MovieChat Forums > Alien (1979) Discussion > Lack of tension in the 'Alien egg' scene...

Lack of tension in the 'Alien egg' scene?

posted 4 years ago by Betamax66 (588)
8 replies | jump to latest

I love this film and it's still superior in most departments to many films made today.

But I noticed how lacking in tension- as compared to first watching it back in the 80's- Kane and the egg scene was? There was the odd comment from the others above him about him being ok and to be careful, etc, but the closer shots as there seemed to be life, were quite ordinary?

I expected Lambert to use her typical 'Let's just get the hell out of here' type comment, as Kane mentioned 'thousands of eggs' and there being 'life'?

Maybe I've become inured to modern screaming and shouting in lesser films at such moments?

[–] Redsfan001 (6000) 4 years ago

Interesting comment, 'inured' is a good term.

The scene was a mix of curiosity, wonder and then...shock.

My nephew who is in his late 20's said he thought the fight scenes in the original Star Wars were a bit cheesy.

He grew up in a era of better fight choreography, better CGI.

Hollywood learns what the audience wants and amplifies it, trying to improve the product, often at the expense of the story. So perhaps modern film has inured us all to some degree.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

yeah but comparing tense situations like that egg scene , with cgi and fight choregrahpy is apples and oranges.
Hollywood has got better at the latter , but could do with more of the former - storytelling

[–] Redsfan001 (6000) 4 years ago

👍

I had no problem with that scene..just thinking about gen y and z and how they have become accustomed to kick ass action scenes.

"From Russia with Love"(1963) had a final fight scene that took place in a small train car and lasted a little over 1 min.

That would be unheard of today in a Bond film.

Which begs the question, if released today as is,would the highest rated Bond film be a hit?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

well its an actiob film isnt it , so it would fall foul of todays harsh standards for fx and choreography.
If something like "12 angry men" was realeased today , with zero fx and effectively just dialogue , it'd probly do ok

[–] BourbonKing (5612) 4 years ago

Unless your nephew fights in space as a Rebel pilot I don't see how his opinion has any merit other than that he's a latent viewer of older movies. That's like me laughing at Errol Flynn pirate movies because the fight scenes and music look and sound "cheesy", or that the Beatles looked cheesy because of their hairstyle and analog quality music from their early years.

Back to the fight scenes in Star Wars, they're actually based off of WW2 fighter pilot dog fight footage and the editor (who's the real MVP who saved the SW franchise for George Lucas) utilized it and edited it based on actual on camera footage from airplanes in battle.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

" but the closer shots as there seemed to be life, were quite ordinary?"
huh? waddya mean?

[–] vegan_voorhees (383) 4 years ago

I think it was a clever choice not to add creepy cello music or whatever, it makes the shock of the facehugger leaping out sharper.

I agree Kane seems a little ...unmoved about discovering life, but then I guess they had just found a ship, then the skeleton in the chair, and now this... or maybe that far in the future life has been detected elsewhere (though this clashes with that comment in the second one where they think Ripley is crazy for claiming to have seen an alien).

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

No tension in that alien spaceship scene where they discover the eggs?

That scene and the whole derelict exploration still has the power to give me the creeps even decades later, after seeing the movie several times.