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Alien: The Director's Cut
(Reviewed September 12, 2003)
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It's been years since I first saw this masterpiece of SF horror, but I honestly did not notice anything in the new "director's cut" that I don't remember seeing before. Which is fine with me, considering that
this movie is a friggin' masterpiece!
If you haven't seen it...well, first of all, where have you been the past 20-odd years? The crew members of a mining ship in space are awakened from suspended-animation sleep to check out a
signal that is coming from a planetoid. They pick up a very unwelcome visitor, a killer alien with telescoping teeth and blood that eats right through the ship's metal floors. YIKES!
James Cameron totally ruined the point of this movie in the sequel, by using bunches and bunches of the aliens and making them as easy to pick off and kill as whooping Injuns in a cornball
western. In this original, though, there is only one alien -- and the damn thing is just about unstoppable. Yaphet Kotto is terrific as crew member Parker, especially in the scene following his first glimpse of
the creature. The big, musclebound tough guy is so rattled he looks like he might wig out, start crying in terror, or both. And Sigourney Weaver is great in the role that launched her career, as the generally
unflappable Ripley. (What's up with her underwear, though? Did she borrow those way-too-small panties from an undersized child?)
When this movie first was released, I sat through it three times in a row the first day I saw it. I've only done that with one other movie in my life ("The Road Warrior," if you must know).
Why? Because it's a goddamn masterpiece! (Sheesh, pay attention already!)
Back Row Grade: A+
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