Review of Alien

I believe that when discussing the awesomeness of Ridley Scott, the argument always, and I mean always, comes down to just two films: Alien and Blade Runner. Both masterpieces in their genre (both are sci-fi) and both are some of the greatest films ever made. I seen and heard of this conversation so many times that there should be a Team Alien and Team Blade Runner now, so that fans can finally stick to one side and come up with which film is more widely adored. "Which side is this reviewer with", you may ask: Well, I'm more of a Blade Runner fan myself, so there you go. But this film ain't bad either, its just that Blade Runner has a far better story-telling with gorgeous effects and a great soundtrack!

Anyway, now to Alien: Can I offer a piece of advice? Do not watch the director's cut version. Watch the original version, it's much, much better whereas the director's cut version is kinda clunky and unprofessional. I had the unfortunate luck of watching it in the former the first time but what the hey! The opening is quite-memorable and takes its time to familiarize ourselves with the ship and the characters but the film comes to its true pace when they investigate the Alien ship. From there, the awesomeness and the epicness snowballs, from Kane's iconic chest-bursting to the final confrontration of Ripley and the titular character. Even though the Alien appears only sporadically, it's mere 2-second appearance is enough to scare the shit & hell out of you. And it's of little surprise it should do so because the Alien is designed by none other than H.R. Giger, the king of modern-surrealism and sci-fi. He has created one of the most aggressive and legendary screen creature to date and surely one of the damn iconic, if you ask me. Everything about the creature is perfect and they only get better in the sequel, Aliens.

That concludes the creature, now the humans: Everyone were great in their characters but it was Ian Holm as Ash that impressed me the most, followed by Yaphet Kotto as Parker and then Harry Dean Stanton as Brett. All the others were great but not to the level of the above three, even Sigourney Weaver. I'm sure you'll agree when I say that she was times better in the sequel. I liked the fact that all the characters, bar Ripley, die by the end of the movie with the titular character shown only for a few chilling seconds, delivering the kill or otherwise!

In conclusion, Alien is a solid movie and deserves all the attention it got and is getting. Definitely a must-watch if you're a Ridley Scott fan!

8.5/10