Given that it has recently been re-released, I figured I’d give this
Ridley Scott flick another go. I have all of the Alien films on video, but
this has always been my least favourite. I’ve always viewed it as being a
big-time retread of all the great 50s sci-fi films I love so dearly, only
taking out everything that was ‘fun’ about them.
I mean really, folks. It’s just Plumbers in Space, when you get right down to it (And Harry Dean Stanton really does seem to fit the part if you ask
me, though he and Yaphet Kotto are rays of sunshine here amidst their
grim-looking co-stars). A mining ship full of rather disgruntled and
underpaid folks answers a distress call from an alien planet. There they
find some bizarre creatures, one of whom attaches itself to the face of
poor, unfortunate John Hurt (Looking about 55 with a bad hangover to
boot). Yadda Yadda, it’s man vs. alien…well, OK, so there are two women
on board. And a cat.
A great cast, with Sigourney Weaver her usual terrific self, but I still
find the film takes the least interesting elements of science-fiction
(cold, distanced characters, sterile photography, lots of gabbing) and the
least interesting elements of horror (no sense of humour, lots of jump
scenes rather than atmosphere like the great Hammer horror films) and puts
it all together. Add to that actors like Tom Skerritt and Ian Holm, who
whilst fine in certain roles, don’t exactly scream ‘life of the party’ to
me. Sure, they needed to convey a sense of weariness associated with long
space travel, but screenwriter O’Bannon did this much better with John
Carpenter on ‘Dark Star’, which heightened the absurdity of it all, rather
humorously.
However, when the film is on target, it’s great. The chest-bursting scene
is superb, the scenes set on the alien planet are visually arresting
(whilst the rest looks like leftovers from bland stuff like ‘2001’ or
‘THX-1138’), the creature design is superlative. You could probably add an
extra half a star to my rating, because it is certainly watchable, just so
damn overrated.
Now say it with me, people; Get ready for another episode of
Handymen….in…Sssspppppaaaaaacccccceeeeee!
OVERALL SUMMARY
Sterile-looking, mostly uneventful for the the first forty minutes, the
film gets better in the latter stages with some fine FX and terrific
performances. But I’d still skip it and move on to the much better
sequels.
