A trend setter of its kind.

Rating: 10/10 (25 May 2004)

Alien is not a bad film at all.
The reason Alien seems "trite" is because it was the first of its kind. For the same reason the Star Wars seems over used is because everyone borrows ideas from the two.
The characters seem sterile to set the viewer apart from them. The film is cold, because death is cold. You can feel the character's emotions, such as when the alien erupts from Kane's chest. Genuine fear.
Those actors were not as experienced as they are today.
Overdone set design? HR Giger doesn't have anything overdone. It is the way it needed to be to set the mood of the film.
The characters look for Jones because he is part of their crew. They are struggling to hold on to that which is familiar in a world of fear.
I doubt many of us would act like brilliant strategists with an unknown killer lurking in the dark. Again, they are afraid.
The alien looks like what it is supposed to look like. Something alien something never before seen. Plus, it suit was made to fit a human. R. Scott wanted it to look like something that couldn't possibly fit a human inside of it, and he succeeded. And, it was the seventies, and their special effects were not at the same par as they are now.
The alien kills through instinct. If you see the deleted scenes, Ripley finds ALL of the dead in cocoons, waiting for implantation, even without the queen.
Ripley strips for the cryo-sleep.
What's really dull is a person who cannot comprehend real artistic genius.