Alien movie review

"No one can hear you scream in space." Alien is not just a scifi movie but at its heart is a classic monster movie. There are elements of sci-fi as the movie takes place in space, and deals with space travel, science, computers, an android, and other sci-fi elements, however this movie is also a great horror movie, with all of the traits and characteristics of a monster movie. The great thing about Alien is that it is one of the best horror movies of all-time, and it does it so effectively without the reliance upon heavy gore and and gross out, but instead relies on atmosphere and great story telling. Alien is about a small crew of seven who are returning from a deep space mining mission. They are awaken from hype sleep by the ships computer "mother". The ship picks up a signal that is being broadcast, and according to protocol, they have to investigate the signal. On an alien planet they find a wrecked ship, and come into contact with an alien life form, this alien gets brought on board the ship, because it is attached to the face of one of the crew members. From here shit gets bad and it keeps getting worse as the action quickly builds and grows as the action rises until we reach the amazing intense climax. The dark atmosphere of the movie, as well as the amazing artwork and the superb creature designs helps to create a sense of impending doom and hopelessness. This movie does not give the viewer hope for the characters, it has this sense of realism, this foreboding, this element of tense dread. There are some things that this movie does very well. First of all the fact that the movie stars a strong female lead, which was not too typical at the time that this movie was released in the late 70s. Sigourney Weaver playing Ridley, is a strong woman, though at times overly abrasive. It is empowering to see such a powerful woman as the lead of a movie, in a time where so often women in horror movies were weak and in need of saving. Another thing that this movie does very well is the art and the effects. The amazing creature designs by HR Giger is iconic, and some of the greatest creature designs in movie history, and they have become a part of our pop-culture. All of the effects in Alien are practical effects, because this came at a time before CGI existed as we know it now. The great thing is, that makes this movie even more amazing is that these practical effects still hold up when compared to modern CG effects, as you probably have come to learn by reading my reviews is that I really appreciate practical effects. The sets all help to create the intense atmosphere of the film. The characters also all do a great job at playing their parts, and were all perfectly cast, which again helps to create the atmosphere. Another thing that is done extremely well here is the actual story telling which is absolutely fantastic, the story never drags, it is constantly building and intensifying as the movie moves forward. However there are also weak points of the movie as well, I found the characters with the exception of Ripley and Ash to be flat and one dimensional, they seem to play stereotypes and they never really grow away from those stereotypes, as there is very little character development. Some of them men tend to play into the stereotypes of working class men at the time with their sexist comments and attitudes. Also the other female character tends to be the stereotypical weak female, always on the edge of hysterics. But even for these shortcomings, the movie is still fantastically done. Would I recommend this movie? Absolutely, it is one of my favourite movies, it is so well done. The horror aspects of this movie are so perfectly done, the dark hopeless atmosphere is so perfect. This movie doesn't give you the impression of a happy ending being possible, and I really appreciate that. The great things is that this movie still holds up after all of these years, it wasn't just great for its time, but is still amazing today. Definitely one of the greatest sci-fi/horror movies of all time. Really an amazing movie and I think that everyone should see it. This movie launched an amazing and very successful franchise, and definitely deserves its place in film history.