Review of Alien (1979) by Johnmilas — 29 Jan 2012

Alien isn't just an answer to the two year's previous Star Wars, it's a complete rewrite of the monster movie. The 1950s and '60s saw B-movie shlock create an almost unshakable perception that monster movies were about men in rubber suits chasing screaming blonds around in front of cardboard sets while a square-jawed scientist followed closely behind with a ray gun. In 1979, Alien took that perception and took a massive dump on it. In 1977, Star Wars convinced everyone that after Vietnam (and the endless string of disaster movies) it was okay to go to the movies and have fun again. Alien convinced them that science fiction didn't always have to be about fun. It's a movie that's just as revolutionary as Star Wars, but in different ways. Here we have a group of characters on a space ship who aren't all straight laced scientists and explorers. Some of them are dirty mechanics. The ship's captain is pissed at the world; the navigator seems bored and can't get ahold of herself when things go south. Honestly, when closely examined, Alien's main protagonist is a complete **** lost in her role as the Nostromo's third in command. Are these characters likable when viewed this way? You're damn right they're likable because we know all of them; we are all of them. Alien is about actual real people encountering the scariest monster ever conceived. Part of the fear comes from H.R. Giger's nightmarish design but I think most of it comes from an audience being able to so easily get into the shoes of these "truckers in space" and imagine how they themselves would react. If Star Wars was created to have people cheering for the good guys beating the bad guys, Alien was created for audiences to stare at the screen and not blink for two hours as the good guys are eaten. In 2003, Ridley Scott was more or less forced to create a new version of the film to premiere during Halloween. He trimmed some things and added a few things, and the film actually runs a minute shorter. It may feel a little tighter, but it's slightly inferior to the original. If you haven't seen the film that many times you probably won't notice much, so it's not all that big of a deal.

"Director's Cut" or just regular 1979 version, Alien is the greatest monster movie of all time and will probably remain so forever.