It's been several years since I've seen this film, but my memory of it is good enough that I can recall the key stuff. Let's talk about what I liked first.
1. The special effects are superb — usually. The space shots are nigh-perfect, easily surpassing A New Hope two years earlier. I honestly believe the ships are out in space.
2. The characters are believable. You know how to make your characters seem 100% real? Have them whisper random conversations throughout the film. In the earlier scenes you can hear the crew talking about random things to each other, as if they're a team who are familiar with one another. It's fantastic.
And now we come to the bad stuff. Hang on folks; this is going to be a rant.
I said the special effects were great, but there is one very notable exception: the facehugger. It's supposed to latch onto your face and become impossible to remove. Well, the tail I believe is latched on, but the fingers? Take a good look at them: they barely look as if they're touching Kane's face. If his head had tipped even slightly in one direction, the facehugger would fall off. Oh sure, the tail might still strangle him, but small comfort that would be to the alien foetus, which would now be a blob of muck on the ground.
The plot is idiotic, relying WAY too much on coincidence. First, the facehugger again: how did it melt through the helmet without destroying Kane's face? Any acid powerful enough to melt space-resistant plastic would turn human flesh into so much soup. Second, how did it stay on his face so long without outright killing him? I guess it just "knew" that humans need oxygen to survive? How?? It had never encountered them before.
Dallas is an idiot. He brings an infected person on board the ship — in complete violation of protocol. He KNOWS this. And he does it anyway. Ok; whatever — but WHY DOESN'T HE HAVE KANE GET A MEDICAL ANALYSIS AFTER THE FACEHUGGER LETS HIM GO??? This is Common Sense 101!! I don't care if Kane is hungry — YOU GET HIM ANALYZED YOU DOLT!!!
Dallas isn't the only idiot — Brett is one too. He finds the alien standing RIGHT BEHIND HIM — and doesn't run away. He just stands there, letting it get him without any trouble. I lost sympathy for him at that point, since he's the epitome of Too Dumb to Live. And yes; I'm aware that trying to outrun the thing is fruitless, but he doesn't know that.
The pacing is abysmal. The first half of the film is too slow, bordering on outright boredom. The second half is the opposite — it's too fast, keeping you from analyzing what just happened, with zero room for character deaths to sink in. It's hard to be afraid when you don't even have enough time to care.
Alien isn't the worst movie I've seen. But that's not a hard hurdle to clear. It's mediocre. The sequel, on the other hand....
Not That Great
It's been several years since I've seen this film, but my memory of it is good enough that I can recall the key stuff. Let's talk about what I liked first.
1. The special effects are superb — usually. The space shots are nigh-perfect, easily surpassing A New Hope two years earlier. I honestly believe the ships are out in space.
2. The characters are believable. You know how to make your characters seem 100% real? Have them whisper random conversations throughout the film. In the earlier scenes you can hear the crew talking about random things to each other, as if they're a team who are familiar with one another. It's fantastic.
And now we come to the bad stuff. Hang on folks; this is going to be a rant.
I said the special effects were great, but there is one very notable exception: the facehugger. It's supposed to latch onto your face and become impossible to remove. Well, the tail I believe is latched on, but the fingers? Take a good look at them: they barely look as if they're touching Kane's face. If his head had tipped even slightly in one direction, the facehugger would fall off. Oh sure, the tail might still strangle him, but small comfort that would be to the alien foetus, which would now be a blob of muck on the ground.
The plot is idiotic, relying WAY too much on coincidence. First, the facehugger again: how did it melt through the helmet without destroying Kane's face? Any acid powerful enough to melt space-resistant plastic would turn human flesh into so much soup. Second, how did it stay on his face so long without outright killing him? I guess it just "knew" that humans need oxygen to survive? How?? It had never encountered them before.
Dallas is an idiot. He brings an infected person on board the ship — in complete violation of protocol. He KNOWS this. And he does it anyway. Ok; whatever — but WHY DOESN'T HE HAVE KANE GET A MEDICAL ANALYSIS AFTER THE FACEHUGGER LETS HIM GO??? This is Common Sense 101!! I don't care if Kane is hungry — YOU GET HIM ANALYZED YOU DOLT!!!
Dallas isn't the only idiot — Brett is one too. He finds the alien standing RIGHT BEHIND HIM — and doesn't run away. He just stands there, letting it get him without any trouble. I lost sympathy for him at that point, since he's the epitome of Too Dumb to Live. And yes; I'm aware that trying to outrun the thing is fruitless, but he doesn't know that.
The pacing is abysmal. The first half of the film is too slow, bordering on outright boredom. The second half is the opposite — it's too fast, keeping you from analyzing what just happened, with zero room for character deaths to sink in. It's hard to be afraid when you don't even have enough time to care.
Alien isn't the worst movie I've seen. But that's not a hard hurdle to clear. It's mediocre. The sequel, on the other hand....