A little tired the second time around

Rating: 6/10 (11 June 2014)

To me, there's a big difference between watching this the first time and watching it a second time.
The first time for me was 1979 on a double date with a reading teacher and a married couple (we were all teachers). The girls offered a night out for us, on them. So they picked an expensive restaurant...and paid. And we got to pick the film -- "Alien". I guess, looking back, we were kinda cruel to pick this movie, because it had no appeal all to the women. I remember literally jumping out of my seat at one point (although not the scene where the alien bursts out of the man's abdomen). I would have give the film an "8" then, and I haven't re-watched it for all these years Now I would only give it a "6"...because once you know the plot, a lot of the suspense is gone. There's a lot of dead time in this film as they walk around the space ship looking for the Alien...building suspense (if you haven't seen the film before). And, some of it is so predictable. Was anyone really surprised when Harry Dean Stanton bit the dust? No, we knew it was coming...even before we really knew the plot, he had to die.
And really, the acting here is none to impressive. About all I can say is that the actors did their jobs. I might give a real nod to Sigourney Weaver for work above and beyond. But for the rest, they did well.
Don't get me wrong, if you haven't seen this, you'll love it (if you're into this kind of film). It's not so good as a rerun...although even I relish the scene of the alien bursting out of John Hurt's belly -- that is iconic film making.