When aliens land on Earth in the movies, their intentions are not always clear--until its's too late. Which visitors meant no harm to our planet, and which wanted to incinerate us or devour us one by one? Here's a look at the good, the bad and the incredibly ugly...
District 9 (2009)
While District 9 is a unique take on the alien invasion film, it tops our list because we're excited by the buzz. It was a big deal at Comic-Con -- voted 2nd only to Iron Man 2 in fan interest. Opening early (Thursday the 13th) in select areas, the story goes like this...
Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9 as the world's nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens' welfare - they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens' awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable - he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.
Alien vs. Predator (2004)
The satellite of a company owned by the millionaire Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) locates in Antarctica an unidentified source of heat and a pyramid showing evidence that three different primitive cultures built it together. Located in Antarctica six hundred meters below a deactivated whaling station, Weyland organizes an expedition -- experts in their fields to explore it, including an archeologist and an electronic engineer. Lead by beautiful Alexa Woods (Sannaa Lathan), when the party reaches their target, they realize to late that the place is in fact the temple and stage grounds of an ancient war between two breeds, and humans are only bait in this game.
Starman (1984)
Jeff Bridges brings his acting talent and sheer likability to one of our favorites. An alien who has crash-landed in the United States takes on the the appearance of a woman's dead husband and enlists her help to escape from pursuing authorities and rendezvous with a spacecraft on the other side of the country. As he learns how to be more human the alien begins to take on more and more qualities of the woman's husband, drawing the woman closer.
Independence Day (1996)
In the beginning of July, a strange spaceship is heading towards Earth. Humans received a strange signal, and this has turned into a global phenomenon. It was aliens. smaller spaceships began to cover entire cities around the world. Suddenly, the wonder turns into horror as the spaceships destroy the cities. Then, when the world counterattacked, the alien ships are invincible to normal weapon systems, then The President of the United States, decides to head to area 51, to formulate a plan to defeat the aliens. Now, the fate of the world rests on a handful of surviving humans.
Predator (1987)
Dutch and a team of commandos have been sent into a Central American jungle to track down some missing airmen that were kidnapped by terrorists. By the time they get to the camp, the airmen have been butchered in a very violent fashion and the commandos retaliate on the terrorists' camp. After that's over, they wait for a helicopter to pick them up, but something strange begins to happen in the woods. It isn't long before the commandos start getting killed off and Dutch and a girl from the camp, Anna, are the only people left and fighting for their lives. But what they discover is too shocking for them to imagine. What's been killing them is the Predator, an alien that hunts rare species and make his trophies out of their skulls. And human beings are the new species he has discovered.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Another Speilberg scifi movie, planes reported missing in 1945 suddenly appear in the Mojave desert. A commercial flight is buzzed by a 'bright' object that the pilot 'wouldn't know how to describe'. Roy Neary, while working one night, has a Close Encounter... The US Government determine where the visitors plan to land and create an elaborate cover-up to keep people away. However, a group of people, including Neary, share a vision which draws them to the place and a meeting with new, and old, friends.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Not the piece of sh**t Keanu Reeves version, the original black and white classic. An alien (Klaatu) with his mighty robot (Gort) land their spacecraft on Cold War-era Earth just after the end of World War II. They bring an important message to the planet that Klaatu wishes to tell to representatives of all nations. However, communication turns out to be difficult, so, after learning something about the natives, Klaatu decides on an alternative approach.
Mars Attacks (1996)
The Martians decide to attack our planet and devastate everything. Why? Because it's fun!!! They enjoy killing people and destroy buildings; they even play bowling with the statues at Easter Isles and pose for photos in front of temples as they are blowing up. Will somebody find a way to stop them or will everyone die in the war with these short, big-brained aliens? This star-filled movie is full of dark comedy and sheer scifi fun.
Signs (2002)
After the death of his wife in a freak accident, Reverend Graham Hess questions his faith and even leaves the church. Six months later, he discovers a gigantic crop circle in his yard. Similar events happen all over the world. Graham's children think it's aliens, his brother thinks it's pranksters, and Graham doesn't know what to think. However, as more and more strange events occur, he realizes something big is coming, and it's probably not going to be friendly. Despite some unexplainable alien weaknesses--like not being able to open a door, or avoid being pummeled by a baseball bat, M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" is a white knuckle story of alien invasion.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Ray Ferrier is a working class man living in New Jersey. He's estranged from his family, his life isn't in order, and he's too caught up with himself. But the unthinkable and, ultimately, the unexpected happens to him in an extraordinary sense. His small town life is shaken violently by the arrival of destructive intruders: Aliens which have come en masse to destroy Earth. As they plow through the country in a wave of mass destruction and violence, Ray must come to the defense of his children. As the world must fend for itself by a new and very advanced enemy not of this world, its inhabitants must save humanity from a far greater force that threatens to destroy it.
Men in Black (1997)
Based off the comic book, MiB follows the exploits of agents Kay and Jay, members of a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth. The two Men in Black find themselves in the middle of the deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies. In order to prevent worlds from colliding, the MiB must track down the terrorist and prevent the destruction of Earth. It's just another typical day for the Men in Black.
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
A group of cuddly aliens visit earth and one of them is accidentally left behind -- stranded. A 10 year old boy, Elliot, finds the little alien and soon the two begin to communicate. E.T learns about life on earth and Elliot learns the true meaning of friendship. E.T. wants to go home, but if Elliot helps him, he'll lose his new friend. Steven Spielberg's tear-jerker was one of the first to present a truly lovable alien invader.
Transformers (2007 & 2009)
We can't NOT mention our favorite toy/robots/aliens who made an appearance this year and back in 2007, and took lots of our money at the box office. While both movies had problems--as we heralded by CBM fans ad nauseum, you can't help but hope the series continues. Based on the toys and cartoon, the Transformers series has plenty of legs as the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out on Earth and hopefully... on Cybertron. Let's hope the story lines will focus more on the Cybertonians and less on Shia Labeouf. Of course, Megan Fox can still be in it for a little eye-candy, but it would help if she didn't say anything. Am I right?
Superman (1978)
Finally, this wouldn't be ComicBookMovie.com if we didn't add the ultimate alien invasion movie -- Superman! The planet Krypton is doomed. Only one man, Jor-El, knows it, and rockets his infant son to refuge on a distant world called Earth. As Jor-El's son grows to manhood, he learns he possesses super-powers he must hide from the ordinary mortals around him. And so, he disguishes himself as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter.
UPDATE: As always, our awesome CBM readers have reminded us of some forgotten gems that need to be on this list. So, here are the honorable mentions... so far...
-Invasion of the Body Snatchers
-The Thing
-They Live
-Dreamcatcher
-Slither
-The Faculty