The most realistic film I have ever seen.

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2002)

I love this movie. I have seen ALIEN at least 35 or 40 times. I've read most of the comments on IMDB and don't disagree with any of the positive reviews. I do, however, disagree with why people seem to think this is such a great film. I too at one time wandered why I found ALIEN to be so fascinating. Let me explain.
Realism, realism, realism. This movie takes an extremely unrealistic, over the top, and unbelievable story and makes it seem reasonable. All the actors, unlike the acting in so many bad films, treat the storyline and movie events with such realism, it's stunning. Unlike the film 2001, which I truly like, the spaceship in ALIEN is truly realistic. In 2001 the spaceship is perfectly clean, and made for planetary research. In ALIEN, the ship is a cargo mining ship; somewhat dirty and with a lived in look. No matter what happens in ALIEN, whether it be an acid for blood man-eating space bug or a robot programmed to kill all human crewmembers; or a distress call from a planet with no indigenous life; the actors treat the events with perfect reality; the same way you and I are forced to do through every waking moment of our lives. This is why people say they have watched the film many times, know what is going to happen next, and still jump out of their chairs at certain scenes. It's the fact that Ridley Scott, as well as all the people involved in creating this masterpiece, have pulled off the most difficult task in quality film making; Realism. The kind of realism, so intense, you can't move your eyes from the screen. This movie could have been about anything, and I truly believe that people would find it just as good. What people are enjoying so much are Directing and Acting coming together to form something never created before; realism so realistic, it's about an alien life, space travel and androids, and yet completely believable.
As I mentioned earlier, I have seen this film many times. Without question, more than any other film excluding TAXI Driver. Although I find 25 or 30 films to be true masterpieces for probably 8 or 9 different reasons; ALIEN contains some type of aura, I call it realism but I am not 100% sure; I find ALIEN to be the most interesting type of entertainment that I have ever been privileged to experience. Thank God for DVD's; I'm going to watch this film again; right now. Too excellent to be rated by someone like me; I just don't contain enough brainpower.