Alien
Alien
They might not be able to hear you scream in space, but they can hear podcasts. Recently, my friends Daniel and Donavon at 241 Studios, broke down the Ridley Scott sci-fi classic Alien. So checkout the podcast and my breakdown below.
As always, these breakdowns contain SPOILERS, and are only recommended if you've already seen the movie. You can check my introduction to these breakdowns, to get an overview of my process and philosophy.
Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below!
The Basics
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Dan O'Bannon, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Release Date: 1979
Runtime: 117 Minutes
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/reference/
Movie Level Goals
Protagonist: Elllen Ripley
External: To survive
SUCCESS | FAILURE | MIXED
Internal Goal: None
Act Structure
Three Observations
Observation #1: That Slow Act 1
Alien has a reputation for having a slow, leisurely first act, the kind of opening act that Hollywood would presumably avoid today. That reputation is both earned, and yet also a little misleading. Plenty of things happen in Act 1, and in general scenes are filled with the kinds of activities and character interactions we often expect from opening acts. But the movie does have some reasons why it moves more slowly. The first is the one that most people notice, which is the slow building of suspense. After the opening credits end at the 2:00 minute mark, the camera spends the next 3 and ½ minutes exploring the empty ship, showing us the vast spaces where the alien will eventually terrorize the crew. Once the crew awakens from hypersleep, they reorient themselves, eat breakfast, check on the status of the ship, and try to determine how close to Earth they are. Meanwhile, Captain Dallas talks to the ship’s computer, Mother, to try to determine the situation. Finally, the crew recongregate in the mess to discover that the Nostromo has been diverted to investigate a transmission of unknown origin. All of this happens over a roughly 6-minute period from the 5:30 to 11:30 minute mark. Nothing especially slow here.
By the 14:00 minute mark or so, the drop ship has separated from the Nostromo and is headed toward the planet. This is where the second reason for the slow pace enters the picture. Alien treats space travel seriously. Even though the crew have rightly been compared to “space truckers” with the idea that space travel has become a blue collar job, Alien shows the details of space travel as unique, special, and potentially dangerous (and therefore potentially suspenseful as well). After the drop ship separates at the 14:00 minute mark, it takes 3 and ½ more minutes before it finally sets down on the planet; all of this time is dedicated to the navigation of the drop ship and its rough landing on the surface. Today, that landing might be handled with a simple cut. After spending a few minutes assessing the damage, Dallas decides to proceed with the mission to investigate the source of the transmission. The investigating crew members (Dallas, Kane, and Lambert) exit the ship around the 21:00 minute mark. The next 6 or so minutes of the act are dedicated to the crew making their way to the downed spacecraft, again emphasizing the uniqueness and danger of simply walking across an alien landscape. Compare this to the 2012 Alien franchise movie Prometheus (also directed by Ridley Scott), in which a similar set of characters leave their ship and enter an alien structure just over 2 minutes later. Once the crew of the Nostromo enter the alien spacecraft, it takes roughly 7 additional minutes before Dallas is attacked by the Facehugger alien. Here, the slow pacing seems a little more familiar, as we take our time viewing this alien landscape and building suspense toward the act climax (therefore combining our two reasons for the slow pace). And as a last, slow capper, the final shot of the act is a 15-second pull back of the downed ship, reinforcing the weight and seriousness of what has just happened to Kane.
Observation #2: The Weak Act 2 Goal
As Dallas and Lambert bring Kane back to the Nostromo, the Act 2 goal is quickly established: Save Kane. Yet, there is very little the crew can actively do to actually save Kane (encapsulated by Ash’s continual “collation” of the data). This is one of the main reasons why Act 2 clocks in at a relatively tight 22:00 minutes (compared to the expansive 34 minute Act 1). Their attempts to save Kane are largely limited to four scenes:
Ash overriding Ripley’s decision to bar Dallas, Kane, and Lambert from entering the ship.
Ash attempting to cut the Facehugger off of Dallas, resulting in the discovery that it has acid for blood
The discovery that the Facehugger has left Dallas’s face, and the subsequent discovery of the dead alien
Kane’s miraculous recovery
And of these four scenes, only the first two involve the crew actively trying to save Kane. The second two simply happen, with the crew left to try to understand what happened.
Because the main, external goal leaves little ability for the characters to actively pursue it, the rest of the scenes in the act largely focus on character development and interaction, largely the growing conflict between Ripley and Kane. Indeed, the very first scene of Kane overriding Ripley’s decision ignites this subplot. Later Ripley presses Ash on the speed of his research, confronts him over his decision to overrule her decision, and asks Dallas about Ash. A smaller, secondary subplot of repairing the ship and leaving the planet also takes up a couple of scenes. And finally, Kane’s short-lived recovery and quick demise takes up the final few minutes of the act.
Observation #3: The MacGuffins of Act 4
Though Alien is considered one of the great science fiction/horror films of the 20th century, no film is perfect, and for me this is primarily encapsulated by the two MacGuffins of Act 4. Though MacGuffins are not inherently problematic, the fact that they are often manufactured to create a specific cause and effect sequence can sometimes make them seem hollow or poorly integrated into the narrative.
The first MacGuffin occurs as Ripley, Lambert, and Parker discuss prepping to blow up the ship. Parker notes they’ll have 10 minutes once the switches are flipped, and Ripley responds that they’ll need “coolant for the air support system.” Conveniently (for the plot) this means that Parker and Lambert will have to travel to another part of the ship and load a bunch of heavy, clunky canisters onto a rolling cart. Incredibly, while doing this they are attacked and killed by the alien.
The second MacGuffin is the destruction of the ship itself. While it makes sense that it shouldn't be easy to blow up the ship, it should be noted that the ship does actually have a self-destruct system (“Emergency Destruction System”). However, this system involves:
Opening a panel
Pulling a lever
Unscrewing two bolts and removing a plate
Pulling down two additional very heavy levers
Opening the self-destruct system hatch
Typing a sequence of 12-15 buttons
Screwing a rod into a hole and pulling up a cylinder, opening a cover and flipping a switch
Repeating this action THREE more times
Ripley then proceeds to the shuttle with Jones, only to discover the alien is in the corridor between her and the shuttle. Ripley then decides, without knowing where the alien will go, to try to stop the self-destruct system by typing in a new code and reversing Step 4. Of course it’s too late, so Ripley returns to the shuttle, again not knowing where the alien is. This doubling back to undo a previous action also seems to stall the action of Act 4, but overall the entire sequence feels very heavy-handed to create delay and obstacles.
Lastly, I’m tempted to label Ripley’s brief side mission to find Jones a MacGuffin as well, since Ripley has shown almost no interest in Jones up to this point in the movie. In fact, when Brett mistakenly lets Jones go in Act 3, Ripley’s only concern is setting off the motion tracker again. Saving Jones never seems to enter the picture. But, whether Ripley has shown regard for Jones in the past, it make sense that she doesn’t want to leave Jones behind (especially once Lamber and Parker are dead).
Despite these MacGuffins, the final act does proceed at a hectic, frantic pace, leaving the slower pace of Act 1 in the dust, and Ripley’s personal jeopardy, the false ending (believing she is safe in the shuttle), and the final confrontation all create a satisfying and suspenseful final act.
