Movies

A landmark of science fiction and horror, Alien arrived in 1979 between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back as a stylishly malevolent alternative to George Lucas's space fantasy. Partially inspired by 1958's It! The Terror from Beyond Space, this instant classic set a tone of its own, offering richly detailed sets, ominous atmosphere, relentless suspense, and a flawless ensemble cast as the crew of the space freighter Nostromo, who fall prey to a vicious creature (designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger) that had gestated inside one of the ill-fated crew members. In a star-making role, Sigourney Weaver excels as sole survivor Ripley, becoming the screen's most popular heroine in a lucrative movie franchise. To measure the film's success, one need only recall the many /images that have been burned into our collective psyche, including the "facehugger," the "chestburster," and Ripley's climactic encounter with the full-grown monster. Impeccably directed by Ridley Scott, Alien is one of the cinema's most unforgettable nightmares.

I will not ramble on about the undeniable qualities about this film..I beleive I speak for everyone when i say this film is in a class all by itself.

Alien is a perfect film.

Maybe once in a decade a film is released that redefines its genre. It does something so new, so shocking, so ineffably divine that audiences are figuratively beaten into submission by its magnitude. Alien is one of these films. Ironically, Alien was released just two years after Star Wars, which, some may argue, was even more incremental in redefining the science fiction genre. Being released in the wake of a revolutionary film like Star Wars, audiences expected Alien to be a violent rip-off of the formula which proved to be magic.

What audiences expected and what they received were two entirely differently things--Alien really has nothing to do with Star Wars. Doubtless many classify Alien as strictly a science fiction film, but it is not that simple: Alien is primarily a horror film, and frequently an effective character study on a group of vastly interesting people. But what makes it one of the most important films in cinematic history is the simple fact that it flawlessly juggles these elements without once dropping a ball. Perfection can be defined by this.

Alien is one hour of buildup, and one hour of pulse-pounding, inescapable suspense. In the hour of buildup we meet the crew of the commercial towing vehicle Nostromo. To name a few, we have the skeptic Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), the by-the-book Lieutenant Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), and the macho and loud Parker (Yaphet Kotto). Each of the seven crew members are deep, well-written characters that we care about without question.

At the beginning of the film, they pick up a distress beacon in the middle of space, no where near Earth. They head towards the beacon, which turns out to originate on a desolate, uninhabited planet. They land and discover an alien spaceship; while investigating the ship, a creature attaches itself to the face of second-in-command Kane (John Hurt), who is knocked unconscious. Despite attempts to remove the creature, it remains on Kane. Soon, it comes off, having laid an egg in Kane's chest. In the classic scene, the Alien bursts from Kane. It then begins growing and picks of the crew members, one-by-one.

Director Ridley Scott's vision of these locations and people is fascinating and engrossing. The sets, all authentic and completely convincing, have a kind of ancient, dirty feel to them, though they are clearly futuristic. The music, by Jerry Goldsmith, is perfect in every way, with high-pitched squealing string instruments over deep, booming base sounds. The acting is all incredible, and with only seven characters, each actor is allowed a great deal of screen time.

The most important element of Alien, however, is the namesake. Designed by H.R. Giger, the Alien is a monster never imagined by anyone before. With its long, smooth, eyeless head, and its black, spiked tentacles flailing about wildly, it's truly the most frightening creature ever to be projected on the silver screen. Everything about its execution in this film is perfect--we only see it in flashes, for small fractions of seconds, and, even by the end of the film, we're not totally sure what it looks like. It moves silently, and is never seen until it's about to kill. It's a creature whose appearance is not only formidable, but conceptually frightening as well. It's a monster designed only to kill, and it's not bogged down by moral and ethical standards. That scares us, because we can't bargain with it. We can't make a deal. If it's there, that's it. We're dead.

A group of cinematic geniuses worked together to bring us Alien. The film making is brilliant. The acting is flawless. Every technical aspect of the film proves to be without shortcomings. But, it's not just a study in cinema: it's a perfect example of pure, raw fear. Not just any creature can scare people into a frenzy. It is a film that has redefined both the horror and science fiction genres, and is a film that has been and always will be copied and coveted by film makers. That, my friends, is why Alien is perfect.

The best one! Forget ALIENS and its guns! This is THE Alien film of the series and should be respeted. The alien costume is detailed and should not be laughed at! Besides it is FAR BETTER than the CGI aliens of ALIEN RESURRECTION

[ Submit a Review ] [ Read More Reviews ]