|
Call me crazy, but I think some science-fiction classics predict the future. Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day (1996) and Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers (1997) look eerily prescient in the post–September 11 era. And don’t get me started on the Terminator series. But it took a second look at Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien, which is being re-released this week in a "director’s cut" (the only noticeable addition is a detraction), to make me aware of its possible inklings of future events. The overt horror of the film, of course, is the title entity, a consummate predator unleashed on the unwitting crew of the Conradian-named "commercial starship" Nostromo. The creature may be the Osama bin Laden of the cosmos, but the real terror lurks behind the deceptively human face of the corporation apparently in charge of things, for which the fate of the crew is secondary to the potential military benefits of nurturing a relationship with the alien. Could this situation be a reflection of the US support of the anti-Soviet Afghan guerrillas and future al-Qaeda terrorists that began in 1979, the same year the film was released? Not to mention our alliance with old pal Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran the year after? Okay, I didn’t think so. But whatever its insight into the future, Scott’s ruthlessly effective thriller has a firm grip on the movie past, from the humblest haunted-house flick to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001. Among its innovations, in addition to H.R. Giger’s Freudian wet dreams of set and creature designs, is Sigourney Weaver’s superb heroine Ripley, the ad hoc leader of Nostromo’s resistance, whose metamorphosis from mousy functionary to warrior queen mirrors that of her protean adversary. Future filmmakers would not learn from this example; her model has devolved into cartoons like Uma Thurman’s character in Kill Bill.
BY PETER KEOUGH
|
