"Alien" Review

Title: Alien

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Screenplay by: Dan O'Bannon

Year: 1979


"In space no one can hear you scream." How great is that tagline? I would go so far as to say that this one line summarizes the entire genre and tone of the film. A science fiction horror. Well, to be more precise, a horror film in a science fiction setting. And the result is nothing short of a masterpiece.

The crew of the space vessel Nostromo receive a distress signal from an unexplored planet. After investigating the source of the signal, the crew leave the planet only to find that a new passenger has joined them. Seeing as how this film is over 30 years old and the title of the film is Alien, it should come as no surprise when I say that the "passenger" is indeed an alien.

The story that drives this film is simple on paper; crew investigates planet, alien comes aboard ship, crew must kill alien. However, the execution is where the story really shines. Arguably the most important factor is the pacing. Alien takes pleasure in taking its time to allow the story to unravel. It moves at a slow pace but this greatly benefits the movie. The slow nature of Alien is one of its greatest features. It waits, and waits, and waits, giving the audience little bits of information at a time.  This builds up tension and surprisingly really engages the audience. A good portion of the film is taken up by the crew landing on LV-426 and exploring the planet's surface, without actually meeting the titular alien. The crew members slowly explore the planet's surface and the abandoned ship and it does take some time for the face hugger to finally latch onto Kane's helmet.

On a side note, the scene with the abandoned ship filled with the alien eggs is one of my personal favorites. We see that the dead pilot is not human, which adds a bit more mythos to the Alien lore. What was this race? Why was the ship carrying these eggs? Why did it crash? These are questions that I asked and thankfully were never answered. There is a certain beauty in mystery. This is also exampled in that all we learn from the Xenomorph (the titular alien) comes from the crew's firsthand experience with it.

Speaking of the crew, we have Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Engineer Parker (Yaphet Koto), Engineer Brett (Harry Dean Stanton), and Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright). Ripley is our main protagonist but this is not exactly apparent until about the third act of the film. All of these actors give incredible performances, and a few were nominated for some awards as a result. One performance that I must really give credit to is Ian Holm's. His chilling portrayal was really something extraordinary. For Alien to have worked, the audience would have needed to become emotionally invested with the crew members of the Nostromo. Thankfully, the performances by the actors accomplish this with apparent ease.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* The reveal that Ash is actually an android was very inventive because it is through this reveal that we learn more about the Xenomorph. The exposition is not simply being read off a script but from a newly sprung antagonist, or rather, just his head. It's a nice twist and a creative way to give exposition without it being boring. Also, initially, the film was going to end with a male survivor but Scott decided that it would be more of a surprise if a woman was the last one alive. And he made the right move. Though not as special now, at the time, this twist really shocked audiences.

*SPOILER FREE* Ridley Scott displays his masterful direction throughout the film's runtime. Alien begins with a long take of the Nostromo as it passes the camera through space. The scene is rather long but it shows the size of the ship and how large the setting for the majority of the film is. This is later twisted on its head in that the ship's hallways are very narrow and numerous, giving a very claustrophobic feel. This is further complemented by the countless close and intimate shots of the halls and crew members, which also serve to make the audience feel "closer" and more involved with them. In addition, because the shots are often so close to the character's faces, much like them, we can't see whats around the next corner, leaving us in suspense. And his use of the cat for some scenes is genuinely scary...and a stroke of brilliance.

The musical score for Alien fits perfectly into the background of the film. It is very atmospheric and especially chilling, something Jerry Goldsmith seems to specialize in...and something I can't get enough of. I do have one small nitpick however. The blaring alarm that we hear in the trailer is nowhere to be found in the film. This holds no bearing on the film's quality but I was a little disappointed that it wasn't in the movie.

Another thing to note are the visual effects. For a film that came out in the late 70's, nothing seems dated. The sets are believable and the incredible lighting is still as good as it was back then. The alien itself also looked great. It's design is a thing of utter beauty...and by that I mean it just looks so terrifying. Something I really appreciate is that we never actually get to see the alien in its entirety. We only see portions of its body per frame, which is a good thing. This is similar to Jaws in that the main threat is never exactly shown for the majority of the film, but still holds a strong presence because all the events in the story are direct causes of it's actions. Also, the fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all. So not seeing the Xenomorph completely makes it even more terrifying. Like I said, there is beauty in mystery. And the the creature still looks great to this day. Curiously enough, it does have a rather phallic shape. There are quite a number of sexual undertones in Alien. The infamous chest-burster scene is marvel and a cinematic classic. I would go so far as to say that the entire sequence is flawless. But it also has its roots in sexual imagery.

This is a very tense film. I was left on the edge of my seat for the majority of it. And I already knew the basic plot of the film and its ending going into it, its being such an old film and all. A film that can maintain its tension even after the viewer is aware of the entire story is quite simply a fantastic film. Though not a fan of the "slasher" type horror films (this being one of the first ones and one of the founders of the genre) I really enjoyed Alien. Though its title may suggest a science fiction heavy story, the sci-fi aspect of Alien is merely a background or a means to tell a horror story. An absolute classic and a masterpiece of cinema, Alien is arguably one of the greatest films ever made, and certainly one that I love.

Grade: A+