ALIEN: The best Sci-Fi movie ever made? (1 Viewer)

[StephenC]

Wasn't there a Japanese movie called Akira?I heard that was pretty good.

 

[Chris]

I don't know if Alien would even make my top ten, though it is a great film.

When I think of "great" sci-fi or sci-fi that sticks with me as a great film, movies that come to mind:

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Close Encounters

Blade Runner

Until the End of the World

etc. Aliens always struck me as a thriller with a sci-fi setting.

This isn't saying Aliens is a great film; it is a great film.. but as for a film that sets the tone of the genre, probably not (IMHO)

 

[ErichH]

Perhaps some of our younger members didn't make the opening of this film . Yes it looks a bit dated these days , and I've viewed this one many times since (out of respect) but no film has ever had the impact of Alien when it first came out. The buildup in Heavy Metal(Screaming Metal) was something to read and HR Geiger's images were shocking for the day . I remember being totaly exausted coming out of the theater-it scared the poop out a me !

Everything since draws from this film (Alien movies) .

Cameron's Aliens was fun and definatly great , but there's nothing like the original .

Many films since have been great (who didn't love Rutger in Blade Runner) but I don't think I'll

ever experience the Knock Out that Alien gave me .

Like I said up top - you had to be there 20+ years ago .

Eric

 

[Steve_Ch]

>>Aliens always struck me as a thriller with a sci-fi setting.

 

[Micheal]

Cameron's Aliens was fun and definatly great , but there's nothing like the original .

I agree 100%
Aliens was a great sequel but it never made me feel tense or nervous, it was pure shootemup!

 

[Jenna]

Aliens always struck me as a thriller with a sci-fi setting

Now, if Alien (and sequels) aren't considered Sci-Fi, what is? What elements are essential to Sci-Fi??? Hmmmmm.
* Aliens: big, small, cute, slimy, especially the ones that pop out of your abdomen, or sit in the breakroom drinking coffee.
* SpaceShips and/or Robots
* David Duchovney
* NonSmiling Men in black suits wearing dark glasses, carrying badass guns (besides the IRS)
* Creatures that morph shapes, come from pods, or control objects with their minds.
* Slime (not naturally caused by teenagers or men)
* Any movie with "Mars" in the title
* Any movie where you are shrunk, or enlarged to 50 feet.
* Time Travel
* Comic Book heros
Did I miss anything???

 

[Max Leung]

Yep:

* Fiery explosions in outer space.

* Spaceships wooshing by!

* Nobody is overweight, unless they are space aliens.

* Everybody moves in slloooooowwwww motion in zero-g. An astronaut picking his nose would take hours in a sci-fi movie!

 

[Micheal]

Nobody is overweight, unless they are space aliens

Ash and Parker were not exactly slim and trim...

 

[RalphR]

I think Alien is a great movie, an intellectual Sci-Fi flick. Aliens is more entertaining in an action sense. You can compare 2001 more closely to Alien than you can Aliens but they aren't that similar, all great movies, though!
When I think of great Sci-Fi I think of Day the Earth Stood Still, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Wrath of Khan, Empire Strikes Back, and 20 Million Mile to Earths. Oldies but goodies!

 

[Chris Lynch]

Ahh... the age old debate.
Well, I seem to have a pretty unpopular idea of what Science Fiction (or Sci-Fi, or SF) is. In my book, Star Wars is SF, but so is 2001. I'd also include Alien and it's sequels.
IMO, any film or "movie" with a SF element to it is a SF film. You can call it Space Opera, Sci-Fi/Horror, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Sci-Fi/Comedy, etc. ad nauseum. It is still SF to me. Personally, I love this genre, and I don't want to whittle it down any smaller than it already is.
That being said, I hardly ever declare a single movie the best of any genre, because I like so much stuff, and I'll be damned if my opinion won't change tomorrow. Now, THAT being said, Alien will always remain one of my top movies of all time, especially in the SF genre. The sequel is quite good as well, but isn't near the experience (imo) of the first. Stylistically, it was an extention of the first. And the acting seemed to have a very distinctly human touch to it.
God bless all SF, from The Matrix to Solaris to Star Wars to Blade Runner to Space Balls.
BTW, I enjoyed both Contact and Pitch Black very much.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Personally, I think a lot of things qualify as science fiction. But from what I gather from the "purists", the following are parts of true sci-fi:
- must be dead serious
- must explore a nature of humanity
- must adhere to questions of ethics/morality
- must be reactionary
- must be grounded in science with few or no liberties taken
I only have a problem with the "dead serious" part. It's like if a movie was fun (eg. The Matrix) it needs to be mocked in some way, shape, or fashion.

 

[Chris]

I'm not arguing that Aliens isn't sci-fi at all; I'm arguing that it's a thriller first; sci-fi second.

I think the example using Outland adequately fits. Aliens took a thriller concept and gave it a good sci-fi setting.

 

[Kevin M]

Ridley Scott's direction of Alien was fantastic but let's not underscore importance of Dan O'Bannon & Ron Shusett's brilliant script (with some nice "script doctoring" from Walter Hill and David Giler).
Often people forget those little guys who actually come up with the stories for these directors to mold into a film, you can't build a house without a blueprint.