Never has the contrast been clearer

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 1999)

I'm a fan of the old Ridley Scott, which was ironically the young Ridley Scott. Back in his youth he made some great films and Alien is one of his crowning achievements. But let's ignore the film for just a second.
You see the Scott Brothers (Ridley and Tony) had a highly visual sense of film-making that used the widescreen frame to its fullest potential. From quite early on they were made best pals of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and they made their reputations with such films like Beverly Hills Cop 2, Blade Runner and Top Gun. In the early 90's their careers briefly faltered and a hack called Michael Bay went into business. Michael Bay ripped off everything he possible could from the Scotts. So much so that in recent years Ridley and Tony have had to exaggerate their style in an effort to distance themselves from this man. The result has been films that look more like agonising, drawn-out epileptic seizures (Man on Fire, Black Hawk Down, Domino) than works of art.
Now let's get back to Alien. A beautifully paced, shot and cut fright machine with perfectly timed scares, meaningful subtext and an iron-grip on the audience. How far removed from the work of the Scott Brothers today. The franchise went to hell in 2004 with the awful Alien vs Predator movie but in its beginning the Alien films were a thing of greatness.
If you can, see the director's cut. I saw this film twice in the cinema (original cut, then director's cut) and while they're both good the director's cut is a bit faster and has a couple real cool extra scenes and shot of the creature. And of course, widescreen is how this film MUST be seen.