Odd One Out

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2000)

WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
Watching Alien as a self-contained film is almost impossible nowadays, as you're constantly reminded of other, related, media. There's (for me, anyway), a constant mental image of Ian Holm as the pervy Lewis Carroll in the film "Dreamchild"; Or Yaphet Kotto as top James Bond villain Kananga from "Live and Let Die". Then there's the sets, which were accurately reproduced for seasons three-five of Red Dwarf. Finally, there's the sequels themselves. In fact, the sequels are so well-known that seeing a third-in-command Sigourney who just happens to be the lone survivor and looks, frankly, a bit of a dog, is a strange one. All the performances are underplayed, rather than the overstatement that occurs in the second and fourth movies, though the characters aren't especially well-developed. Only Ripley, Dallas (Tom Skerrit) and Ash (Holm) get vaguely three-dimensional characters, while John Hurt is just a cameo. The sole black member of the crew, Parker (Kotto), is possibly the most obnoxious, an unfortunate characterisation that dates the film, along with the modest matte effects. And talking of dated, what about that sexist underwear shot in the final scenes? Sigourney strips down to a skimpy T-shirt, with the camera pointed upwards so we can see her chest heave up and down, and that's to say nothing of her pants. Could the production team not afford a bigger pair? Ridiculously small, they show her bum crack hanging over the top like a bricklayer's.
Ultimately, now the film has its less-mature sequels, they have effectively killed it. The naff CGI of the last two isn't half as good as here, yet now we've seen mobile aliens, the rather static men-in-suits just won't do either. The smaller aliens are probably the best, the "facehugger" looking like a spider and a snake all at the same time. Yuck! The worst alien has to be the baby, though. If you put a laughter track on the movie sometimes it would seem entirely appropriate. For the "classic" scene where John Hurt gives birth is hilarious, and again one can't help but be reminded of the skit in the underrated "Spaceballs" where the alien pops out and starts tap-dancing. Here, the baby alien is so laughably phallic that Sigourney looks around and says "now where did I put those batteries?" as soon as she sees it. Well, maybe not, but she should have done. Of course, while exploitative, Scott's direction is the best-ever for the series. Where the second is action, the third gothic and the fourth dumb comedy, this one is supposed to be a horror movie in space. So I suppose the question should be: is it scary? Well, I jumped once, and there was one other place where jumping was a possibility, so I guess that makes the original sort of okay. But the use of cosy motifs throughout, such as the ginger cat that outlives them all (including Weaver bashing his carry-box around in the last ten minutes), and the alien snoring do not make this a trip to the laundrette for anyone. Ripley gets her best characterisation, slowly progressing from icy, dutiful officer to disillusioned aggressor who shouts "bitch" a lot. But the original is now overshadowed by its immediate successor, and it's hard to say why it is better, though it is superior to the Cameronised model in many ways. Far more sophisticated than whatever followed, and also more psychological, from the face-rape of Hurt to the phallic imagery of the big alien, the original still has a lot going for it. But looked at in hindsight, and there is no other way to view it, it lacks the action it's successors have dictated the films must contain. It remains the odd one out in it's own series.