The Film Alien - Movie Review Example

The film alien can be classified under a combination of both science fiction and horror genre categories. The film fits into the science fiction genre because it involves the use of science-based fictional depictions of occurrences that are not recognized and validated by the mainstream science. These speculative phenomena include the existence of extraterrestrial life forms in the movie. The crew who are on a return mission to the planet earth onboard the space tug Nostromo after landing on an alien planetoid, encounter aggressive extraterrestrial life forms. The Aliens depicted in the film are entirely fictional and have been the inventions of speculative science for many centuries. The movie is also a science fiction because it employs the use of highly advanced futuristic elements in its scenes. There is the conspicuous presence of sophisticated and highly advanced spacecraft and equipment used by the seven-member crew traveling back to earth. There is the presence of a cyborg in the film. Ash was discovered not to be a human being as thought but was an android driven machine in human form.

Alien film falls into the horror genre because it elicits physiological reactions such as anxiety and increased heartbeat from the viewers through the use of elements of fear and shock. It instills the concept of the fear of the unknown. Some scenes that are scary enough to make the film fall into the genre category is where an alien creature suddenly attacks Kane after touching one of the large egg-shaped balls. An alien being also mysteriously lodges itself into Kanes chest and finally kills him. There is the element of a surprise and creating elevated anticipation from the audience (Scott et al., 1979). The film involves the use of dark scenes with sudden shocking and fatal occurrences happening to the crew. Only one person out of the seven makes it back to the earth.

One element that has resonated deeply with me is the soundtracks used n various scenes of the film. The soundtracks perfectly fit into the scenes. For example, when Kane is about to touch the egg-like objects that turned out to be the hiding place of the aggressive alien creatures, a soundtrack that created shock within me was used. The soundtracks have been used well to enhance elements of shock and surprise especially at scary scenes of the movie.

The film Alien is important in various aspects. The film was ascribed to being culturally and historically significant to the US by the Library Congress in 2002.It has since been preserved by the US National Film Registry. The film is aesthetically significant since it pioneered the modern day American science fiction films by using advanced filming strategies such as quality soundtracks. The film also, despite its age continues to be regarded as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time as setting a good trend for future production of movies. The film has been deemed economically significant since it has been extremely successful in the market and has raked in millions of dollars ever since it was first released in1979.This has strengthened the American economy and boosted the pride of the US film industry.

References

Scott, R., Skerritt, T., Weaver, S., Cartwright, V., & O'Bannon, D. (1979). Alien. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.