It's a shame that I saw Aliens and Alien 3 before first seeing the original. Since I was only 3 years old when Ridley Scott's legendary 1979 outer space tale hit the screen (and has subsequently never been privy to a theatrical re-release), Alien is purely a rental movie to me, and even on that level it pales in comparison to its successors. Rarely do movie sequels improve upon their original -- usually honoured as "the start of it all" -- but this has certainly become the case with the Alien franchise. Unlike The Godfather or the Star Wars series, where "slightly better" seems practically the only barometer by which one can gage the quality of each of the installments, Scott's original has become terribly dated, and time now favours Jim Cameron's action-packed sequel as one of the defining films in the entire sci-fi genre.
As a trend-setting movie, Alien remains one of the most influential hits in the creature feature category, but it's easy to forget that dozens of B-grade movies previously perfected the same style over the span of decades; the only key difference was Scott's budget when you really think about it. One could argue that this approach, namely Agatha Christie in space, makes for an interesting concept, but here it never successfully translates.
Perhaps I should elaborate. The film mostly takes part on a big ship called the Nostromo, and we're introduced to a gang of runts, including Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), and Lieutenant Ripley (Sigourney Weaver). The Nostromo intercepts a distress signal and, while not exactly the best-equipped ship for rescue operations, they decide to set down on the planet to investigate. After ignoring the fact that he suddenly finds himself surrounded by hundreds of alien eggs, John Hurt stares at a pod that opens and a creature that looks kind of like a crab attaches itself to his face. He's brought back to the ship and after the crab seems to fall off on its own, Hurt has some indigestion at dinner. A new form of alien is suddenly loose on the ship and manages to grow on an exponential level (there is no explanation for this provided in the film). The crew are now the prey. Like I said, Agatha Christie in space. Altogether, there are only seven people in the cast, and they all have Big Showdowns. We're meant to guess who's gonna get it next, but the characters are so bland and the alien is so terribly underseen that if it weren't for the fact we see an alien bouncing out of Hurt's chest, it could very well have been some eighth human character running around the ship committing the murders. And don't get me started on the cat, over-used for "false fright" purposes to the point of ridiculousness.
Hmm. I'm not doing a very good job of conveying that I don't necessarily mind this movie. The problem is, when I first saw it a few years ago, I wasn't overly impressed with it, and seeing it again just recently has basically confirmed earlier suspicions that it is a slow-moving picture. The few special effects you do see are dark and relatively believable, but there are two glaring exceptions: 1) an artificial life form malfunctions at one point and the aftermath is downright laughable, and 2) in the final climactic battle when the last survivor takes on the alien, it ends up looking like a man inside an alien suit and that's just silly. I think I might have preferred claymation effects over a man in an alien outfit. I probably would have also preferred claymation actors. Compared to the diversity of the characters in the sequel, it could only have helped.
For all its critical acclaim and fan worship, Alien suffers from a rare and terminal affliction: not-as-good-as-its-sequel-itis. I've now reviewed three of the four installments in the series, and at least I can say the first is not as bad as the third one. That, however, should be little comfort.
