Alien fun

I rewatched Alien (in Director's Cut form) last evening. With its unfortunate franchise, I expected to be unimpressed by the original, which I have not seen in years. It remains as excellent as my memory told me. It takes the slow paced claustrophobic 2001 approach as opposed to the frenetic Star Wars approach. This was an excellent choice. The slow moving Nostromo appears all the more huge, the slow approach to the planet is all the more forbidding and the alien ship is particularly odd. Had there been all sorts of distractions, the power of these images would have waned.

The cast is also excellent. I like that the crew of the Nostromo are battered working class types, the kind you would expect that would sign up for a long haul cargo trip to the edge of space. It also makes sense that they are completely unprepared for the coming of the alien, which makes their attempts to stop it all the more compelling.

Having rewatched Aliens recently, I still enjoyed the Hudson dialogue, but found the emphasis on special effects dated the film quite a bit. Having more people die also limits the impact as we spend little time with each of them. I still enjoyed it, but I don't think it holds up as well.

I appreciate the fact that the franchise took an entirely new direction with Alien 3, but in the end I found it far too somber for my taste. The shift of Ripley to a symbiotic relationship with the Alien which didn't really work for me. And with the exception of the swimming aliens, Alien 4 was pretty weak.

Still, if you are able to put the follow-ons aside, the first is worth a visit again. If only to see Bilbo Baggins as a young mysterious science officer.