Why Alien works and why the rest of its family doesn't.

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2012)

It's not the design, the pacing, the performances, the cast or the director - those things are certainly very powerful contributions to the whole, but the real reason Alien works so well is because of the storytelling.
It's a fable, whose message is "Don't stray from the path. There are things out there in the world that have nothing to do with you and your little human agendas" – a very simple story with a very simple message. It's comparable to a fairy-tale - there are even seven protagonists, like seven brothers, the last one, the virtuous one, being the one that gets the reward at the end of the story. This is an extreme version of the story, so the "youngest son"s treasure is to be allowed to live.
All the wrong ways of dealing with a dangerous unknown are tested in the story, and responded to in order of the seriousness of the error, the worst error coming first.
1. Kane - the Dreamer. He is driven by a desire to look into the unknown. Alone among the protagonists, when faced with the colossal derelict, he demands that they must go on. He desires - what? Fame? Knowledge? Discovery? Whatever it is it gets the better of him because he isn't reacting to the threat properly so he gets it in the face, quite literally. His attitude to the unknown is unforgivably stupid - anyone can see that what he's walking towards is dangerous. He doesn't care, driven by egotism, so he dies first, because he actively *welcomes* the danger.
2. Brett - the Ignorant. The most suspense-filled scene is saved for him, because his reaction to the unknown, in story-telling terms, is the least understandable, and is so unacceptable and counter-instinctive that his character flaw is directly responsible for his demise. The suspense in that scene is contributed to heavily by pacing, cinematography and performance, but the cause of the tension is that we *know* Brett and we know that he *doesn't pay any goddamn attention to anything*. He doesn't CARE about the dangerous unknown. That's what makes that scene unbearable. If it was any of the others in that situation, the scene wouldn't be so strong.
3. Dallas - the Pedant. He treats the unknown as a known, refusing to recognise it. His strategy is to take small, rational steps, each decision in its time and one after the other. He ignores the bigger picture and... beautiful metaphor... he ends up trapped in a maze, bogged down by details. The irises closing behind him are opportunities for escape that he ignores because he can't make a decision based on feelings. He dies third because he only follows rules, to his doom.
4. Ash - the Traitor. This role is the most difficult and pulled off beautifully by Ian Holm. His flaw is his belief that the situation can be controlled, and to his own advantage, but events, of course, spiral out of his control. It's his willingness to sacrifice his crew members that makes him inhuman, not the fact that he's an android, which is no more than an "inhuman" costume to dress up the idea of treachery in (and it's a very effective costume). His inhumanity is his undoing, and it's sufficiently grotesque that we don't even need the monster to kill him for him to meet an appropriate end. But at least he recognises that the situation has to be controlled, so he's the fourth to die.
5. Parker - the Courageous. He very nearly reacts entirely sensibly to the threat, clearly understanding that Kane needs to be frozen (he feels unknown must be faced only when the humans are back home and have the upper hand), allowing his emotions to dictate his actions (which is entirely appropriate – the situation he's in is what the emotion of fear is designed for) and so doesn't die until very late, but he's undone in the end by his protection of Lambert, the Coward. It's a very unfair death, but he has to die because someone has to die for Lambert, because the story of the Coward always costs one more life than just that of the Coward.
6. Lambert - the Coward. The Coward knows what is coming but she just can't deal with it. She's all nerves and no action, all feeling and no focus. She knows what's coming in her bones right from the beginning, her reaction is very close to being correct, so she's the last to die.
7. Ripley - the Hero. Ripley is the only person who reacts sensibly to the threat from the beginning. It's quite obvious that she's the one that's going to survive right from the beginning of the movie.
The movie seems very bleak and dreadful but in fact it has a very hopeful ending - if you treat danger and the unknown with respect and make sure you take every possible opportunity to get away from it, you will live.
What an obvious message! But it's so beautifully and simply told that you don't notice how obvious it is.
A simple tale told well is a hundred times better than a complex story told badly.
I wish Lindelof had a tenth of the storytelling ability of Alien's scriptwriters.
10 stars. As far as I'm concerned, this movie's perfect.