Alien Dir. Ridley Scott
Feat. Sigourney Weaver (Riley), Veronica Cartwright (Lambert), Harry Dean Stanton (Brett), John Hurt (Kane)
20th Century Fox, 1979
This 1979 Sci-fi thriller is the predecessor to a variety of space aged films such as "Life", as well as the "pilot film" that would lead to the "Alien" franchise, and later the "Alien v. Predator" franchise. Sci-fi is a genre that many people stray away from for the mere fact that it usually contains realistic fallacies that are difficult to ignore, or that a viewer may lack the level of imagination needed to find the genre interesting. If you find usual Sci-fi concepts difficult to grasp or outlandish, I can guarantee this is a film that you wouldn't think too highly of. However, If you are the type of person who likes to think outside the box, and enjoy the themes within the typical Sci-fi thriller such as Survival, I can assure you that this is a film that you would enjoy.
The theme of survival is consistent throughout the film and that is something I not only love about this genre, but the film in particular. When survival is the goal, you'll often find many ethical dilemmas arise as miscellaneous minds collide over morale and rationale. This occurs very early on in the film, when our first explorer is attacked by the alien, Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) is tasked with saving him and risking the crews lives or letting him die and saving the lives of the majority. She takes the approach that I consider the most rational and by letting him stay outside. This is a hard decision because she is essentially killing someone, but letting him in could be far more catastrophic. When a rogue crew member lets them in against Ripley's orders it is assumed that he is doing what he perceives as most ethical, but it is later revealed that his intentions were far more sinister. The theme of survival is constant from this point on and the next major controversy wouldn't even be over the survival of a crew member, but rather the survival of the alien they just let on board. The dilemma in this scenario was either letting the alien live so that it can be brought to earth for examination, or kill it and living to tell the story. Again, the rogue crew member prevents it from being killed, thus further reducing the crews chances of survival. After the alien evolves and kills two of the crew members, letting it live is no longer in the conversation. Another ethical dilemma is now created. Due to limited resources on the escape shuttle they must either save half of the crew and detonate the other half as a means of killing the alien, or they all stay and try to kill the Alien while risking everyone lives. In this scenario they choose the more ethical route which is keeping everyone alive to fight the alien. This was clearly a catastrophic decision as the alien begins killing the crew one-by-one, in the end only leaving the most rational member of the crew, Ripley. She acknowledges that under no circumstance is she to let the fully evolved alien live to reach earth, and she prevents it by any means necessary. In fighting for her own survival as well as the survival of the human race, she ends up destroying the ship and all its cargo in one last desperate attempt to kill the alien. These are some of the dilemmas that makes this film so captivating. I as you follow along and put your self in shoes of the characters, you'll find yourself conflicted as well. That that's what a good film should do to a viewer, make them think. I think Ridley Scott beautifully does this and inadvertently creates a film I see as almost interactive.
A huge part of a good film is its ability to influence those after it, and needless to say this film has influenced a whole genre of intergalactic Science Fiction. One of my favorite films of this year, "Life", gives ode to Alien in a major way and I believe it even exceeds Alien to some extent as far as the theme of survival goes. There are many similarities between these two films such as escape shuttle survivals, the discovery of extraterrestrial life, evolution, difficult choices, and ultimately the theme of survival. I think "Life" simply does three things better than Alien: creates a more believable change in the main antagonist, gives the antagonist more necessary screen time, and it ends more ambiguously. First off, in "Alien" we see the alien when it is in a fledgling stage and then it runs off, and the next time we see it, it's about the size of an adult male.I don't think this abrupt evolution does much for the film, where as in "Life" the martian is nurtured to adulthood by the crew. We actually see the martian grow every time it consumes something, so its size and strength is a bit more believable than that of Alien's antagonist. Secondly, for a movie entitled Alien, it's a little disappointing how little we actually get to see the alien. When we do see it, the character seems pretty believable, especially for the movies generation. This is something the director could've capitalized on because the alien was pretty realistic, in "Life" the martian gets more than enough screen time, it's in almost every seen. Lastly, these two films have two completely different endings. Throughout both films, the theme is survival and this concept is what keeps viewers captivated and gets them thinking. Because "Alien" ends so conclusively viewers aren't left with any questions and stop thinking. We know that Riley makes it to earth safely and kills the "Alien". In "Life" we know that the alien ends up making it to earth and the mission is a failure but this leaves room for a bunch of new thoughts as to what happens next in terms of survival of the human race. The ambiguity of it surprisingly makes it a way more satisfying ending which is strange but a great choice in my opinion.
In conclusion, "Alien" does a variety of different things well. It keeps you on your toes, it has shocking twists with in it, it is influential, and it is interactive. I consider this a major win for the genre of Sci-fi, even if you aren't a sci-fi fan I think the theme of this movie could be still come across as entertaining if you enjoy working through dilemmas like the ones created in the movie. Because of this I would give Alien A 6.8 out of 10. This isn't to say that it isn't a great film, all bias aside I just don't see it being lauded very highly outside of it's genre, along with the fact that it's been out done in recent years.
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