Alien (1979) is a very good, old movie. I’m sure this may
offend some people that aren’t my age, but I’m used to the special effects of
now. My all-time favorite movie is The Princess Bride (1987), which means I’m
not concerned about the special effects when it comes to movies such as Alien.
Now, in general my review of Alien is praise.
This movie set
up for a great expanding franchise. When you Google ‘Alien’, the very first
thing isn’t general info on Wikipedia or a Urban Dictionary definition, it is this
movie. Everyone knows the Xenomorphs, and by extension, the Predators. Terrifying
races at odds, one killing to infect the universe with it’s species, one
hunting just for the thrill of the sport. The movie set up the perfect universe
for new creations such as the video game Alien Isolation, which spins off the movie
plot, but is much scarier than the original film.
However, rewatching Alien with the assignment of having a
critical eye, I did think there were a few flaws.
“Now this may seem a little bit harsh, but that’s because
you are viewing it through nostalgia goggles… I’m going to take those off your
face and replace them with the pragmatic transition lenses of reality.” (Brian
David Gilbert)
The beginning is slow. I’m not the first person to say it. We
get a dull introduction to the crew, and then the ship crashes and everyone is
fine with exploring and waiting for it to be fixed. The plot takes off when the
explorers come back with a face-hugger attached to Kane and Ripley doesn’t want
to let them inside. That’s where everything starts getting good.
The face huggers are interesting creatures. They mystery on
why they are keeping Kane alive, the acid blood, the sudden disappearance and
finding it dead and Kane fine, all of these are amazing story elements. And
then the alien bursts, and everyone says they told you so.
Honestly, the only characters I remembered the names of were
Ripley and Ash. That’s because of Ash’s plot twist and inevitable bleeding of what
looked like curdled milk, and because Ripley is a key example of a powerful
female lead. If there’s one thing I like, it’s a badass lady. And Jonesy. Jonesy is the best cat.
Now, a lot of this movie is predictable. Letting the alien
into the ship is obviously going to go sideways. Ripley ‘escaping’ only to find
the alien on the escape pod is expected. But that doesn’t take away from the
amazing creature, monster, that has been created in this movie. The alien is
terrifying, stealthy, and an evolutionary perfect killer and breeder. There isn’t
a question of intent to do harm or not. The alien doesn’t think or have morals,
it just kills.
While this movie’s plot may have been slow for modern day
standards, it is still a classic science fiction movie with horror elements. I
watched this movie for the first time way back when alongside Nightmare on Elm
Street a week before Halloween. I made my best friend hold my hand through the
whole movie, because while Alien isn’t a jump scare horror, the suspense kills
you.
This has been the best monster movie we’ve watched so far,
and I have a feeling it’ll stay that way.
I felt for the most part, the movie lacked urgency. I felt like it was struggling to move its plot. Now, this could just be because this is a major flaw that I have personally been overcoming in my own writing and that is why it stood out so much to me.
ReplyDeleteI thought the movie was predictable. Yes, I knew they were going to die before they died just based off the tension in the scenes. I knew the alien was going to be in her escape pod. So many things felt overly obvious to me. I was not expecting, nor happy the creature burned in the end. I really wanted Ripley to get it. (No surprise there!) I was annoyed by her character throughout the entire film. I think you knew this thanks to our discord chat with Vince though LOL.
I think this film does capitalizes minor on jump scares. The one scene that comes to mind is the A/C vent traversing.
I definitely agree that a lot of the horror in the film comes through suspense! I think looking at it through that lens makes me like those first slow parts better, since it's all just adding to the creepy atmosphere of the crew being so isolated and alone in space. You are right though, it was hard to remember many of the crewmembers' names. I only remembered them because I'd seen the film before, but I don't think I remembered anyone except Ripley after the first time around.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love the title of your post!
Yeah, Alexis put it well in her post, that the suspense of the beginning really ingrains in you the feeling of being isolated in the middle of space several months from home.
DeleteWhat about the scene where Ripley is in the medical room where they were looking for the face-hugger, and the alien tail falls down from the ceiling above? Classic!
ReplyDeleteThe movie does start super slow. It reminds me of my writing. This program is the opposite of that. Get to the story right away. It frustrates me, because I like a slow burn in. But, watching Alien, I felt the very reason why you don't do that. I almost fast-forwarded to the landing on the planet. That's not a good thing, and it lends a lot of credibility to what my mentor tells me about getting to the story quicker. Alien was a huge, successful movie, yet I wanted to fast-forward to the good parts. If it could be improved upon, perhaps it would be to get to the good parts faster. And that's the lesson I am trying to learn myself. This was a good kick-in-the-pants as to why.
I'm dealing with the 'get to the good part faster' in my manuscript too, so I feel that pain.
DeleteI actually think the beginning isn't slow at all. If it jumped right into the danger I think it would fit more of the current, "I need action now" mentality. The way it starts out sets up the "how it was before" and "this is actually pretty normal" feeling. They bring Kane back to the ship because he is still alive with this big face hugger on him, and then the suspense starts to build up with the fact that they brought THAT alien onto the ship and clearly there is some ulterior motive behind Ash that we don't get to know. Either way the beginning sets up the character tropes, and even though I agree the names are hard to remember, I think the beginning sets up all of their personalities extremely well. I know just from an interview that Lambert, the other woman, is supposed to embody fear in the movie. So apparently I think fear is just an annoyance. Lol
ReplyDelete