In the vast reaches of space,
seven people sleep in suspended animation blissfully unaware
of the nightmare that they are soon to encounter.
The seven-member crew of the commercial towing vehicle
Nostromo is en route to Earth with a load of mineral ore in
tow when the ships intercepts a signal of mysterious origin.
The master computer awakens the crew and informs Captain
Dallas (Tom Skerritt), as to the reason behind the ships
unscheduled detour. The crew thinks they are about to dock
at Earth and are less than thrilled to learn that they are
forced to investigate the transmission as failure to do so
would result in a total loss of their share in the cargo.
The crew still finds themselves on a strange and barren
planet trying to locate the source of the signal and is also
forced to repair damage the ship sustained in a rough
landing on the planet. During the repairs to the ships,
three of the crew don spacesuits and walk to the source of
the transmission unaware of the dangers they face. Before
long, the crew comes upon a derelict spacecraft of alien
origin that is filled with thousands of objects that look
like eggs. The eggs contain a parasitic life form one of
which attaches itself to the face of a crewmember named Kane
(John Hurt).
Despite the quarantine orders of officer in charge Lt.
Ripley, Captain Dallas is able to convince the science
officer Ash (Ian Holm), to break quarantine and allow the
injured Kane and the life form aboard the ship. This event
not only leads to tension and dissent amongst the crew which
eventually becomes pure terror as the creature grows and
stalks the crew through the ship. In a manner associated
with Agatha Cristie’s classic “Ten Little Indians” the
tension mounts as the creature eliminates one member of the
crew after another as they are largely defenseless to the
terror that is amongst them. The film is a marvel that still
scares and entertains many years later. The film does have a
familiarity to the 5o’s classic “IT! The Terror from
Beyond Space”, but it is still a very influential and
copied film decades later.
Director Ridley Scott masters in the visuals of the film and
expertly blends the human element into his creation, as
despite the futuristic setting, Scott never allows the film
or the characters to lose credibility.
Weaver is solid as the tough Ripley in the role that
launched her career and defied the standard role of women in
films of the genre.
The director’s cut looks and sounds fantastic, as Scott
has seamlessly edited in the new material so that almost all
of it is hard to differentiate from the original version.
The cocoon scene is lovingly restored in this print and
though subsequent films in the series have undermined this
portion of the story, it still remains a tense and
interesting scene that is worthy of inclusion.
The alien creature is still daunting and Scott wisely has
avoided tricks such as digital enhancements and lets the
creature remain as it was in the original release. The
influential artwork by H.R. Geiger is still as haunting now
as it was then as the creature invokes upon a wide arrange
of psychological fears as is as unforgettable as it is
terrifying to the crew.
Despite the years, “Alien: The Directors Cut” is a film
well worth seeing and a classic for the ages.
