Movie Review by Neils Hesse
Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton
Director: Ridley Scott
In the not too distant future a group of space travellers have just completed a mission and are on their way home when they pick up a strange signal from a planet. They decide to investigate. Three of them physically go onto the planet and whilst on it one of them is apparently attacked by a small alien species. The alien attaches itself to his face whilst he lays in a coma. After unsuccessfully attempting to dislodge it, the alien just falls off his face and dies or does it? Then everything on the ship quickly starts to go very, very wrong.
This movie has Tom Skerritt as first billed but it belongs to Sigourney Weaver who created the first major action female icon in the realm of film. She gives a blistering performance which led her on to three sequels and now with the possibility of a fourth sequel. The other noteworthy performers are John Hurt and Ian Holm who both put plenty of zest into their roles. The rest of the supporting actors all deliver decent performances as well.
ALIEN: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT is billed as a special edition and it delivers an improved sound and picture quality plus a few extended scenes such as the scene where Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is shocked to see her captain still alive but wrapped up in a sort of a cocoon, and the scene where the second character to be bumped off sees just what it is that scared the cat. The directing from Ridley Scott is perfect and even now this classic does not seem dated at all.
The alien is shown a bit sooner here whereas in the original theatrical release it was kept to a minimum. If you have the collector’s edition all the extras are included in THE DIRECTOR’S CUT plus more. Still, nothing beats the big screen so please indulge your desire and see this classic again.
