Alien (1979)

Alien is a science-fiction/horror film which was released in 1979. It was directed by British filmmaker and atheist Ridley Scott, who is also known for Blade Runner (1982), Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Hannibal (2001), Matchstick Men (2003) and Robin Hood (2010).

Alien received critical acclaim and was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning one. It is also one of Ridley Scott's blockbusters grossing $104,931,801  over an $11million budget. Sequels followed including; Aliens, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection.

Alien, along with its sequels, is regarded as an anti-capitalist movie.

Synopsis
Nostromo, a commercial towing spaceship is en-route back to earth, transporting twenty million tons of mineral ore. On board the ship are Warrent Officer Ripley, Navigator Lambert, Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane, Science Officer Ash and Engineers Brett and Parker. The crew work for Weyland-Yutani (also known as The Company).

The crew pick up a signal of an unknown origin from a nearby planetoid. Dallas, Kane and Lambert set out to investigate and discover remains of an alien creature. Ripley determines that the signal is in fact a warning. Kane discovers a chamber of alien eggs, one of them releasing a creature that attaches to Kane's face. He falls unconscious. Dallas and Lambert carry him back aboard the ship. The crew discover that the alien contains a corrosive acid. At that point, the alien detaches itself from Kane and is later presumed dead. The nostromo leaves the planet and resumes its return trip.

Kane awakens with some memory loss, but no apparent ill affects. However, during dinner, Kane chokes and convulses until a small creature bursts from his chest, killing him. The creature escapes and the crew, lacking weapons, attempt to locate it by using motion trackers, electric prods and flamethrowers. However, the alien has enlarged in size. It attacks Brett, taking his body to the airshaft. Dallas enters the airshaft and attempts to force the alien out of the airlock, but the alien kills him.

It is therefore clear that the alien intends to wipe out the entire crew. Lambert suggests that she and the remaining crew members escape in the ship's shuttle, but Ripley, now in command, knows that the shuttle will not fit four people in and recommends that they go along with Dallas' original plan to corner and destroy the alien.

Ripley accesses the ship's computer and discovers that Ash is a traitor and has been instructed to bring samples of the alien back to Earth by the Company, regardless of the crew's lives. Ash attacks Ripley, but Parker and Lambert save her, decapitating and impailing Ash, only to discover that he is an android. Ripley realises that the capitalist-Company wants the alien for its weapons diversion. Ash briefly predicts that the three humans will not survive the indestructible "perfect organism" they are against, before they destroy the remains. Ripley, Lambert and Parker agree to arm the Nostromo's self-destruct mechanism and escape in the shuttle, but Lambert and Parker are killed by the alien.

Ripley is now alone and initiates the self-destruct mechanism herself. She heads for the shuttle with Jones, the crew's cat, but the alien blocks her way. She turns back to abort the mechanism, but it does not work. When she heads back to the shuttle, the alien is gone and escapes in the shuttle, as the Nostromo explodes.

Suddenly, Ripley encounters the alien, which has hidden aboard the shuttle. She puts on a spacesuit and opens the shuttle's main door causing explosive decompression, which forces the alien to the shuttle's open doorway. She forces it out into space by shooting it with a grappling hook, but the gun catches into the closing door, tethering the alien to the shuttle. Ripley activates the engines and blasts the alien into space. She then puts herself and Jones into stasis and resumes the voyage back home.