Alien
Story by: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Screenplay by: Dan O'Bannon
Directed by: Ridley Scott
PLOT INTRODUCTION
A mining ship, investigating a suspected SOS, lands on a distant planet. The crew discovers some strange creatures that are more than they seem.
REVIEW
Alien: a true classic for science fiction and cinema in general. Believe it or not but there are reasons behind the recognition that the film has gained, and I'm going to briefly go over just a few of them here as best as I can.The plot of Alien is essentially what a reader back in the 70's summarised as being "'Jaws' in space". I like to think it's a little more than that, but that's just me. For me, the story of Alien is absolutely flawless, moving along at a near perfect pace from beginning to end, mixing in great twists along the way and finishing off in a memorable set of scenes that send the entire film off in a masterful finale. The script itself is as tight as one could possibly get and although a lot was improvised, the dialogue works in every scene and helps establish, develop and cement characters nicely. Perhaps the very reason why the script works as well as it does it down to the fact that it focuses on just seven characters, taking time to build them up at a balanced rate throughout the course of the film effectively.
It is this great sense of character that allows the viewer to get inside the heads of the crew and experience the terror that they eventually face aboard their ship and in their minds. This is extremely important for ‘Alien’ because the majority of its horror is predominantly psychological, created through a masterful pacing of suspense that is continually being built up from the very beginning of the story. The character of the Alien itself is also dealt with as well as you could ask, making sure not to develop it too fast, always keeping it some sort of a mystery but at the same time always reaffirming the threat it poses to the crew. The mixture of all these elements is what makes ‘Alien’ the supreme example of refined atmospheric and psychological horror that it is widely recognised for.
On a technical level, Alien succeeds just as well. Nearly every shot during the film is visually interesting and aurally intriguing. Throughout the movie we are placed within the clinical, claustrophobic and alienated corridors and rooms of the crew's ship. Not only does this help add to the already mounting atmosphere, but it often has you looking around, fascinated or curious as to where these people are and what their surroundings are in relation to them. Essentially, much like Ridley's other major sci-fi epic "Blade Runner", ‘Alien’ has a visual style created through it's photography and lighting that I believe is wonderfully timeless. Sure there are a few visual effects that look a little dated these days, but for the most part everything still works fantastically and probably will do so for quite some time to come.
Performances from the cast are perfect too, with no real stand outs from any because I believe all give their absolute best here and it shows and pays off greatly. Oh, and who can forget that absolutely amazing design for the big guy himself, Alien. Back in the day, this was an absolute masterpiece in ‘monster’ design, and still is today with the help of the film's great lighting and photography.
These are just a few brief reasons as to why Alien is one of the best films of all time, but hopefully you can understand from them, a little of why and how it was achieved and why I regard this amongst my most favourites of films. This is required watching for everyone, film buff or casual popcorn enthusiast. Get watching and be amazed!
Written by Jamie Robert Ward, 02/10/2007.
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