A lot of hype has built up for director Ridley Scott returning to science fiction. It's not trivial. He's created two masterpieces of the genre: Blade Runner and Alien. It really is worth remembering how groundbreaking the original movie was. It introduced horror into outer space and pushed those genres from their B-movie gutter into A-movie status. As with Star Wars, the movie's special effects confirmed what audiences wanted. Moreover, its design dismantled the clean future of spaceships that was established with 2001. And the people traveling to the far reaches of the galaxy were like you and me. Truck drivers hauling ore across space. Interspace travel was done for a living and it was tough. One of the best unsung scenes from the movie was at the beginning when the crew has woken up from their cryogenic sleep and are sitting around a dining table hungry from the long flight. They're a bunch of greasy, burnt out labor complaining about being underpaid and looking forward to when their shift ends. Blue collar instead of uniforms with bars, it put a new demographic of people in space.
Enough, what's the trailer like? Ridley Scott hinted that his movie referenced the classic, but he was adamant it was a new story. Well, the trailer shows clearly this is a direct prequel to Alien. The movie follows the original plot. A ship descends into the storm ravaged planet and bubble-headed astronauts find a tomb where the famous eggs reside. There's an ancient human face at the center of the chamber looking close to statues from Easter Island. They take an egg back and the horror begins with a rush to get off the rock. But what really gives away this is a direct descendant, is the slow reveal of the the letters in the same typography as the source. We also see the original alien ship crash onto the surface, but, curiously no alien is ever shown. But we all know what one looks like.
This franchise has had more sequels than needed. The second, Aliens, can be argued to be just as good, but the later ones have cheapened the brand to silliness (now with Predators). So it looks like Ridley Scott is putting a new coat of paint as a restoration. Will this be a new classic? Can't wait to find out.
Opening June 8, 2012, Verdict: Must See
The visual effects are amazing. Tough to tell whether the movie will actually play dramatically as well as the original - how many movies do? Alien is a masterpiece and Scott is tempting fate here with a prequel. I'll see it regardless.
Posted by: Bobabernathy | December 29, 2011 at 11:23 AM