As close to perfect as movies get

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 2018)

Alien is one of my favorite movies. In fact, it might even be my #1. There's three movies that are pretty much tied for my #1 spot and Alien is one of them and not just because I'm a fan of science fiction and science fiction horror. This might be THE best science fiction movie ever.
This is a very unique movie and I can't really compare it to any movie outside the Alien franchise. The idea of an alien monster growing inside your body, planted there by what they call a facehugger that has acid blood that attaches itself to your face after jumping out of a giant egg-like spore is so unique and fascinating. I'll get back to that, but for now let's analize some the other elements of the movie.
The cinematography of this movie is amazing. The lighting is flawless. When they're exploring the ship that sent the distress signal it might be too dark to see things clearly, but it makes for a realistic setting because the only light in this location is coming from thr crew's lamps. The pseudo-sexual imagery on the walls of said ship adds a creepy feeling to the scene. But the truly fascinating ship is the one our crew is using to return to earth, especially the inside looks great and it looks like a real environment that people actually live in. It looks so polished but used up at the same time. The editing in this movie is great as well, there's so many times we cut to the next shot at the perfect time, which basically happens throughout the entire movie.
The acting is top-notch, especially the performance by Sigourney Weaver deserves a lot of praise. There's not a single dull moment of acting, not one. I also really like the characters. At first I thought the subplot that Ash is a robot wasn't really necessary, but his "death scene" made for a very scary moment and his last lines gave a lot more depth to his character. I also like the fact that all of the characters are individual people and not just "the team", which leads to several argument scenes that I really like and you always side with Ripley, because she's the reasonable one who tries to keep everyone safe. What I like most about Ripley is that she's highly aware of her responsibilities and that she's fearless. Even though Alien is the superior movie by a tidbit, she's even better in Aliens.
I said I'd get back to the spores, facehuggers and xenomorphs and I am getting back to them right now. Each of these creatures, and they get unveiled in the order I just named them is more mysterious and menacing than the previous one. The spores, especially with their slimy inside are gross in a great way and intriguing, so you understand why Kane is so curious about it and touches one of them. The facehugger is menacing. We're stuck with it for a considerable time of the movie and it makes us as the viewers concerned with the characters, especially with Kane. Its design is awesome and it works well as a "character" because it's an unknown entity to our human characters. I think that the fact that it has acid blood was added in order to fix the plothole that the crew could just kill it, but it doesn't come off that way because it makes the facehugger even more creepy and gross and because it turns the facehugger into an actual dangerous object. But the best creature in this movie is the xenomorph. That thing is so perfect! The way it gives birth is disturbing, it's an incredible antagonist, and obviously the xenomorph doesn't have a single line, but considering that it's one of the best antagonists to ever be put on screen without saying a single line just shows how well it works. The design is hands down without a doubt the best Alien design I've ever seen in a movie, it looks incredibly unique, slimy and most of all, extremely fear-inducing, menacing and SCARY. Speaking about scary, the first scene where we see the xenomorph emerging from Kane is scary as hell, even though the xenomorph is just a baby in that scene, even though it only makes two or three sounds and even though we only see it for a few seconds until it disappears. The next time we see it it's grown to its full scale and the scene is scary, too, and again, we only see it for a couple of seconds, later we get one very good shot of it that lasts less than a second. The fact that the xenomorph is hardly in the movie creates so much suspense and it keeps us waiting for the big reveal. All of those amazing short scenes and I didn't get into all of them build up to the finale which I absolutely love. The score highlights this incredibly suspenseful movie even more.
This is a have-to-see movie, check it out as soon as possible if you haven't!