Alien Film Review

Alien is a horror and science fiction film as shown in figure 1, which was released on the 22^nd of June 1979 (following the civil rights movement of the 60’s and the early 70’s). This film was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Don O’Brannon and Ronald Shusett. Both alone and as a whole film franchise; it has won multiple awards including an Oscar, BAFTA and Saturn Award. It is a film that brought a whole new dystopian feel to the genre, with connections to feminism along with the sexual link presenting the fear of rape and pregnancy. The fear of rape is shown during the time when Kane got attacked by a ‘face-hugger’ type creature, where he got impregnated by the egg of the alien. Which closely follows into the fear of pregnancy, when the alien bursts out of his chest and kills him in the process. This can make the fear of pregnancy more prominent, as in unfortunate circumstances pregnancy can endanger both the mothers and babies lives. 

Figure 1 - IMDb, 2019

The main focus of this plot was a close encounter with an extra-terrestrial being, that invades a spacecraft and attacks the crew onboard. The crew of the Nostromo (a cargo spaceship) were woken from hibernation (hyper sleep) by a distress signal, this led to the discovery of the remains of an alien spaceship with no sign of life. As they explored further one crew member (Kane) got attacked by a creature that attached itself to his face and put him in a comatose state. Once returning to Nostromo and when Kane awakes; an alien breaks out of his chest and escapes, then starts hunting down all the crew members. With a few people who remained alive they discover that the AI (Ash) had an ulterior motive, that included capturing the alien and taking it back to earth to study. The alien eventually kills off the rest of the crew until one member (Ripley) was left to try to escape. Ripley sets up the self-destruct of the Nostromo with the aim of escaping using a shuttle (not forgetting the cat). Once away and the Nostromo exploded; she then realises she is not alone and that the alien boarded the shuttle with her. She was able to successfully get away from the alien by forcing it through the airlock door and fired up the engines to send it drifting into space.



From the start, the storyline progresses slowly keeping the audience guessing what is going to happen. “Alien was a marvel of slow building, atmospheric tension” (Rotten Tomatoes,2019) From the smallest thing on who the lead character would be during their first meal, to what would happen to Kane when he finally awakes. This film uses the ‘slow building’ of the story line to increase the tension all the way up until the final scene within the shuttle. It was also a way to present the aliens tactics and movements “one of the great strengths of “Alien” is its pacing. It takes its time. It waits. It allows silences.” (Ebert, 2019) By building this suspense it can immerse the audience, so they feel like they could be within the film and that the alien could attack them at any moment.



The protagonist in this film Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) was presented as an anomaly. She is an intelligent character; that is headstrong, where she takes matters into her own hands when need be. Comparing her to the female lead (Ann) within King Kong (1933), she doesn’t give up when her life was in danger and things became difficult. She was a major influence to the future of strong female lead roles and is classed as the first iconic female action hero.



The set design of this film is pragmatic, it shows that it is intentionally anti modern but futuristic at the same time. Figure 2 shows a futuristic looking corridor however, with the cables and tubes sticking out at the top of the walls and dirt that surrounds a vent suggests its aging. This is also presented in figure 3 which is of a computer system that is really out dated, that could suggest the budget of the ship when it was built where the computers were really cheap and that a cargo ship does not need a lot modern equipment to be able to do its intended purpose. The only places that have any modern equipment is the medical room and the hibernation pods as it shows it is a recent things that were being used during the time the film was set. 

Figure 2 - IMDb, 2019

Figure 3 - IMDb, 2019

Alien was released in 1979, “Alien has lost none of its power, and the big screen only intensifies its impact” 40 years after its release it is still one of the big films that people refer back to, alongside the others within the franchise. Despite the many imitations of this plot, it still remains to be a major gripping sci-fi and horror films. Overall, its simple story line could be linked to other films, as how a simple mission could be disrupted by a suspenseful and tension building scenario of a monster attack.




Bibliography:

Rotten Tomatoes. (2019). Alien (1979). [online] Available at: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alien/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].


Ebert, R. (2019). Alien movie review & film summary (1979) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-alien-1979 [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].


IMDb. (2019). Alien (1979) - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/criticreviews?ref_=m_tt_ftrgte_cont_1 [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].




Illustration List:

(Figure 1 – IMDb, 2019). Alien (1979). [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/mediaviewer/rm588517376 [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].



(Figure 2 – IMDb, 2019). Alien (1979). [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/mediaviewer/rm145912832 [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].



(Figure 3 – IMDb, 2019). Alien (1979). [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/mediaviewer/rm179467264 [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].