Viking Night: Alien
By Bruce Hall
February 1, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
There are three parallel lines, an innovative title card, a noble gas giant, and a massive spacecraft lumbering through space. Jerry Goldsmith’s score faintly fills the background, like the sound of falling snowflakes. The ship is the deep space mining ship Nostromo, and her crew is in hypersleep. The camera continues its journey, drifting like a butterfly through the darkened corridors we know that, in half an hour, will be spattered with blood. Passing through the bridge, the ship receives an emergency message, which wakes the crew from hypersleep. So our butterfly enters the now-lit crew compartment, where the crew’s sleep pods majestically open.
And as the they do, the camera comes to center smack dab on John Hurt’s junk. I’d never noticed that before but now, as I reflected upon the man’s career, I realized how fundamentally great he truly was. He will be missed.
Meanwhile, in space, the crew of the Nostromo quickly realize they’ve been awakened well before arrival on earth, and they’re kind of pissed. Kane (John Hurt) is the Nostromo’s chain smoking first officer. Running the ship is Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), who seems like the cool big brother we all wish we had (except for my younger siblings, they’re perfectly happy). Rounding out the roster are Chief Engineer Parker (Yaphet Kotto), navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), science officer Ash (Ian Holm), Parker’s assistant Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) and warrant officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), who is third in command.
I bother to name them all because for the most part, Alien does a good job of establishing them as individuals very early on. We’ve got one vicious extraterrestrial killing machine, seven potential victims, and 117 minutes to murder them all. That doesn’t leave much room for character development, but Alien isn’t a slasher film, it’s a serious drama. For that to work, the characters need to grow on you to some degree, and for the most part, they do. These are hard working, blue collar stiffs who get paid well to do a dangerous job, and when the ship’s computer reports receiving a possible intelligent alien message, nobody’s interested in investigating.
Unfortunately, the crew of the Nostromo are (according to Ash) contractually obliged to do just that. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, unless you’re the one suffering from chronic back pain and itching to get back home and blow your bonus money in Space Vegas (I envision it orbiting the moon). I suppose by now, everyone reading this already knows that the crew of the Nostromo pick up a very nasty passenger on their visit planetside. Obviously; it’s the whole premise of the film. And even if you have never seen this film, you have it to thank for the Dark, Moist and Gritty genre of science fiction. The set, costume and overall art design on Alien were groundbreaking, not to mention that iconic, acid-spewing title character.
But you know those horror movies where a bunch of stupid kids are cornered by an axe wielding maniac in a secluded cabin? This is basically that, except in space. And the kids are adults, and instead of idiots, they’re well trained professionals doing everything they can to survive. What I’m trying to say is that in the wrong hands, this could have been the atrocity that was Jason X, ten years earlier. Instead, Alien represents that elusive trifecta where all the right people seem to be in the right place at the right time.
Ridley Scott and his creative team (including H.R. Geiger and design legend Ron Cobb) crafted a plausible looking future where the shittiest jobs in the universe are apparently no better than they are today. It’s a testament to the film’s design that aside from the abundance of old style CRTs in the background, it’s hard to tell when it was made. But it’s a well written script (by geek-lord Dan O’Bannon) makes good economy of dialogue and screen time. By the time the action begins you may not know everyone’s birthday, but there’s no doubting where they stand.
Dallas is a super chill dude who takes his job seriously but just wants to get the hell home. Brett and Parker are a pair of eminently competent gearheads who spend the first half of the film grousing about their pay, and giggling about female anatomy. Ash is humorless bureaucrat who vaguely resembles a tall Hobbit. Lambert comes across like a plate of cold spaghetti, and clearly feels competitive with Ripley. Point is, once things get rolling, it’s not just a series of chases and murders until the top of the third act. Nor is it a mere disaster movie in space, where a contrived comedy of errors drives the story from scene to scene.
The look and feel of the film draw you in viscerally, and you get to know just enough about the characters for their crisis management skills to bear up to interest. And although in some ways it may seem quaint in comparison to its countless derivatives, on the whole I can’t imagine watching Alien and not being completely pulled into the story, even knowing it as well as I do. Yes, the Alien is clearly just a guy in a suit. But this is still an exciting, engaging adventure populated with smart characters, brilliant art design and characters actually smart enough to get themselves OUT of trouble.
Just...not lucky enough to quite pull it off.
And as for John Hurt, this is of course not his biggest nor his most famous role. But, nerd that I am, it’s the first thing that pops into mind when I think of him (and if you’ve seen the movie, you know what I just did there). But truly, what a career. You don’t even realize how many great films he’s been in until you take the time to look. All that, AND science fiction’s second most famous package (next to Jeff Bridges, obviously). I suppose you know you’re a legend when you can live such a long and fruitful life, yet still seem gone far too soon.