Alien
Film Review
Ridley Scott's 1979 outer space thriller gives us the perfect killing machine and a top-notch cast, including John Hart, Tom Skerritt, and of course, the infamous Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the young and tough third officer of the commercial starship Nostromo. Hauling freight back to earth, the ship's motherboard awakes the seven-man crew, generously named Mother, serving their employer, The Company, as a distress beacon is received from an unknown origin. Enter the central star, the Alien, the latex wearing, double mouth-ception, impregnating life form previously undiscovered. After boarding the massive ancient starship, John Hart, AKA Kane, discovers a thin layer of smoke covering a bed of large eggs; after poking and prying, the typical human protocol, Kane, is attacked as a small organism grasps his helmet. Ripley is the first officer to suggest quarantining their fellow crew members but is over-ridden by Ash, the science officer. The ensuing disaster goes horribly awry for all ship members as Kane, seemingly recovered from having an unknown alien life form attaching itself to his face and down his throat, is now conscious and obviously famished.
The crew sits down around the family table mirroring the opening scenes, the director of the film, Ridley Scott, purposely withheld telling his actors of the following events in order to catch raw emotions as the actors react to the carnage of the parasitic alien breaching from Kane's stomach and exiting stage left. The crew is left paralyzed by the shocking introduction of this new breed of life. The battle between man and Alien rages on from that point forward as one by one, the crew are picked off until only Ripley, and the crew's cat, Jones, or Jonesy as the team calls him. Aboard the last escape ship, Ripley, failing to do a final inspection before take-off, realizes the Alien has slipped onboard her ship. Frantically trying to put on her spacesuit, the last survivor only has one more play to rid herself of the vile organism, shoot the damn thing into space. Not as accurate as I would have hoped but the unlocking of the air chamber blows the Alien to the door, clutching for one last chance, Ripley shoots the creature with a grappling hook, and again it somehow stays alive in the freezing cold of dead space but just in time, the ship's blasters finally free Ripley of the horrid beast as she finally lays her and Jonesy to rest in hyper-sleep. Easily one of the best outer-space films depicting a Utopian/dystopian future for humankind and what might be out there lurking for us, just waiting to be released.