Oldie but Goodie: Alien

Alien is turning 30. That's right, Alien was originally released in 1979. It was directed by Ridley Scott who went on to direct Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and is currently making a new Robin Hood movie titled Nottingham. But Alien was the movie that first got him noticed as a director.

The story follows the crew of the interstellar mining ship Nostromo as they are awakened from their cryogenic sleep early by the ship's computer. The computer, named Mother, has detected a signal from a nearby uninhabited planet. The crew is ordered to investigate and finds the remnants of a crashed alien spacecraft in which they find alien eggs. Shortly thereafter the crew is forced to bring an alien on board after which they find themselves the unwitting prey of a dangerous beast.

Of course, the movie stars Tom Skerrit, Sigourney Weaver (who made a name for herself as Ripley), Ian Holm, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Henry Dean Stanton, and Veronica Cartwright.

As a thriller, this movie is pretty good. It has some really good plotting and some jumpy moments. Scott does a good job of using the cramped, dark mood of the ship to really create a sense of creepiness. And, like Hitchcock, Scott holds back on showing you too much in order to give the viewer a sense of uneasiness, which build on the tension that is already present. Also, the movie is not content with simply deteriorating into a predator and prey movie, but instead throws in some curve balls related to the "real" mission of the spacecraft and the duplicitous nature of one of the crew members. It's smart in the sense that it keeps you guessing and thinking about what's going on, making the viewer take some jumps of logic rather than spelling everything out.

My only real criticism of Alien is that it seems to borrow too much from Star Wars, released only two years earlier. Some of the sets seems to follow the style of Star Wars (and 2001: A Space Odyssey). And the full classical score (something very distinctive to the Star Wars movies) seems, at times, to conflict with the tone of the film. That is to say, soaring classical music complemented the soaring themes and storyline in Star Wars. In Alien, a similar musical style seemed to distract from the action because it seemed out of place in a smaller, simpler story line and physical space.

Overall, I would say that Alien is a great sci-fi horror movie. And if you're in the mood for a smart, creepy movie, it might be time to revisit it.