Brilliant work of high-brow art

Rating: 10/10 (1 April 2012)

This film matches my taste in art on every level. It is slow, elegant and perverse in a very intellectual way, and is also a movie which addresses the intelligent viewer: one who immerses himself into the detail of the design and script and, of course, who is expected to use his imagination throughout the viewing.
I have shown this film to several of my friends, who were not quite as impressed by it as I was, indeed they yawned and called it boring several times during the very long "prologue", so to speak. I was disappointed, but not surprised. Contemporary sci-fi is reduced to a cheap but dynamic story and CGI (of course, there has been a pair of brilliant films in the past ten years, but shoddy is the norm in my opinion). If you are looking for a fast-paced piece with lots of action, this may not be your cup of tea.
On my part, I believe that this film comes as close to perfection as possible: the only "flaws" I notice and that occasionally bother me are the effects in some parts, such as the android head and drops of water in the end shot. The volume of the score sometimes seems to be too low for my taste and I believe all of Goldsmith's masterwork should have been used as per his idea. Finally, there is a pair of shots in which I believe a little too much of the Alien has been shown, and I don't really like the way the part of the suit beneath the torso was made. Of course, all of these things are trivial in the big picture, and you probably wouldn't notice them on the first viewing.
And why do I think this is the finest work of art in movie history? I have already said that it engages the viewer in a very discrete fashion. The scene on the alien planet alone should leave you puzzled, but no sooner do we start asking ourselves the first row of questions, the next one has emerged, and so on. For the first-time viewer, the most enthralling question is certainly what the creature looks like and what might we see in the next shot, which for me was an original experience.
The design is probably the finest point of the film. Ron Cobb designed the human element of the film, whereas the great master Giger outdid himself with the alien vessel and creatures. The environment of the alien vessel is the most foreign looking and curious I have ever seen in a movie, and that is not taking into account the many refined sexual themes. The dichotomy of human (functional, wet, sometimes sterile-looking) and alien (dark, massive, uneconomically large and erotic) is why I enjoy watching this work over and over again.
Other reviewers have already mentioned the acting, so I will only mention Ian Holm's performance, which I find to be the finest of the cast. There is relatively little dialogue in the movie, and very laconic at that. This actually allows the atmosphere, score and body-language to come into the foreground - especially in the third act, when the flashing lights, sirens and Mother's voice seem to give an unusually loud and urban tone. The fact that we are aware, as the audience, of this illusion (which somehow comforts the viewer after having witnessed the previous events, and by this time likely being thoroughly horrified) underlines even more aggressively, despite the lights and sounds, the solitude aboard a massive, empty, eerie star freighter.
Of course, the ending is shockingly sublime, with the extract from Howard Hanson's Romantic Symphony providing a wonderful respite from the cathartic ordeal (this is, in fact, the only part of Mr. Scott's tampering with the score that I approve of), and you will probably continue watching till the credits end, dwelling on the most powerful theme of the movie: the vastness, hostility and unthinkable age of the Universe.