Alien
The 2003 Directors Cut
What can I say about this film? Fantastic on it's own but Ridley manages to make it even Bette by cherry picking how to put everything in. Every scene has it's power, every scene makes sense and adds to the atmosphere and feel of the movie. To say which version is better, I'd need to watch both right now but I doubt I have the time.
On to the actual review.
Alien is a great movie, let me start by saying that. It's tied for my favorite with Aliens and sometimes falls under to second. Rarely. The beginning, albeit slow, is good. The interaction between characters and set up of concrete character personalities works well. The steady rise and feel of how everyone feels about each other is effective. Right away you can tell, Parker and Brett are close friends and really general assholes. You can tell Dallas is forceful and doesn't like to let his command falter. Ash, Lambert, and Ripley are characterized shortly after. The descent onto the planet is great and it convinces you to think like they do; something that it hopefully continues to convince you to do. When you hear the shield finite the feeling of worry fades away when Dallas waves it off. Then the parts I love about this movie come into play as they reach the Derelict. The reveal of the Jockey still gave me feelings of awe and mystery becaus of that wonderful echoing deep ring that goes through as Kane pulls himself up. Even though I already have seen the movie various times, even though I know what going to happen the feelings are still conveyed. Then when Kane goes into the egg chamber that sense of awe and apprehension that Kane feels transfers over as well. "What the hell is this" indeed. When the egg makes that unsealing noise I still jump a bit, even though I know the noise and I see it coming I still jump a bit. The huggers jumps also freaks me out a bit. From then on you get thy sense of wonderful tension building up. The chest bursting scene albeit definitely creepy didn't scare me. However that barely dulls it's effect as you realize, the crew isn't safe in their own home anymore. After that the tension flares and solidifies with every death of the crew. The never before seen scene where Parker and Lambert get caps for the coolant is wonderfully shot and I like it. When the Aliens shadow shows up against Lambert you can't help but get at least a minor chill. Then the ensuing death as Parker screams for Lambert to run gives you a deep sense of dread. And then no matter how much you shake me, I firmly believe the Alien raped Lambert. That was chilling as well. Immediately after that the scenes of Ripley moving through the hallways are intense and genuinely attention grabbing. The finale is fantastic as always and I gotta say, that egg morphing scene really ties up the minutes we missed in the theatrical version. Man... I love this movie.
15/10
Perfect
