Figure 1: Movie Poster
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott. The title Alien and its accompanying elements were designed by Swiss surrealist artist. The film's title refers to a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. The movie has been praised and has been inducted into the National Film Registry of Congress Library in 2002. The film is culturally, and historically or aesthetically significant. Alien begins slowly by introducing as to the crew of Nostromo, a space vehicle on a return course for Earth. The crew’s number is seven. The captain, Dallas (Skerritt), Ripley (Weaver), the ship's warrant officer, Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), the ship's highly strung navigator; science officer Ash (Ian Holm), who seems to have ice water for blood, Kane (John Hurt), who is possessed of a gallows humor and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and Parker (Yaphet Kotto). “One of the great strengths of "Alien" is its pacing. It takes its time. It waits. It allows silences.” (Ebert, 2003)
Figure 2: Spaceship Crew
The title Alien and its accompanying elements were designed by Swiss surrealist artist. After receiving a possible distress signal from a seemingly uninhabited planet, Dallas, Kane, and Lambert head down to investigate. They found an enormous abandoned space ship full of eggs. As Kane is examining one a creature attacks him and makes him unconscious. His crew members take him back to their ship. The film’s story is really linear. The film has no mystery , and contains the most simplistic thoughts. Still is one of the best films ever made.
Figure 3: Kane attacked by the creature the found on the abandoned spaceship
They take him to the medical lab after arguing if they could leave him enter the ship. He seems dead but after a while he wakes up. While he goes for dinner in the ship he gets chocked and an alien creature gets out of him.
Figure 4: The creature getting out of his chest
The rest of the crew mounts a search through the Nostromo's dark, claustrophobic passageways, with the alien picking them off one-by-one. And, with each new victim, it grows larger and stronger. “Alien contains its fair share of genuine scares. These aren't mere "boo" moments, where something benign jumps out of the shadows accompanied by a loud noise and a musical crescendo, but legitimate shocks.” (Berardinelli, 2003)
Figure 5: The alien creature
In the end everybody has been killed by the alien. Ripley is the only one alive. "Alien uses a tricky device to keep the alien fresh throughout the movie: It evolves the nature and appearance of the creature, so we never know quite what it looks like or what it can do.” (Ebert, 2003) In the movie we don’t see clearly the alien. With this method it keeps us in suspense. Ripley detonates the self-destruction timer in the spaceship and escapes with the shuttle. As she escapes she discovers that alien is in the shuttle. She kills it with a gun and opening the door of the shuttle causing the alien getting thrown out of the shuttle dead in the space. She then returns to earth. The movie is really classic and one of the best movies for its genre. Many movies have tried to copy this unsuccessfully and movies who are close to this movie are described as good movies.
Illustration List:
Figure 1: Ridley Scott Alien (1979): Movie Poster
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
Figure 2: Ridley Scott Alien (1979): Spaceship Crew
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
Figure 3: Ridley Scott Alien (1979):
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
Figure 4: Ridley Scott Alien (1979): The creature which killed Kane gets out of his chest
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
Figure 5: Ridley Scott Alien (1979): The alien creature
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
Bibliography:
Derek Malcolm (2009) Alien Film Review
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
Robert Ebert (2003) Alien Film Review
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
James Berardinelli (2003) Alien Film Review
(Accessed 13/11/2011)
Hey Anastos,
ReplyDeleteYour reviews are growing in sophistication each time - good use of quotes here and nicely presented.
thank you phil!
ReplyDelete