Cameronius Explodius McMonius

Alien was released in 1979 and was directed by Ridley Scott. The movie is about a crew of a space vessel who have an alien being get on board their ship which begins to wipe them all out so they must try and defend themselves and get rid of it.

 

The movie has a great, tensional atmosphere which is built up extremely well; many scenes are either quiet or silent which adds to the sense of isolation and the fact that their enemy could be absolutely anywhere. This is quite a slow-paced movie (nearly the first five minutes are all silent shots of panning through locations).

Usually this would be a weak point but the pace works for this film as it adds to the amount of tension. Also, because of the slow pace it gives you time to appreciate how well done each small part of the film is done and makes everything memorable.

 

The practical effects are great for the time, the alien itself is a prime example; when I first saw it I was stunned by how real it looked and to think that this was nearly 40 years ago at the time of writing this is even more stunning. There's also more effects that I loved but I'll let you experience them when you see them yourself so hopefully you'll be as equally as impressed as I was.

Ellen Ripley is considered one of the greatest female leads in movies of all time and that is for good reason. She was a strong and intelligent lead and was also quite relatable at the same time.

 

Movies I really like are ones which I guess are 'small' so they don't really move around that far if you understand what I'm talking about; they give every aspect of the film the attention they deserve and usually end up as a more interesting movie. This movie is a prime example of a great one of these.

 

This is usually regarded as a horror film, hence the tagline 'In space, no one can hear you scream'. However, there's nothing really too scary here and as I said earlier is full of tension and relies on surprises and shocks rather than scares.

 

Overall, this was a great movie with an amazing well-built up atmosphere and gives every aspect of the film the attention it deserves, from the characters, the writing and the effects. I would highly recommend this film.

 

8.6/10

 

Who else loved Jones the Cat?

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