Alienfollows the crew of the spaceship Nostromo who are returning from a mining trip on the planet Thedus, heading for Earth. The ship receives a distress signal from unknown origin that emanates from a desolate planetoid, causing the ship to quickly mobilize and wake it’s crew from hyper sleep. The crew, after some debate, finally decide to land on the planet and investigate where the distress signal is coming from. This decision leads them to discover a crashed alien vessel that has been dormant for a long time. The crew make there way through the ship to discover what looks like the remains of a long dead alien pilot, culturally known as the Space Jockey, seated at the heart of the ship which showed signs of something bursting out from within it.The three members of the away team stumble upon a nest, a floor filled with strange looking eggs and, approaching, they set in to motion the awakening of the first egg. Kane, one of the Nostromo’s crew, is the first to be accosted by the aliens as a face hugger bursts from within the egg, latching on to his face and leaving him barely conscious and non responsive underneath his new alien mask.
The story moves forward, picking up a little pace as we move in to the second act and Kane’s condition is revealed in one of the most memorable scenes in science fiction film making, set within the Nostromo’s mess hall with the entire crew surrounding a now presumed to be healed Kane who claims to be ravished and begins to chow down on food. The crew, rather naively join him in breaking bread as they praise his surprising recovery before realising that something is deeply wrong with there friend. Kane struggles, falls around the room in what looks like a seizure before falling upon the central table, an alien bursting from within his chest and scuttling off, making the most of the crews fear and confusion as they jump back and away from the new chess piece.
The alien grows quickly in to what we now know as a Xenomorph. The alien goes about taking out the crew, one by one eliminating them as they struggle to deal with the ramifications of what they are witnessing and, as their understanding of the situation grows, they begin to realise what must happen in order to end their ordeal.
Ripley now steps out in to the light, her command of the situation is strengthening to the others as she learns the truth of the mission they were on, the set up by the company and the mole that exists within the crew. Although not much focus is given to this angle during this film, it is the small scene within the communications pod where Ripley learns the truth that is, perhaps, the guiding force behind a lot of the mythology that was to follow the film. Ripley is the only crew member of the Nostromo to escape (If you don’t count the cat) and after a final encounter with the Xenomorph aboard her escape pod she settles in to hyper sleep once again, heading for home.
Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal as Ripley is a joy to watch and, although she takes a back seat to the rest of the crew in the first act, she really comes to prominence later in the film and it becomes obvious looking back why this was the start of cementing her within the hearts of all science fiction fans throughout the last three decades. Ripley’s tough, no holds barred attitude made her different from a lot of leading women from the era, her strength of mind coupled with a sharp intelligence helped her survive the onslaught and was one of the guiding factors of the movie.
The other guiding factor, in my opinion, is H. R Giger’s design of the Xenomorph. His insistance on it having an inate human feel while still feeling alien to the audience is never more obvious than the final scenes where it stares Ripley down in the escape pod. The actual Xenomorph was a manned costume and yet still holds little resemblance to the human form but having an actor inside keeps the few shots of the alein moving fluid and dynamic which, for its time, was an absolute joy to behold. Ridley Scott didn’t just work within the boundaries of a pre-CG Hollywood, he pushed things to the limit and created some amazing effects using the simplest of things. The aliens oft out-of-focus kills are a sign of the generation and the quick cuts where the alien moves across a hatchway or through a grate is used in great collaboration with the first person view of the alien as we cut away from time to time to see the Xenomorph dart through the tunneled walkways throughout the Nostromo.
The music and editing help complete the film and, although a lot will argue the film is slow and cumbersome, I believe this pacing is exactly what makes the film great. Scott doesn’t succumb to the obvious tropes of starting slow to ramp up to a cataclysmic ending that often runs the film too long or undersells the beauty achieved by the first act, as was the case with a lot of films of the early eighties. Jerry Golsmith’s soundtrack is dark and beautiful and compliments the film with it’s deft strokes at every turn and, although there was some complications and arguments over the cues and cutting, I think the final version is served with a perfect balance of passion and threat which sits perfectly with the rest of the film.
The casting of the film is extremely unorthodox with the crew ranging from the youngest, Sigourney Weaver, at 30 to Harry Dean Stanton who was 53 at the time. This wasn’t a young band of adventurers who were out looking for a good time, this was a band of aged, worn out miners who were looking forward to getting home to family. This deviation from many of the more popular films helps the audience to relate to the characters, the working class trying to do their job and get home without any fuss.
Alien spawned an entire franchise which includes three direct sequels, two spin off movies, comic books, novels and video games and toys. There is also a prequel in the works, Prometheus, which doesn’t threaten the memory of the original too much as is rumoured to be set long before the battle aboard the Nostromo and have nothing to do with events yet will answer some long standing questions. Alien’s effect on cinema is easy to see and I don’t need to make an argument about that. Science fiction and horror films today still follow a lot of similar tropes and tricks employed here for the first time. Dan O’Bannon’s screenplay glistens off the screen throughout this film and is a true gem of cinema history, one that remains solidly in my top ten films of all time and something I hold dear for its sci-fi roots.
October 14, 2011
Feature, Movies