93. Alien

Ridley Scott, 1979

Alien came out back in the day when Ridley Scott was great. Back then, a Ridley Scott movie was a trip to strange new world, like those in Alien, Blade Runner, and Legend. Sure, you knew how some of the rules worked. After all, those films in particular were, in essence, a horror movie, a film noir, and a fairy tale, but Scott always managed to take them to the ultimate extension in both story and image. These are beautifully shot movies with rich worlds. In Alien, our primary sets are the downed alien space craft and the Nostromo. The Nostromo is, essentially, what one would expect a future cargo ship to look like, but just by the very nature that this is the future, that it isn’t something we see regularly, it is fresh to our eyes. Further, what Scott has done here, obviously with the help of some highly talented production designers, is create a “realistic” future cargo space ship, if that can even be said. The Nostromo is dirty, dark, cramped, and messy. Again this was something we weren’t used to seeing. So often in science fiction, at least up until the seventies, all space ships, even cargo carriers, were clean and bright with a lot of Christmas tree lights all over the place. So, again, something you don’t really see all the time. The downed alien space ship is another thing all together, though. Based, apparently, on designs by the European artists Moebius and H. R. Giger, this ship is unlike anything before it. It, like the alien when we finally see it, is truly alien. This is not some rocket or flying saucer. It is not a ship built or used by anything even vaguely human. It is smooth and curving, more organic than manufactured, and it is huge. You almost get the feeling of being inside the gigantic corpse of some poor creature than of being in a star ship. Different and that’s a big part of why I like it. When I see a film, I love seeing something I haven’t seen or don’t often see anywhere else. And if it is something I’ve seen before, I want to see a unique interpretation of it, the same old thing, perhaps, but shown to me in a new way.

So, I think it’s kind of strange that this Ridley Scott is long gone. It’s almost like a pod people sort of thing. One day, the man’s taking us to bold new worlds and now he only cares to visit the present day or histories visited once too often. With Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and 1492, we have, respectively, the Roman Empire, the Crusades, and, well, 1492. Nothing new here. Hell, I was even excited about Gladiator, but there is nothing terribly new here. Instead, we get two dimensional characters involved in a vague political struggle that is, at best, Sparticus warmed over. Likewise, G. I. Jane seems to be Fully Metal Jacket part 2, albeit with Demi Moore doing her best Sinead O’Connor impersonation. Hannibal was just crappy, which is a shame since you’d think the man who gave us Darkness from Legend and Rutger Hauer’s replicant could do something with Hannibal Lechter. I didn’t see Black Hawk Down and I won’t see Matchstick Men, which, disappointingly, has nothing to do with men built out of matchsticks. Sigh. And, finally, Ridley Scott directed Black Rain? Admittedly, I know nothing about this movie. I’ve never seen it, but it is one of the funniest home video boxes I’ve seen in my life. You’ve got Michael Douglas trying, and I do mean trying, to look like a bad ass, sitting astride this big black motor cycle. He’s got a cigarette, sun glasses, jeans, leather jacket and then, a big, goofy looking NYPD badge, a really dopy gray wool sweater, complete with that most bad ass of fashion statements, the turtle neck, and the most eighties hair style I’ve seen on the man. Really, it looks kind of like Mr. Novak, a teacher I once had, trying to look bad ass (although, Novak had better hair). But this guy? Catherine Zeta-Jones married this? Whatever.

So, what does all of this have to do with Alien. Not a lot. I guess this really turned into more of a tirade about how disappointing I find Ridley Scott anymore. Yet, I suppose that is really a part of why I do like this movie so much. It’s almost like I respect it more based on how little I respect Scott’s later output. The same thing really applies to the other Alien movies as well: Aliens, Alien Cubed, and Alien Resurrection. A big reason I like this movie is how skillful a horror film it is. It’s truly suspenseful, largely because of the claustrophobic environment, a largely unseen monster, which, unlike most, is not disappointing when we do finally see it, and the simple fact that it is an alien, which means that, unlike, say, a vampire movie, this is one where we don’t know the rules. Face huggers? Acid blood? Second, creepier, smaller mouth? Wierd, wild stuff. With the sequels, though, we know the rules. We’ve seen the alien. What’s more, the sequels stop even trying to be horror movies and try to be action films. Aliens, with the exception of the seen with the aliens coming through the corridor and our heroes watching only with a motion sensor, is a by the numbers, not at all suspenseful, shoot-em-up. As for Alien Cubed and Ressurection, well, they just suck. Except Alien Cubed does have Doctor Who in it, but then that just shows what a big nerd I am. So, in the final analysis, and I am sorry if this is all a little confused, but I am kind of thinking this out as I’m writing it, I like Alien a lot. It’s different, it’s genuinely suspenseful, and it’s a lot better than it’s sequels, in it’s own franchise and in Ridley Scott’s personal work.