Alien

From the film’s ominous beginning to its iconic, adrenaline-filled end, Alien is a masterpiece. Perfectly paced, this classic leaves people of all ages gripping their seats in excitement. The Alien creature is fear and terror incarnate, and is an amazing creation. Unlike Predator, the film spends time developing its human characters and pays incredible attention to visual detail. Alien is the finest of director Ridley Scott’s films, and that is saying something.
Once again, I have to recognize the incredible work of the creature designers. Scott’s Alien is one of science fiction’s most terrifying icons, a creation that’s second to none. And no, not even the Predator can really compare. The most memorably original traits of the Alien are probably the second mouth and the acid blood. In the words of a Nostromo crew member, it is “a perfect organism. It’s structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. It is a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.” This spine-tingling monologue is high praise for a fancy movie prop, but upon seeing the murderous Alien onscreen, one really believes it.
In many respects, Alien is quite similar to Predator. Similar enough to spawn a disastrous crossover cash cow known as Alien vs. Predator, but that’s not the point. The elements that set this film apart from its younger, B-grade cousin lie chiefly in the human characters and the special effects. The cast of this film is significantly better developed than in Predator, and doesn’t set up a predictable, Austrian hero. Instead, the seven characters are given chances to act, utilizing lots of interaction, drama and back-story, as well as some occasional humor to keep it all going. This allows you to  care for the humans of the story, and grow to hate the dreaded Alien all the more.
In the realm of special effects, this film really shines. In over thirty years since its release, it hasn’t aged a day. The giant mining vessel in which the movie primarily takes place is tediously and realistically designed, and closely mirrors the actual look and feel of a present-day space shuttle. There are no absurd beeping noises or control panels with big buttons and flashing lights; this is not the starship Enterprise. Rather, it reminds me more of the design of a ship from Star Wars. The intricate sets along with the Alien creature make for a timelessly breathtaking visual ride.
Bearing all of this in mind, it’s hard to believe that Alien could ever have produced a worthy sequel. There is an innate mastery of filmmaking and dramatic exposition in Alien that can seldom be rivaled, particularly in the same franchise. But I digress. This film is an American masterpiece, and deserves ten out of ten stars.

Predator

It’s quite amazing to me that “Predator” and its burgeoning franchise gained such a cult following. All the popularity, the sequels, the crossovers and graphic novels, the coinable catchphrases… Although it is an important piece of sci fi movie history, the film itself is just not that great. The Predator itself is an eerie, genius creation, and it almost makes the whole movie worth a few views, but the film suffers from little character development and a slow-paced story that never really takes off until the end. It’s mildly entertaining B-movie material, but not much more.

The one feature in “Predator” that distinguishes it from all other sci fi films is, of course, the Predator itself. From its invisibility gizmos to its famous space dreadlocks, the creature has gained considerable repute among the many fans of the genre. And it completely deserves its status. Most of the film is spent building up the first encounter with the alien, which is a very suspenseful period of time. It is quite enthralling, actually, to look through the notorious heat-vision of the Predator, and to hear the iconic clicking sounds it produces when it’s about to make a kill. The final fight at the end when the Predator took off his mask was even more riveting and action-packed. He’s “one ugly motherf***er,” as a wise man once said.

One of the biggest downfalls to “Predator” is its sad lack of character development. One by one, each character gets close to two minutes of solitary screen time before shooting at stuff and getting brutally murdered. Their deaths are pointless, and difficult to care about. The only exceptions to this are Carl Weathers as a mercenary named Dillon and ol’ Arnold Schwarzenegger as a mercenary named Dutch, both of whom play predictable and boring roles. Admittedly these killings do set the suspense, and by the time the terrific finale rolls around the audience is holding its breath, completely captivated. However, that still leaves more than an hour at the beginning of just suspense. Especially to a modern audience, this makes most of the beginning and middle sequences pretty dull. The film also takes no time to explain the origin of the Predator alien, or really what it is doing in a remote jungle hunting mercenaries in the first place. The ending was also very unsatisfying, and left many unanswered questions (such as, what on earth was the point of all this?).

Well, there you have it. An immensely popular franchise with more hype than it knows what to do with, and it all originated from this less-than-average piece of sci fi. The Predator itself may have been worthy, but the story and human characters paid the price for it. “Predator” deserves a solid six out of ten stars.