Technically well made, but let down by an anticlimactic ending

Rating: 7/10 (13 April 2013)

One thing you can definitely say about Alien is that it's atmospheric. Right from the start when the camera is panning round the ship, you know that you are in for something special.
It is also excellent the way in which the tension is built once they arrive at the distant planet. The cinematography was really good and really gave the impression that we are at a desperate and bleak place. I believe that a lot of this is down to Ridley Scott's direction which in Alien I thought was fantastic - some of the camera angles that were used really helped to create an air of suspense throughout the film.
The special effects were also brilliant (considering this was made in 1979) and I thought that the alien itself looked menacing - although in all honesty I only thought it looked menacing when it developed to full size. I almost laughed when it came out of Kane's stomach and then shot across the room.
The main crew includes Ripley (Weaver) Dallas (Skerritt) Kane (Hurt) Parker (Kotto) Lambert (Cartwright) Brett (Stanton) and Ash (Holm). Whilst all of the actors were good in their respective roles, I didn't feel that any one gave a stand out performance.
Alien is technically well made and it certainly ticks all the major boxes; Atmospheric, Tense, Suspenseful, Good Acting, Special Effects & Cinematography.
Unfortunately, the only thing Ridley Scott didn't do is come up with a good ending. For me this film had one of the most anti-climatic endings that I've seen. I thought after the way that the Alien was built up and having seen how easily it killed all of Ripley's crew that there might have been a major battle between Ripley and the Alien. Instead of that, we have Ripley running round the ship with the Alien seemingly not bothering to chase her. She then picks up her cat, gets in her space capsule (a few minutes prior to this she set their mining ship up to self destruct) and low and behold there the alien is seemingly wedged into the front of the capsule (for no apparent reason and seemingly with no explanation as to how it got there) then she tries to gas it and eventually fires at it and shoots him out of the capsule and that's pretty much the end. This film could have been so much better if Ridley Scott would have thought more about the ending - I think Ripley being stalked round the ship by the Alien and having a 'proper final showdown' - a physical struggle with it at the least, would have been much more of a fitting way of ending the film as that at least would have added a little tension. Despite the poor ending, I still enjoyed the film and rated it 7/10.