A study in coupling primal terror with a slow, languid pace

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2004)

In the wake of Star Wars' release some two years previous, science fiction films, dramas set in a science fiction world, or action films set in a science fiction world, became all the rage, so to speak. The idea of a horror film in a science fiction setting was somewhat more obscure, but that doesn't mean it wasn't under the spotlight. As a result, there was a wide audience for Alien, and the methods used to make it in particular were under great scrutiny even before shooting began.
The first hour or so of the film sets up the Human protagonists. As I have said in my comments about the third film in this franchise, you could almost title this film Human, because in the end, it is the hostility with which the Human characters interact that becomes their doom, metaphorically speaking. It is also interesting to note that of the four Alien films to star Sigourney Weaver, this is the only one where she does not receive top billing. In fact, Tom Skerritt gets this rather auspicious honour in spite of the fact that he is more or less written out about halfway through the running time.
Speaking of which, I am going to restrict my comments to the original theatrical release of the film. While the director's cut follows the usual Ridley Scott curiosity of a director's cut being shorter than the theatrical release (at least if the IMDb is to be believed), I have yet to see it in spite of some of the negatives I have heard about it. Scott is also on record as saying that he prefers the theatrical version, making one wonder at how the minds of Fox marketing work.
It is not until about halfway through the film that we get to see the titular antagonist, and boy what a sight it is. Unlike the sequels, in which the Aliens often move about so rapidly that it is hard to make out the details, the Alien portrayed by Bolaji Badejo or Eddie Powell, depending on the danger factor of how the Alien is meant to move, takes its sweet time to move anywhere. There's a few possible explanations for this. Either this particular Alien is meant to be some kind of drone, or it takes on the characteristics of the animal it came from (the Human from which the Alien is "birthed" is established as being a bit "slow"). Then again, perhaps Scott realised that with all the work H.R. Giger put into the level of detail, it was a good idea to show it off. Another factor is that the Alien here is not facing a group of professional soldiers or mercenaries, and knows it can take its sweet time.
After much thought and debate, I gave Alien an eight out of ten. There are moments when the languid pace counts against it, although they are few in number, and Veronica Cartwright really fits the role of the protagonist you look forward to seeing killed. In spite of those factors, Alien really gives the viewer something to leap out of their chair to. As such, it will stand as a relic of a time just before Hollywood bought into the "dumbest buy the mostest" mentality.