Alien

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 2017)

I need to better familiarize myself with Ridley Scott. He's a director I have heard mixed reviews about, and one whom I have only seen a handful of his films. The first Ridley Scott film I watched was Legend, and I only saw that because Tim Curry was in it. Next, I watched The Martian, which is only memorable to me as being the first film I watched on my new blu-ray player, though it was a decent film. Alien fit my June theme of watching titles made up of one word or syllable. I guess what I'm getting at is that I've never been drawn to Ridley Scott's films for what they are, they've just always worked their way into my viewing schedules. After seeing Blade Runner last month, however, I began to become a bit more interested in Ridley Scott the director. His 1979 feature, Alien, starred Sigourney Weaver, and John Hurt as members of a team traveling through space to answer to an S.O.S. call from a distant moon. In what sounds like a paint-by-numbers who-dies-next film, Ridley Scott achieves an exceptionally atmospheric suspense film forcing itself to still be recognized today.
In the near future, the year 2122, a commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a nearby moon. The seven-member crew, who had been in hypersleep are awoken as they begin their descent to the distressed moon. Kane (John Hurt) is the member lucky enough to be the one exploring the moon attempting to find the source of the stress. He gets too close to the discovery of eggs as one attaches to him putting him into a coma. Ash (Ian Holm) pushes for him to be allowed back on board the ship breaking protocol which puts all members of the team at risk. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) fights against breaking protocol the most making her an outcast on the team. The team watches Kane when suddenly the parasite dies and he awakens, seemingly largely unfazed by the incident. At dinner, however, it is revealed that much more danger is in store for the team than initially anticipated.
I am such a sucker for sound design. I can become emotionally invested in a film for no other reason than its sound. I wrote down in three different ways in my notes how incredible the sound design was in Alien. I love John Hurt (R.I.P.) and Harry Dean Stanton so I was happy to see them in a film together. The vast incredible production design was an absolute treat to watch. The pacing and build-up of action were top- notch and demands the audience's attention all the way through. Typically, I don't pay too much attention to the actors in a film because I am so invested in the technical aspects, but Sigourney Weaver was incredible as the no-nonsense crew member who refused to be beaten. I enjoy the films in which the cast is picked off one-by-one, provided that it's done well and remains suspenseful, and Alien fits that bill. Despite the fact that at a certain point, you knew this was going to be a film where not many were left standing at the end, the tenseness and the deliberate pacing kept the film intriguing enough through the end. As a footnote, I have a huge cinematic black spot when it comes to sci- fi films so the only exposure I had to the famous scene in which an alien comes out of John Hurt's body was a Halloween costume worn by Darlene on Roseanne, so it was nice to finally know where that came from. A thrilling horror-sci-fi film that kept me interested in a genre I usually dismiss means I just may watch the rest of this series and end up seeing the new installment this year.