Alien

Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skeritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt and Ian Holm

Director: Ridley Scott

Release Date: 1979

Running Time: 1hr 57 minutes

Genre: Sci Fi

Rating: 18

Format: Blu-Ray

Synopsis:

When a space merchant vessel receives an unknown distress call, they land on the moon to find one of the crew members is attacked by a very mysterious life form, they learn very quickly, that it's life has only just began! 

Set in 2122, a crew on a space merchant vessel awake from hyper sleep to an unknown transmission that is believed to be a distress call, when they arrive, they find something pretty interesting! A mysterious life form that attacks a member of their crew, that however is only the start of it! Ridley Scott was really onto a winner when he made this beauty! I'd highly recommend watching "Alien: Covenant" because "Alien" would certainly make much more sense to you. What a spectacular looking film. Easily one of the most impressive Sci Fi movies I've ever seen.

Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), was employed as Warrent Officer for the Weyland- Yutani corporation, working on the USCSS Nostromo, which was towing massive quantities of raw ore to Earth from Thedus. Ripley and the rest of the crew are woken up 10 months early due to the mysterious distress call. Sigourney Weaver is absolutely excellent as Ripley, her character has a lot of depth and characterisation, she portrays her character very convincingly stealing the show! It's no surprise she found fame in "Ghostbusters" a couple of years later.

Ian Holm's performance Ash also stands out, Ash is the Nostromo's Science Officer. He is quite a mystery to Captain Dallas you'll soon find out later in the movie, not all is as it seems. Ian Holm's delivers a deeply intelligent and fantastic performance. His characterisation is fantastic. The actors work very well on screen together and share convincing relationships, they get on each other's nerves, they don't necessarily like one another but they'll work together to get the job done!

Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett have written a fantastic storyline, this movie really will have you on the edge of your seat. It is however one of those stories where you do have to concentrate, otherwise you are likely to get a bit confused. It is however quite self explanatory once the alien comes into play. I love the theory and I love the concept, it makes a nice change from little green men.

Cinematographer Derek Vanlint has managed to create stunning visuals, in general it's an incredibly impressive looking movie. The cinematography is gorgeous. The production design is amazing it looks very, very convincing. It's dark and eery and creates brilliant suspense and tension. You know there's something lurking but it's a case of when and where are you going to see it. Not for the faint hearted, Scott has relied a tiny bit on jump scares with this film as well as a few predictable scenes. Certain scenes aren't lit at all and it creates incredible suspense, you really emphasize with the characters, as if you were really in their shoes. Any movie that can make you that engrossed in it, has done a very good job! Beautifully shot. Don't be fooled it's not too predictable, there's plenty of surprises too!

The Blu-Ray itself looks absolutely gorgeous, you'd never believe it had been filmed in 1979! Unfortunately there aren't any special features, there is however a 2003: Directors cut, depending on your preference it might be quite interesting!

One of the best films of the late 1970's, highly entertaining!

5/5 stars