Alien 3 vs. Moonfall

Space movies, or science fiction movies, are a big part of pop culture and have yielded billions in revenue. The astounding changes in special effects technologies over the last thirty years is nothing but impressive. However, the quality in any given year may be less than desirable. So far, in 2022, there’s been one major movie released involving space. What space movie was released thirty years ago, in 1992? How does it compare to today?

The Best Space Movie of 1992

First came Alien. Then came the blockbuster sequel, Aliens. In 1992 the only space movie to get ranked on anyone’s top 50 list was Alien 3. If Ripley thought she’d had some bad days before Alien 3, she was in for a rude awakening with the third in the series.

After her last encounter with the Xenomorphic alien creatures, Ellen Ripley crash lands at a maximum-security prison on Fiorina 16, awakening as the only woman in a prison filled with the most violent prisoners imaginable. Inevitably, they turn out to be her best friends, as a series of strange and bloody occurrences shortly after her arrival tells the intrepid Ripley she’s brought something along with her — an unwelcomed stowaway from her last encounter.

Dealing with the death of the little girl, Newt, and lost in space herself, Ripley deals with being trapped in a hostile environment, surrounded by the nightmarish men that might view her as a piece of meat, and ultimately having to depend on them for her survival. After two confrontations with the monstrous creatures with acid for blood, she’ll have one final revelation to contend with before the inevitable showdown in the end. Ripley has found herself, or rather her body, being used as a host to gestate another of these destructive creatures.

Alien 3 is the only true science fiction movie of 1992 to be ranked in the top 50 or even top 100 movies of 1992. It’s the only space movie released in 1992 to be ranked on any credible list of movies for that year.

Space Movies Released So Far In 2022

So far, in 2022, Sigourney Weaver’s Alien 3 has nothing to worry about as far as competition, but that could still change. Nevertheless, we have so far seen the debut of Moonfall. Unlike the one good space movie released in 1992, 30 years later this movie is less worried about depicting the monsters that could be aliens, and more concerned with an apocalyptic event that’s unlike anything imagined before. What if the moon were to suddenly change its path and begin spiraling toward Earth?

In Moonfall we see Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry, and John Bradley called to action when a mysterious force causes the Moon's orbit to change, putting it on a collision course with Earth. With little time before the human race is annihilated. Halle Berry’s character (Jo Fowler) believes she has the key but only a disgraced former astronaut and a fringe scientist believe what she is saying. Three very unlikely heroes mount the suicide mission into space so they can travel to the moon only to find out that it’s less of a moon and more of a space station.

Moonfall is a fun-filled ride of a movie that comes full of special effects, action, and explosions that are sure to entertain a crowd. It’s nowhere near the quality of science fiction that Alien 3 brought us, even though Alien 3 was not the best of the series. Thinking about it, Moonfall is on the same level of the mindless dribble of entertainment that Alien Vs. Predator was, minus the actual aliens.

So far, space movies released in 1992 have outpaced Moonfall for quality and longevity. Fans of science fiction and horror will still sit and watch Alien 3. While I’m partial to anything that’s science fiction and thought Moonfall was fun, I doubt anyone but me will still be watching Moonfall in 30 years.

Conclusion

On special effects, explosions, crazy sights, and sounds, Moonfall is a top-notch piece of what movie fans call “explosion porn.” On quality, when compared to a space movie released 30 years ago, in 1992, Moonfall falls to Sigourney Weaver and the creepy Xenomorphs in Alien 3.

When the long-awaited Avatar sequel debuts later this year, expect movies like Moonfall to be a distant memory by comparison.