August Movie Pick: 'Alien'

Waiting for the upcoming 'Alien: Romulus' that is coming in just ten days could be annoying, so I decided to rewatch the first movie that started it all. Given that the new project is set between 'Alien' and 'Aliens,' I went back to recap what happened. I didn’t start from the beginning with 'Prometheus' and 'Alien: Covenant,' even though I love them. At this point, I know them so well that going that far in the story isn’t necessary. I love this franchise, as well as the promise and potential it has. The trailers for the upcoming movie looked like they were utilizing this potential, and I remain pretty optimistic about the direction. Tapping into what the original did is the way to go because revisiting it the other day reassured my excitement. 'Alien' came out in 1979, with Sigourney Weaver being just 30 at that time. This movie changed entertainment and brought fresh air with the direction of Ridley Scott forever. Now, 45 years later, I assure you that the movie holds up almost perfectly. With the exception of the animatronics, the costume worn by Bolaji Badejo (Nigerian visual artist and actor), and some of the choices regarding the astronaut behavior, the movie is perfect. Probably due to the limitations of the era, the costume looks comical in some shots. The creature feels somehow ridiculous, but the movie is so good that you give them a pass because you know that for 1979, this was incredible. Even though sometimes the creature looks like an actor in a costume, in some scenes, it still conveys the terror that it is supposed to. The other thing was the animatronic that couldn’t capture the movement of a so-called perfect organism. Again, for 1979, I would say they did a good job. Another thing that came to mind was the smoking on the ship and the cat they brought with them. With all the rules around real astronauts of any generation, it comes across as unrealistic that they allow themselves such behavior, and bringing a pet into space, although cute and entertaining, feels impossible. Someday we will probably have space zoos, who knows. I know it is science fiction, and I am dissecting what is considered the best movie of the franchise, I know.

What made the movie so good were the actors and the set design. You feel like you are on a real ship in space the whole time. It is incredible how they were able to create this atmosphere throughout the film. The design looks realistic, rough, and futuristic but at the same time retro. The computers gave this AI feeling that reminded me of how I communicate with ChatGPT right now in the form of the first technologies, which is fun to see. The way people saw the future in art often serves as inspiration for the direction we take. You can see that there are limitations to one's imagination or moreover how to translate them onto the big screen. But like evolution, technologies follow a certain pattern, and some steps need to be taken in order to create something else. 

I’ve seen 'Alien' three times now, and every time I am so happy and impressed that we see the ship from 'Prometheus' and how Ridley Scott connected the story. I know people didn’t like the last two movies, but I really connected to them so well that I’ll probably have to wait a decade to watch them again in order to forget the plot and the visuals. A star is born with Sigourney Weaver, one of my all-time favorite actresses, playing a badass astronaut that no one listens to and everyone dies. That was the joke, right? In order to prepare yourself, and I am speaking to the casual fans here, go ahead and watch the movie. I bet the nerds are either already too familiar, or they just watched it.

Iliya Badev