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Alien
Short plot summary

"In space no one can hear you scream", apart from the audience watching you of course. Movie looks as if it has been filmed in garbage can. As dark as Blade Runner and enough tension for thirty heart attacks.

What our panel of critics thought

"Sigourney Weaver in a career defining role. Nice botty in those slips, too, at the end, my dear."

"A triumphant science fiction fest. My! how they busted ass."

"If you like countdowns this movie is for you. It's a countdown triumph!"

"Those small microphone/mouth pieces were very cutting edge in their time; remember, in 1979, cellular phones were still the size of small buildings."

"Gloomedy gloom. Not much in the way of belly laughs, although there is at least one belly scream."

"Much has been said about the bit when the creature jumps out of John Hurt's stomach, honey, I saw that coming all along."

"This movie is like a very long, dark walk in the forest but without the bird song."

"Monsters with all of the photogenic's of a peeled leprechaun."

Studio executives summary / pitch

Astronauts in space get infected by a slimy bug. Run for the hills... Uhmm... there are no hills.. ya harh harrrr...

Ridley Scott directs.

Please tell me the ending or plot overview if necessary

Sigourney Weaver (Ripley) escapes the infected mother ship in another ship and then blows up the mother ship. However, she then discovers a mutant on the new ship so she has to flame it... All plot lines secured for the sequel, never fear folks... will the kitty get it...? tune in again for Aliens...

Justify this movie's existence in the classic strand from theVoiceofReason.com's classically trained Veritable Cornucopia

This is a WhatAreWeGoingToDo situation movie. There is an alien on board who is out to kill us all horribly... There'll be screams and running around till bedtime, mark my words...

An enjoyable, if a little too tense, movie without the philosophy of Blade Runner. It is a study of people on board a ship under attack from within, with all of the tension that such a situation implies.

Sigourney Weaver plays our hero, Ripley, in a stunning career confirming performance; one of the first all action girl heroes. Not a half bad achievement for 1979 when this movie was released.

Give this movie some patience and it will reward you. However, if you are after a hell for leather blast-fest then you will be disappointed. There are whole minutes in which nothing happens. And then it seems to happen all at once.

Quotable quotes (real)
"I got you. Son of a bitch."
What snack should I eat while watching this movie?

Live lobster.

Would your cat like this movie? Would your dog like it? Other pets?

Pet crabs could take exception to their fellow fishy types being operated on at times in this movie.

Cats are heavily in to Sigourney Weaver, especially as Ripley has a pet cat in the movie.

Dogs may choose to roll about on their backs showing off their genitalia throughout, especially when the cat is on the screen.

Other comments

A great, quiet, action movie, with bits of extreme noise set to shock your heart into thumping erratically and, almost, out of your chest at times. Perhaps particularly unsuitable for home theater systems today if you are of a nervous nature; has been banned on heart wards in hospitals around the world.

The reviewer has always felt this movie is a little too slow, but can appreciate the style and, of course, the action, when it comes, is very good. It spawned a couple of sequels. Not as good as Blade Runner but the same sort of claustrophobic stuff as The Thing.

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