Spoilers Alien: Questions

[pukunui]

Eh. Different people like different things. I like masterful film-making.

I too like masterful film-making, and for me, Alien just doesn't fit the bill. I don't know why, but I just cannot see the film the way you see it. But as you say, different people like different things. We can both be right because our opinions are entirely subjective.

 

[MGibster]

Trying to wrestle this back around to Alien, one thing I really love about the film is the costume and set design. We were used to depictions of the future that were pristine, but here we have a bunch of, essentially space truckers. And their job kinda sucks. It's more relatable.

I'm going to give the credit to Star Wars for this one as it's the first science fiction movie I can remember where the space age technology had a lived in, used look. But, yes, even in 1979, Alien managed to have that used, lived in look and the set design, costuming, and even the creature were superb.

 

[MGibster]

I always thought Tom Skerrit was meant to be the leading man fake-out in Alien. In any case, we were definitely not meant o realize that it was going to be Ripley until at least the halfway point of the film. (As opposed to Romulus, which lets us know immediately who the star of the film is.)

I'm pretty sure I knew Ripley would survive the first time I saw the movie. Not because I guessed correctly, but because by the time I watched Alien I had already seen Aliens. But in Alien, Ripley pretty much holds her own throughout the entire movie. She doesn't allow a compromised Kane back aboard the ship, it was Ash who overrode her, she ripped him a new one for it, and once Dallas was gone it didn't take long for her to establish she was in charge.

What makes Alien great isn't the special effects, set design, or costumes, though they help, but instead the excellent script and actors. That's why the movie is a classic.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Just watched Alien again.

My god, that's a masterpiece. The pace, the suspension, the unexplained mysteries... you feel John Hurt is the main character until that scene... Weaver is so, so good. The closed sets, fully built (with four walls and ceiling) make it feel so real and inspire such natural perfomances, and make things feel so claustrophobic. It's all just.. so, so good.

Eh. Different people like different things. I like masterful film-making.

I saw it again about two years ago and continued to be surprised by the level of film making. Also the proof is in the pudding, Alien has been emulated as much as Halloween at this point. It is a blue print (whether the vessel is under the sea or in space, there is Alien there).

Also for those who don't know, one of teh big inspirations for Alien was Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires. It is definitely worth checking out (it is an older style of horror-science fiction):