Alien (1979) Movie Review

Director: Ridley Scott

Writers: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusset

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt

I hadn’t watched this movie before a few weeks ago and I expected it to be a lot more entertaining than it actually was. So many people love this movie. I have never actually heard anyone speak about the movie negatively but I found it rather underwhelming.

There were still parts of the movie that I enjoyed. Before the reveal of the alien, everything is really tense and you know something is going to go wrong eventually. The way the doctor speaks about the alien makes it seem like there is no way anyone is going to survive the ordeal. You never even really see the xenomorph. This is mainly a product of the fact that it’s only in its final state at the end of the movie but it plays on the whole ‘fear of the unknown’ thing.

Unfortunately, for a supposed horror movie, it’s hardly even scary. It’s atmosphere and no danger. When people die, you know they’re going to die and they do. It’s not unexpected and it’s not shocking. Anytime that the alien jumps out, it just looke

d goofy to me (this is probably just because it was made decades ago). Goofiness comes up more than once in the movie. At the end the alien looks more like a Looney Toons character than a hyper-evolved killing machine. It’s actually rather hilarious.

People like to rave about Ripley being the ultimate strong female character but she was underwhelming as well. I expected someone who was interesting and entertaining but she was utterly average in every way. She really doesn’t warrant the praise she has gotten since the film’s release.

I went into Alien expecting a horror masterpiece but instead I found a marvellously tense build-up with a rather weak pay-off and an over-hyped leading character.

Recommendation Status: Watch it if you really want.

Please feel free to leave a comment on either the movie or the review. Say if you liked or disliked the movie. I'm interested to find out what you think!