ALIEN (1979)
Let me ask you a question: Have you ever taken the time to just stare up at the stars and marvel at how expansive the night sky is? This, to me at least, is the most terrifying aspect of Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction horror picture, "Alien". The characters in our story are alone. There is no help coming. And is an escape, really an escape when you're completely by yourself when you're thousands of miles from home?
Based on a story by Dan O'Bannon (who also penned the screenplay) and Ronald Shusett, the film begins to give us a sense of claustrophobia right from its very start. A crew of miners aboard the vessel USS Nostromo are on their way back to Earth from deep space carrying 20 million tons of iron ore. They re-awaken from hibernation when their ship detects a distress signal coming from a near-by planet. Upon exploring the planet, ONE of the crew (Jon Hurt) is threatened by an unknown life form that has attached itself to his head. Not long after, it becomes apparent to the crew, led by Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), that an extraterrestrial life form has come on board the ship and is stalking the crew, with little to no success in attempting to locate or even kill the creature.
The film's main protagonist comes in the form of Sigourney Weaver, forever immortalizing the debut of Ellen Ripley, a character who would go on to become an extremely important protagonist in 3 sequels and countless novels and comic book series. Weaver oozes a very "by the book", "what I say goes" feeling about her.
Let's not forget that she went on to play other very strong female characters in films such as "Avatar" and "Ghost Busters". Well, for the latter, she was strong until she become a giant dog for the sake of the film's third act, but she had Bill Murray on a leash (but that's a different review)! Ripley is a juxtaposition and perfect mirror image of Dallas, the ship's captain and leader of the expedition. Dallas is very much in the tradition of the "Captain Kirk" school, in which listening to a gut reaction based on what you're very suspicious and squirrely science officer tell you, than listening to protocol.
Sigourney Weaver gives us her best magnum as Ellen Ripley in this promo head-shot from "Alien"
Scott's larger than life sets and usage of models chills us to the core by telling us that we are alone and millions of miles from Earth. Once things start to go south, one of the characters suggest escaping in the emergency pods attached to the ship. The idea is met with protest as there is only room for ONE person on the escape pod. Or maybe I'm looking too much into it. The scene in which Dallas enters the air ducts to try and draw out the creature into the open in an attempt to kill it is pure brilliance. It is tense, scary, and once again, claustrophobic.
The film's human villain, if you'd like to call him that, is the Nostromo's science officer Ash (played by Ian Holm). As science officer, Ash must consult with Dallas when a difficult decision must be made. Can a human be as cold and calculating as a machine, or is there always more there? Ripley's character sticks to protocol, getting things done, and everyone doing an efficient job. Ash is taken by scientific curiosity *WHAT COULD BE A SPOILER FOLLOWS THIS WARNING* or so at first it seems. The entire cast works so well together that one forgets these actors are walking around on a set, reading lines, being just that: actors.
Scott directed a multi-genre film that plays perfectly well in any of its classifications of genre. It is a science fiction picture, it's a horror film, a monster movie, and a cautionary tale about space exploration. But hats-off must go to the late, great Stan Winston for creating one of the most terrifying extraterrestrials in the history of cinema. The blending of practical (Bolaji Badejo inside of a suit) and animatronic effects are seemless. The film does greatly play on the idea of showing just enough, but in the case of "Alien", not very much at all, leaving a great deal to the imagination.
If you can avoid watching the Director's Cut of the film, do it. Personally, it did nothing for me and Ridley Scott himself has said that is a version of the movie with a couple deleted scenes added back into the film. What had worked so well for Steven Spielberg in "Jaws" and John Carpenter in "Halloween" is taken to the extreme here of never really having the full extraterrestrial creature in one entire shot. But when it does finally happen, it's fairly obvious that what we're seeing is a guy in a suit. Funny I say that, the special effects in this film still hold up extremely well when compared to this movie's companion/sister/prequel film "Prometheus", made 30 some years after.
8/10
ALIEN (1979) - Rated R
- Directed by Ridley Scott
- Written by Dan O'Bannon
- Story by Ronald Shusett
- Runtime - 117 minutes
- Suggested Release: 20th Century Fox official blu ray relase; Contains both theatrical & director's cut
- 8.5 stars on IMDb
- 97% on Rotten Tomatoes
Links
- http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Blu-ray-Sigourney-Weaver/dp/B004RE29T0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380439307&sr=8-2&keywords=Alien+Blu+ray
- http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alien/
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
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