On the way home from a mission, a spaceship called the Nostromo receives an SOS beacon from a nearby planet and the crew is awaken from hibernation. When they arrive, there are no signs of human life but a creature has attached itself to the mask of one of the crew members. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver in her most iconic role) does not want the crew member bought back onto the spaceship, but she is overruled as the others fear for his life. That ends up being a really bad mistake. I think that is about all I will give away of the plot for those who haven't seen Alien and want to. Alien is a brilliant sci-fi/horror movie and from a tension standpoint it may be one of the best ever. This movie builds very slowly. A lesser movie would jump right to the action scenes but director Ridley Scott is smarter than that and he utilizes the techniques that worked so well in Jaws. We do not see the creature in its whole form until the second half of the movie. Instead, there is a foreboding since of dread which builds, and builds, and builds until we are sitting on the edge of our seats. Then Scott turns the alien loose and we hang on for the ride. Alien is one of the best horror films ever made and inspired many movies and several sequels.
Speaking of sequels, during my list I have been mentioning any sequels that I thought were worthwhile. This is a little different because in this case, the sequel is every bit as good (and perhaps better) than the original. Aliens is one of the best sequels ever made for any film. If you put a gun to my head, I would probably choose the original Alien, but Aliens is worthy of a spot on this list so I am mentioning it.
No comments:
Post a Comment