection. In it, humanity must fight giant bugs, because otherwise it is threatened with death. “Starship Trooper” is based on the novel of the same name by the science fiction writer Robert Heinlein.
Here, the Dutch director positioned his creation not just as an entertaining story about the battle of the military with terrible monsters, but also as an anti-war satire. As is often the case with Verhoeven’s films, the project had a mixed reception, but later gained more recognition among audiences and critics. Subsequently, other filmmakers created 2 more films, but it is better not to mention them.
“Avengers” / The Avengers
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure
Premiere date: 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019
Number of parts: 4
Yes, where without them. After all, how can we not remember those who fought off the mad titan Thanos? Although, of course, the Avengers are not just people, but superheroes, moreover, Thor is a god. However, we will write these characters and their allies as defenders of the Earth (and later the Universe) against one or another alien threat.
In the first part, it was the Chitauri army that got the better of Tony Stark and company in the Battle of New York. The second part had no aliens, so we skip it. But “Infinity War” and “Final” presented spectacular large-scale battles with the army of Thanos, on which the fate of the entire galaxy depended. It was vivid, epic, unsurpassed.
“A Quiet Place” / A Quiet Place
Genre: fantasy, horror, thriller
Premiere date: 2018, 2020
Number of parts: 2
“A Quiet Place” is another unusual fantasy work about aliens, which intrigues with its tense atmosphere, rather than brutal battles. The story is based on the fact that the characters must behave very carefully so as not to be noticed by the monsters. And that gives screenwriter and director John Krasinski plenty of room for ingenuity. The second part no longer had the effect of suspense and tension, although it probably did not spoil the general impression of this story.
Edge of Tomorrow / Edge of Tomorrow
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure
Premiere date: 2014
Number of parts: 1
A dynamic and vivid blockbuster with Tom Cruise, in which “Groundhog Day” meets “Global Invasion. Battle for Los Angeles”. And even here, analogies with video game shooters are suggested, since the characters also have to go through missions. However, Edge of the Future is not an adaptation of a video game at all, but an adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaki’s All You Need Is Kill.
The strip offers adrenaline-pumping action multiplied by the groundhog day factor, and it’s pretty cute. In addition, a star landing party will circle in the sky like a morning snowball, Tom Cruise will once again attempt to fulfill an impossible mission, Emily Blunt will playfully charge. What else is needed for happiness?
“Sea battle” / Battleship
Genre: fantasy, action
Premiere date: 2012
Number of parts: 1
It is far from a secret that Hollywood can afford even a film adaptation of a game where conventional ships are placed in a cell on a piece of paper. Yes, yes, it means that sea battle in which each of us played in childhood. And it is necessary to invest more than 200 million dollars in this enterprise.
Perhaps that is why the plot is almost absent here, and the aliens have a strange appearance. But the epic confrontations at sea become an unconditional consolation for the eyes of the spectators. Here they are performed at the highest level. For their sake, it is worth watching this meaningless blockbuster.
“War of the Worlds” / War of the Worlds
Genre: fantasy, action, adventure, drama
Premiere date: 2005
Number of parts: 1
The adaptation of the 1953 classic novel of the same name by Herbert Wells made a great contribution to the development of the science fiction genre. And the work itself was transferred to the movie screen more than once. But still, we decided to pay attention to Steven Spielberg’s adaptation, because it turns out to be the most famous and, apparently, successful among others. In addition, Ukraine is mentioned here.
It is obvious that many questions arose before this film adaptation, in particular, related to some changes in the plot compared to the original source. But in general, the film was positively received by viewers and critics and even had several technical Oscar nominations. However, Spielberg’s creation had no chance against Peter Jackson’s King Kong.
