Review: Alien

I recently watched the entire Alien anthology on Blu-ray and wanted to write an article for each film. This feature will be part movie review, part disc review, and part commentary.  The first two films are among my favorite movies of all time and I thought it would be fun to cover more than just the high-definition transfer. There will be spoilers in this feature, so if you haven’t seen the film, you may want to tread lightly.

Alien was released over 30 years ago and is still one of the most beloved sci-fi/horror films ever made. At a time when the world was fascinated with Star Wars, Star Trek, and all ages science fiction, Ridley Scott stepped up to the plate and delivered a truly scary adult sci-fi film that had the right combination of great direction, great art design, and great casting.

Thankfully, Fox has pulled out all the stops and given Alien the treatment it deserves for its Blu-ray release. Alien has never looked or sounded better than it does on Blu-ray, plus there are lots of extras for Alien fanatics.

The film

Some may prefer Aliens to Alien, but Alien is the one that started it all. This film propelled Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver’s career and has been the inspiration for countless sci-fi and horror films and directors. What made this film unique is that everything came together so well. Separately, the basic plot elements and script may not have resulted in a great film, but combined with a visionary director and one of the most iconic creature designs ever created, something special was created.

The attention to detail and pacing is what really helps make Alien work as not only a great science fiction film, but a great scary movie. Scott didn’t rush to show the alien onboard, instead focusing on the building tension and the characters. By the time the alien was loose on the ship, the audience was invested in the characters, making the alien encounters more intense and believable.

If you think of this film as having followed the slasher formula, it may not have been too shocking that Sigourney Weaver’s character survives, but in 1979, for the cast involved, and given the amount of screen time other actors had, it was part of the surprise. Traditionally, we would have probably seen Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) take charge and save his ship, but not here. Instead, Ripley managed to escape the alien and even saved Jonesy in the process.

Most of the praise for the creature and alien ship design can be given to H.R. Giger. His unique vision helped this film to stand the test of time. No one has been able to come up with such a unique and iconic creature design since and not even any of the sequels were able to capture the look of the creature used in this film. Alien was the only film that showed off the creature with a transparent head and visible skull underneath. While difficult to see in previous versions, you can see it better in certain scenes in the Blu-ray edition.

As much as I love this film, I have one minor gripe with an effects shot that just doesn’t work and I’m sure you know what I’m going to say before I even mention it. Science Officer Ash has a head problem towards the end of the film and they cut back and forth between actor Ian Holm and a dummy head that looks absolutely nothing like him. It doesn’t take away from the movie for me, but everyone I watch Alien with laughs during this scene. This scene briefly removed the sense of realism established in other scenes, and I think this particular scene could have been shot differently.

Even with that minor item, Alien is still a masterpiece. No one has been able to replicate the mix of horror and sci-fi that you see here and that is one reason why it is considered one of the greatest science fiction and horror films of all time.

The Blu-ray

Alien has never looked or sounded as good as it does on the Blu-ray. I know it’s a little cliche, but it is really like watching this movie for the first time again. The amount of detail you can see in the interior of the Nostromo and alien ship is really astounding. You can easily make out items in darker scenes that you couldn’t in the past, and the faces are so clear that you can easily see the pores on the faces of the actors.

The biggest benefit of the Blu-ray clarity for me is in seeing the creature design. As mentioned above, most people don’t realize that under the dome shaped front of the creature’s head is a somewhat visible skull. It was really difficult to see in previous versions, but the Blu-ray clean-up has allowed the creature to be much more visible and you can more easily see the skull underneath.

There are a decent amount of extras on the disc, including the previously released director’s cut that includes a number of new scenes. If you’ve seen Alien, but missed the director’s cut on the previous DVD release, the major item is the inclusion of a scene near the end of the film where Ripley encounters a cocooned Dallas and Bret before abandoning the Nostromo.

This scene is important for fans of the franchise to watch, because if you didn’t know already, you’ll see that the cocoon idea didn’t start with James Cameron in Aliens. Like many of the ideas in Aliens, Cameron expanded on what was already laid out by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

As a piece of film history, this scene is interesting to watch, but I can’t recommend it as the definitive version of the film (and neither does Ridley Scott), because the scene isn’t polished and doesn’t fit in with Alien/Aliens/Alien 3 canon.

Wrap-Up

If you are a fan of all of the Alien films or even a couple of them, picking up the anthology on Blu-ray is well worth the money. Fox has put extra time and attention into turning these into definitive editions of the film and it is a real treat for Alien fans to watch. Obviously, most people purchasing the film will be doing so to see the first film, so I highly recommend this.

If you’ve never seen the original Alien, you owe it to yourself to watch this film. Even 30+ years later, Alien is a very effective  science fiction and horror film. Coupled with a fantastic Blu-ray edition, you'll be able to see Alien in the best quality possible and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Film Score: 5/5     Blu-ray Score: 5/5