Alien

In the list of quintessential science fiction horror films, one can never look past Ridley Scott's Alien. There are only selected few films which will grow well with time in maintaining its integrity, in other words, being timeless. And the masterminds behind this feature unknowingly created one of the best pictures to be ever put to screen!

It is as if the makers have hung you like cloth hangers in front of their spectacle, you are hooked to the screen from scene 1. Right from the way the title card is introduced with rhythmic starting credits, innovation & boundary-pushing have been part of the filmmaking's DNA here. Just by the beginning, you'd know that the shots are gritty and speaks of quality. The stage up is vast, and it takes its own time to systematically show the technological procedures that are running in the background with depth. To say the production design is a technical marvel, be it Nostromo or the eerie abandoned alien ship, would be an understatement. You are undoubtedly sold to this epic science fiction space atmosphere with resounding attention to details! The amount of time the director allocates to gradually pull you into this environment, quietly, steadily and patiently, crowns the final product on a different league! From each breaths drawn, to the camera navigations, to the usage of camcorder in recording events, to the monotonous analog computer system and to Jerry Goldsmith's tension-building score, Ridley Scott gears the audiences up for a slow poison scary, terrifying thriller! This is really important, as it gives the film adequate space to breathe, expand and evolve. Coupled with the terrific acting performances by all cast members, do note Yaphet Kotto as Parker by the way, the sense of realism is very high!

Dan O'Bannon's script is tight! From the first 12 minutes, you have already acquainted with the characters, their defined characteristics and among relationships, dramatic premise plus the circumstances surrounding the actions. Our crew here is instructed to investigate the presence of an intelligent origin on their way back home. The moment an alien ship and organic life form are discovered; the moment when Kane (John Hurt) is attacked by a face-hugger, you know next up is game time! The incision procedure, face-hugger feeding the victim with oxygen or when it goes missing, dissection process of the dead Xenomorph seedling and finally, the chest-burster sequence are incredibly intense! You will be as shocked and numb as the crew members are! Dialogues move the story forward. Plot points are laid out damn clear! With the esteemed editing that stitches the scenes together, the script quickly shifts to a claustrophobic thriller. The staffs are scared for their own lives. And the rest of the movie is about finding the goddamned Alien and smoking it to death! Survival of the fittest!

While it's unclear initially who's the main character we're following, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) emerges slowly from the background. Her conflicts in decision making between Ash (Ian Holm) earns a distinct spot in our eyes. When the actual twist is revealed that the latter is an android robot, you begin tracking back what you've seen in the preceding runtime. You'll realize Ash's motivations & characterizations have been constantly uniform. He is a science officer. His goal and only goal is to bring back the alien life form for study. All other priorities are rescinded. His choice of actions & decision-making have always based on logics. He always steers the mission and crew members in protecting the alien, even if it means manipulating or purposely misinterpreting warnings as SOS. He prefers to have the upper hand, so that he gets to call the shots. Most of the time, he has a dead reaction on his face. Mannerisms are odd. Even his speech pattern is structured. Speaking of structure, Ash is built as a flawless bio-android. It interacts with humans and consumes food just like them, only as a way of swallowing and expelling. The point is to show how advanced the technology actually is. We didn't see this coming, but this is an obvious yet subtle turning point for the film which has been teased throughout; only that we didn't catch it. This is the most appropriate way to introduce a twist into a motion picture! It must be laced in and masqueraded beautifully within the told story, only to be revealed at the right time when the script chooses to. It must make complete sense upon re-watching the feature, as it is crucial for the twist to adhere to the already established characterizations, events shown and code of conducts of the universe the story is taking place in. On a side note, even here one can see the tremendous influence of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Saw the connection between HAL 9000 and Ash here?

Through Ash, you could see the company's motivations too. See from the designs itself! There aren't enough space shuttles for all members to escape in case of emergency, meaning the crew is expendable. Even after Ripley escapes from the exomoon, you still wonder whether she's truly safe or not. That's the power of the script here - the intensity! Special effects for the alien & face-hugger are beyond brilliant! It's progressive and ahead of its time with futuristic thinking slots. The makers even thought about the alien's blood that serves as a defense mechanism. If you zoom out of all these, you'll notice how great of a director Ridley Scott is. He knows that the technology is limited. And he also knows that stupendous filmmaking is not about boasting the technology. It's about using it in the best way possible! It's not what, it's how you tell the story. And by ceiling the times you see the alien, he has heightened the suspense! Half-functional Ash speaking out of his remains is an astounding piece of example to all that's just said!

Flaws wise, there are some here and there. For one, it doesn't convince us completely to have a cat onboard a mission on interstellar voyage for rodents-killing & entertainment purposes. The cat itself is a disturbance to the wires and machineries in the ship, so the first reason doesn't quite sell. There's one falling object jump scare, but it's a second nitpick. It does feel convenient that the ship malfunctions upon landing on LV-426. There's definitely a slightly obvious artificiality in the way the baby alien runs away from the dining table or how deliberately the chairs are moved for shocks. The dissolve technique could have been replaced with something else when Kane wakes up from stasis in the starting. While possible, the Alien might have grown too quickly into a large Xenomorph. The last moment of tense with Ripley and the Alien could have been picturized better.