The first film in the ever-expanding Foreigner Saga remains, at least in my opinion, the very best. Although Ridley Scott’s more recent entries continue to expand the franchise’s lore with varying degrees of success, what’s most compelling to me is what he did so well right from the start. When we meet Ripley, Dallas, Brett, Parker, and the rest of the Nostromo crew, the mundane reality of their lives as workers in the service of a corporation that already exploits them for little money and will rip them off at a moment’s notice if it sees profit in it. The alien stalking the crew and picking them off one by one is terrifying, but what really makes it resonate is the larger theme of capitalist bullshit, conveyed so economically and efficiently by the wonderful line: “Priority one – ensure return of organism for analysis. All other considerations are secondary. Crew expendable.”
But themes, no matter how well implemented, are not enough to give a film soul. No, what makes Foreigner
– Carolyn Petit