Alien Review

Now we go back to the original, the classic, the one where it all started (Production wise), the film that made Ridley Scott the director he is, Alien. Just to make this clear, this is not a direct sequel to Prometheus in that, the Derelict in this film is not the same ship in Prometheus, there are numerous but obvious differences, but it's still closely linked to Prometheus despite what Ridley Scott says.

So we start with eerie, ominous shots of space with some eerie music which sets the tone of the film, it does feel as if we are entering the unknown as it all sound mysterious, in a way it does remind me of the opening shots of the Doctor Who story the Claws of Axos (Which I suspect may be one of the inspirations for these films since there are a number of similarities) which are very similarly done. Eventually we are introduced to the crew of the Nostromo which are basically the space age equivalent of truckers and we get an almost documentary style look of them when they are awake and doing their routine which is quiet interesting to look at, not a normal convention of a Sci-Fi Horror film.

The crew go to LV-426 to find the origin of a signal they had picked up and find the source to be an Engineers ship and find lots of eggs inside and so the continuation of the Xenomorph horror happens which is quiet a slow, suspenseful build up which works for a film like this, might not work in today's times but still very good. Unlike the other films the Alien is steeped in darkness quiet literally, there is only one and the whole feeling of dread and menace builds up as the film progresses the the crew are killed one by one.

The look of the Alien is something that feels very original in itself as it looks nothing like any old rubber suited monster you would probably find in the Star Wars films, interestingly it's supposed to look like the species that was face hugged which is very disturbing (If you see any behind the scenes photos it becomes clear) and with it's strange almost bio-mechanical feel to it makes it seem to be the ultimate monster. As this is the first film in the franchise, there is little that can be made better of it but has it's own succession of sequels and a prequel which work for the most part, if I had to choose one science fiction film series it would probably be this one, anything is better than Star Wars in my opinion.

Film:         9/10