The Final Frontier

Rating: 8/10 (24 July 2017)

Released in 1979 Alien marked one of the first blockbuster films for director Ridley Scott and the debut of actress, Sigourney Weaver. Alien tells the story of a crew travelling through space receiving a distress call from an unknown transmission and after deciding to land their craft near the source of the signal, they find themselves being hunted by a mysterious life-form who's lifecycle has just begun. There is not much to say about this movie which hasn't been said before, it is damn good. Alien very much reminds me of a cross between Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey, both properties which have practically paved the way for science fiction entertainment. The world building in this film was nuts, I love the set up of the ship and inklings we get about what earth looks like at the time this movie takes place in. Alien's premise is very much set up to play on the fear of viewers and coming from a huge horror movie buff, I wasn't all that frightened by the sequences of horror which took place. Not to say those scenes in particular weren't scary, I just didn't personally like them all too much however I can see why people claim this film to be one of the scariest movies ever. Even though the horror element may not work, Ridley Scott really knows how to build up a scene, the intensity brought forth in some scenes is quite good. The creature in this film is a force of nature and though the design of it is cool, I was never frightened by it. The scariest parts of this film is not knowing exactly where it is and it is here where Scott really amps up the intensity, making the scenes which do not feature the alien more effective in its scariness. Now even though Ridley Scott does an excellent job directing this film, the actors and actresses in this film are equally as good. Sigourney Weaver, who was unknown at the time of filming, gave a damn good performance. It was awesome seeing such a strong female lead be able to take on and accomplish tasks that would otherwise require the assistance of another character. Having such a independent women for a character was quite uncommon for movies to do at the time, so all the props go to filmmakers involved for being so progressive. Now what really elevates this movie from being just good, to great, is its last fifteen minutes. There came a point in the movie where I thought the movie was wrapping up, the story over but then out of nowhere the movie hits you with another climax which is just so excellently done, I would re-watch the film solely for that third act. Overall I quite enjoyed Alien, and even though this was my first time seeing it, I do see the film growing on me. If you have not seen Alien, I would highly recommend you do so, it is a perfect example of great filmmaking back almost forty years ago that still holds up to this day, Alien gets a 8/10.