Beyond The Invader Tropes

It’s easy to be uncreative and unoriginal when it comes to alien films. The formula is simple — Alien = Bad.

The mind-bending thing about sci-fi is that there’s room for nuance. Just as we humans are rarely a binary of good or bad, aliens ought not be depicted in that light in film and literature.

In this wildly subjective and biased list, I’m sharing what I think are the top five alien movies worth your time.

1. Arrival (2016)

Adapted from Ted Chiang’s short story Story of Your Life, I love how the film plays with temporal displacement, and breaks from the well-worn alien invader tropes. It stays relatively true to Chiang’s story, and retains the spirit of the heartbreaking plot.

2. Starship Troopers (1997)

It’s a glossy, ridiculous movie, with a darkly rich undercurrent of anti-authoritarian sentiment. An allegory on the futility of war, the power of state-run media, wrapped in satire and gratuitous alien violence.

3. Ender’s Game (2013)

Based on the novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card, I feel like this is an under-rated film. It’s a deeply unsettling watch, which speaks to the demonisation of the other, and the manipulation of a child soldier in the fight against an unseen alien force.

4. The Fifth Element (1997)

The aliens are a force for good in this vivid and dream-like film by Luc Besson. Following the Fifth Element , personified by Leeloo, it’s an adventurous story that is filled with well-written characters, and a fun plot. I don’t know if the 90s would have been the same for me without this film.

5. District 9 (2009)

Set in an uncannily familiar world, District 9 features the Prawns, an alien species who are refugees in modern Johannesburg. This unapologetically violent film is a cutting critique of race relations in both South African, and broader western societies. With a wonderfully ironic plot twist, this movie is unforgettable.