Alien: The Film

Obviously I forgot to mention that actual movie itself; instead, I focued lightly on its technical merits and comparisons to high definition. Alien is a fantastic film. It's one of those movies that makes you appreciate cinema, and for those lucky few, you have heard me mention that before. Sometimes you can just walk away from a movie and you have gained reassurance that not everything that comes out is crap anymore.

For these older movies, it's a slightly different feeling. It reminds you of how good cinema was, and lets you hope that more good movies can come out. Alien is full of great scenes and great acting. A great story to tie it all together with some timeless special effects and you have yourself a masterpiece.

Do you need to be reminded of the scenes? The Alien-busts-out-of-the-guys-stomach scene? Brilliant. Just how horrifying would it be to witness such a thing in real life? And to top it all off, and the height of your disbelief, the alien scurries off with such speed that you just can't help but be in awe of, and then immediately terrified as you now know this thing may be difficult to catch. Unfortunately the scene almost finishes out comically, as I had a smile on my face as the alien raced off. I'm willing to chalk it up to greatness though: the scene was so perfect I couldnt' help but smile.

Other great scenes of course include the cyborg freaking out, and the fact that it is a young Ian Holm doing the freaking. The discovery of the eggs: brilliant. The Alien sleeping: beautiful. Making flame-throwers in minutes: great. And of course being trapped in the air ducts with the unholy beast is just classic.

The special effects are notable too, as they don't seem to have aged poorly at all. Thanks to the use of animatronics, miniatures and beautiful sets, the effects are seamless and we don't suffer from any real terrible green/blue screen effects. Non of this CG crap that can be horribly distracting just a few years after release; this movie has pure class.

When it all comes together it's easy to see why this would spawn so many sequels, paradies and homages throughout pop culture. The second movies, Aliens, stands on its own and creates a genre on its own, and makes it easy to forget the original and how different it was. More horror, shock, and awe. In a time where monster movies will throw in as many nasty creatures as possible, you have to remember that it's not necessary: Alien is not plural for a reason.