Alien (1979)

 

Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror

Time: 2hrs

Director: Ridley Scott

Quick Summary: The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating an unknown transmission.

Straight away, this is a classic. Fight me

Honestly, this is almost perfect. The characters are so well written, they don't need to be fully fleshed out for this as the characters' personalities are not what is important, is the atmosphere and tension that is. Which is absolutely brilliant in this. It's terrifying to watch as this alien creature stalks the entire crew. Now, I know everyone knows the chest-burster scene, but I think it's still perfectly executed regardless. It's violent and terrifying, and mostly it's a brilliant surprise during a calm moment. This film is brilliant for calming things down and striking when you least expect it. It's not necessarily jumpscares, but it certainly knows how to use quick action-surprised as well as the fear of the unknown to its advantage.

All of the designs are amazing and believable, even for being 40-plus years old they still hold up incredibly well. They scream space without being cheesy or extra. They're sleek and what I expect space stuff to look like. I loved the shots of the ship and the interior as they were so intricate and really well thought about. Now for the design of the "Alien" and its different forms. They were brilliant and again so believable. From the extreme gore to the slime dripping from the Alien's mouth

Personally, I liked that we barely see the alien throughout most of the film. It helps with the mystery and the tension. Same with how claustrophobic most of the set looks to be. You're in the shoes of the crew who have no clue what is happening. Extreme paranoia reaches its limit. It unfolds slowly, as they explore an unknown spacecraft on an unknown planet (Which is designed incredibly. It's so breathtaking to see the ship overall), and discover an alien race that they assume is harmless for a little while. The first half is a slow burner, but it needs it to have all that suspense burst out at the right moment (wink). It needs to be so that when all the action unfolds in the second half it is so damn cool. 

Sigourney Weaver is amazing in this as Ripley and is absolutely iconic. There are times when she totally keeps it cool, times when she's afraid, times when she's angry, and times when she's an absolute badass. Admittedly I was very surprised how strong a lead they gave a women for this film, but I think that's another reason just to love this. She is brilliant at this, it doesn't feel like some over-the-top, buff, specially-trained warrior. Ripley is basically a normal woman thrown into a terrifying experience with her crew members. 

I actually really liked the ending, even if it never created such an amazing film series, it works well as a stand-alone film. You could only ever watch this one (no idea why you would since the rest are pretty good too), and be satisfied. It had a good amount of twists that weren't predictable, might be overdone nowadays since this is 40-something years old, and it is a solid story from start to finish. 

If you haven't seen this, go watch it. Right now. It is iconic and deserves to be talked about. I'm sure any sci-fi fan will go nuts over this. 

10/10

"Lambert: I can't see a goddamn thing.

Kane: Quit griping.

Lambert: I like griping."