1979 / Ridley Scott > See, I get it now. Scott’s primary objective in Alien is to portray the relationship between a woman and her cat. Everything else was simply fodder. And why not? It’s a serious issue worthy of further discussion in our society. It was as relevant in 1979 as it is now. As dogs are a man’s best friend, cats are a woman’s. No? Well, alright. Maybe I’m just being a bit a harsh, but I just found my experience with the original Alien to be quite underwhelming. In short, the film did not age as well as I’d hoped. Visually, it’s still quite crisp, even if some of the special effects (e.g., the android sequence) are comic. But it’s the pacing that really gets me. The first half is a bit of an exploration, languishing scene by scene, setting up for the arrival of the beast from outer space. The second half is a considerably more tense rush for the crew’s survival. But from a viewing distance, I couldn’t justify the anticipation early on for what came after. The action sequences are tame, even if the birthing scene remains one of the greatest moments in cinematic history. Scott said he shortened some scenes to tighten the film, but that could never streamline this if the existing content isn’t compelling to begin with. In comparison, 2001 gave us a philosophical pill to swallow (whether you liked the taste of it or not), Aliens gave us the excitement we’ve come to expect from the genre and Sunshine attempted, in what may have been an honorable failure, to fuse the two formats. But this? It’s an impressive stepping stone that’s simply been left behind.