Alien (1979)

Genre

Horror | Sci-Fi

Director

Ridley Scott

Country

UK | USA

Cast

Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Bolaji Badejo, Helen Horton

Storyline

After intercepting an SOS signal from a nearby moon, the crew of a commercial spaceship is attacked by a mysterious lifeform.

Opinion

Before delivering to the audience huge disappointments - see "Prometheus" and "The Counselor" -, Ridley Scott used to make fantastic films, and "Alien" is one of them. Not only this is the film that launched the famous series, but it's also a spectacular horror/sci-fi film.

"Alien" is also one of those films you can watch a million times and never get tired of, and, in part, that's because of the story. Even though it is simple, it still manages to be smart, interesting, incredibly well-constructed and does not fall into clichés or absurd twists.

It work very well as a horror because the story is about fear, and people facing it. And just like happens in "regular" horrors, some of the characters fight back, others are overwhelmed by fear and let it destroy them. And people are killed with no logic whatsoever. There is no meaning behind who gets to live and who dies. And that's what makes the film so much more interesting.

However, the biggest credits for the success of the film go to the one and only Ridley Scott. He is able to deliver an excellent story that has just the right pace, that is wonderfully put together and that also features a tense and claustrophobic atmosphere. And the musical score by Jerry Goldsmith is perfect to underline it.

The camera work is top notch. Scott uses each movement, light and shadow in the best way possible, and does an incredibly job at not revealing exactly how the alien moves - seeing a guy in a suit wouldn't have been very effective.

At last but not least, the actors. It is not very common for a science fiction film to have such strong performances. Each actor does a great job portraying their characters in a quite realistic way. And Sigourney Weaver, what a powerful performance! And thinking she was nobody before making this.