One Alien Is Plenty

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2005)

The Alien saga began with the best one, when there was only one Alien to be seen. The simplicity of the story is the key. One Alien, one claustrophobic ship, and 7 crew-members are the entire cast of this 1979 thriller. Directed by Ridley Scott, Alien has a sense of unease, a fear of what will happen next. The setup to the movie is wonderful, scary looking beings that we have never seen before invade our minds, we only catch quick looks off the actual being, mostly when it's young and popping out of John Hurt's stomach, in the most gruesome, yet famous scene of the movie. Sigorney Weaver plays Ripley, a rare female hero in a science fiction movie. She is a strong character, one cunning enough to ultimately defeat the Alien creature at the end of the movie. But the most important part of the movie is the suspense, mostly in what we don't see. As I said, we do not see much of the actual Alien creature. In the most tension filled scene, the Alien is not seen, just a dot on a computer screen chasing down another dot is all that gets the audience to fear it. Dark, claustrophobic, and selective of what we see, Scott does a great job of giving the audience what he wants us to see, not everything we need to see. The simplicity in the story is what makes it a gem.