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Friday, April 06, 2001

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Film Review:``Alien''

JAMES CAMERON, the man who gave ``Titanic'', ``True Lies'' and ``Terminator'' has disappointed the audience. He does not seem to have given a thought to the screenplay or the human element.

Twentieth Century Fox which offered ``Alien'' long ago, presents a new version featuring the only two survivors of the spaceship, Nostromo, - a woman and her cat. The film ``Alien'' (dubbed in Tamil) starts with a bang but slowly loses momentum and then fizzles out.

The only survivor, Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), is reluctant to go back to outer space where she saw something gruesome and had an unforgettable encounter with a deadly extraterrestrial. But Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) who is interested in capturing the creature for his company's profit wants her to take up the mission. She agrees to be a part of the group and leaves with Lieutenant Gorman (William Hope) of U.S. Colonial Marine Corps. In the planet named Acherson, the team finds a seven-year old girl Newt Jorden (Carrie Henn). How Ripley saves the kid and herself from the creature is shown without any horror.

The director suddenly seems to have realised that special effects alone will not sustain the audience interest. But by then the film is almost over.

Not many are familiar with outer space. So the director of photography, Adrian Biddle, has completely darkened 75 per cent of the frames. One will not be able to see the creature in bright light at all. Music has not enhanced the film in anyway and the Satyam theatre auditorium's sound system was not helpful.

It is unfortunate that a technically knowledgeable director has not given a good film for his fans this time.

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