One of the directors whose work I became more familiar with this past year was the famed Englishman Ridley Scott. Similar to Clint Eastwood, Robert Zemeckis, and others, Scott’s career spans decades and thus there are plenty of good movies to choose from. While many of the movies I’ll be talking about today are well known, there may be some you have never seen or even heard of before.
So, without further ado…LET’S GET STARTED! Alien (1979) I have written about Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic before, so feel free to click here to check out my thoughts on Alien from last October (as well as some other classic 70s horror flicks). In many ways, my opinion of the film has not changed since then so I’ll be brief in reiterating why I think Alien is one of Scott’s best films. When I first watched this movie a few years ago now, I found it boring, tedious, and unengaging in terms of the horror factor. Looking back on that initial viewing experience, I have to assume my cinematic sensibilities were not yet fully developed because on a rewatch in 2020 I came away appreciating Alien much more for a number of reasons. No longer was the film boring, but the deliberate pace effectively built tension in the first act. Furthermore, the restricted use of the Xenomorph for most of the movie’s runtime not only makes sense regarding the sketchy special effects of the time but also helps add to the horror element of the movie. Unquestionably, the peak of the film’s horror vibe comes during the now-iconic chest-burster scene. For those unfamiliar with the age-old tale, the actors in the scene (i.e. the crew of the Nostromo) were not told what exactly was going to happen to John Hurt’s character in order to get genuine reactions out of them. And it works more than I thought it would on a rewatch. The panic and cries of pure terror sell that scene so damn well! But what makes Alien more than just a good 1970s sci-fi flick and a genuinely great film is the writing of Sigourney Weaver’s famous heroine Ellen Ripley. During my initial viewing of Alien and Aliens, I thought that Ripley only became a badass in the sequel and her surviving the Xenomorph at the end of the first film was just dumb luck. But my second viewing made me more appreciative of how she is contrasted with the rest of the crew. Whereas they are all, to one degree or another, ignorant of the dangers aboard their ship or too arrogant to care in the first place, Weaver plays Ripley as a woman who knows what they might be getting into. She is the only character to suggest leaving John Hurt’s character behind on the planet because it could ensure the others’ survival. Furthermore, her own survival in the film’s climax is more than happenstance. The last fifteen or so minutes is an expertly done series of tracking shots showing the audience all that Ripley has to do to both evade the Xenomorph, save Jones, and board the escape shuttle before the Nostromo explodes. Even though her presence becomes more action-oriented in Aliens, Ripley proves herself a more-than-capable protagonist in this film. If I haven’t convinced you to watch Alien by this point, I’m not sure what I could say that will. Thelma & Louise (1991) While I was confident that I would like Thelma & Louise before watching it, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I liked it. Being a female-led buddy-cop crime film from the 90s (and directed by a man), I was worried that the characterization would feel artificial and the plot nonsensical. Fortunately, I was proven wrong. While I would not personally classify Thelma & Louise as a straight-up black comedy, it undeniably has some darkly humorous elements that could allow one to make such an argument. But what keeps the movie light and fun is its use of “classical comedy” to effectively balance out the darker tone and moments in an effort to not overly rely on that. In my humble opinion, the scene that best embodies this tonal balance is when the eponymous protagonists pull over a foul-mouthed, misogynistic truck driver to demand an apology for his obscene gestures towards them. Unsurprisingly, he refuses to express regrets and in response they shoot the fuel tanker on his truck, exploding it, and leave him alone amidst the wreckage. Both the actors’ performances and director’s style could have made this scene either bland or prevent any sympathy towards the lead women. Instead, the dark absurdity of it all is one of the prime examples of this film’s knack for pushing the audience away while pulling them in at the same time. Of course, Thelma & Louise could not work as well as it does without the infectiously spirited chemistry between lead actresses Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in one of their best roles for each of them (at least from what I’ve seen them in). Davis’s reserved yet likeable Thelma mashes so well with Sarandon’s witty and domineering Louise that the emotional payoff of their friendship evolving so much by the end of the movie makes watching the film more than worth your time. While I was unsure what I would think of the movie before watching it, Thelma & Louise is easily my favorite Ridley Scott film to date. Gladiator (2000) When compared to Scott’s other films of the 21st century, Gladiator stands out for its sheer entertainment value and gripping—albeit somewhat overplayed—melodrama. A story such as that of Roman general-turned-slave-turned-gladiator Maximus (Russell Crowe) would not work as well as it does without the actor playing him grounding his emotional state in something close to relatability. Luckily, Crowe excels here as a man whose family slain out of spite by the piteous new emperor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) drives him to survive in order to serve his own form of justice (although, personally, I liked Crowe more in films like A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man). When I wrote about the war epic back in August, I emphasized the importance for these types of films to balance compelling, character-driven drama with visually engaging and entertaining action sequences. Needless to say, Gladiator excels in its combat scenes (particularly between the gladiators themselves). By emphasizing the more personal, one-on-one kind of fighting in this setting, Scott creates a unique take on grandiose action from antiquity that distinguishes it from other movies like it. It also serves the story of showing us Maximus’s evolving relationship with violence in search of vengeance which, ultimately, makes the film’s emotional core stronger than most. But I cannot dissect the best elements of Gladiator without shouting out Phoenix’s quasi-cartoonish performance as Commodus. While the film works well enough with Crowe at the helm and Scott behind the camera, I firmly believe that is Phoenix as the villainous Roman ruler that allows Gladiator to excel to the heights that it does. Is it the Oscar-winning actor’s most sophisticated, complex performance? Certainly not, but that is clear from the outset. Instead, Phoenix gives us a flamboyantly evil personification of greed, corruption, and self-serving narcissism that is so much fun to hate. At the same time, however, we as the audience appreciate his performance as an effective foil to Crowe’s exceptionally heroic protagonist. Arguably, one cannot work without the other. While Gladiator did not hit for me as well on a recent rewatch, it was still a thrilling experience and remains one of my personal favorites of Scott’s work. Matchstick Men (2003) When I set out to delve into Scott’s decades-spanning filmography, I certainly did not except a black-comedy crime drama starring Nicolas Cage as an obsessive-compulsive germophobe and con man to reach my top five. However, Matchstick Men turned out to be surprisingly entertaining for a number of reasons. I have enjoyed Cage in a number of roles across the years, from the pessimistic alcoholic he played in Leaving Las Vegas to the family-friendly everyman treasure hunter in the two National Treasure movies. However, it’s conceivable that his quirky, peculiar personality works better in this film than it does in most of his other roles. I especially found his chemistry with both Alison Lohman (Big Fish, Drag Me to Hell), his daughter/conning mentee Angela, and Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile, Vice, Richard Jewell), his business partner Frank Mercer, to be quite refreshing. Their on-screen work together allows all three actors to shine throughout the runtime without any of them overshadowing each other. Of course, the heart of Matchstick Men—Cage’s father-daughter relationship with Lohman—could not work without both actors putting their all into their respective roles. Through Angela’s introduction into Roy’s (Nicolas Cage) life and upsetting his oh-so delicate status quo, Scott crafts an unconventional yet endearing parent-child dynamic. Through Roy’s teaching Angela the ways of the con, he develops a genuine affection for her that keeps the film from hitting below its mark and being simply a darkly-funny crime thriller. Yet it certainly works in that respect as well. Roy’s strained friendship/partnership with Frank and his burgeoning familial love of Angela run parallel in building to the plot’s watershed moment when Roy protects Angela from vengeful businessman Chuck Frechette (Bruce McGill). Roy’s character evolution, therefore, is on full display by this point. Which makes the ultimate twist of the movie all the more shocking and deflating. By the last fifteen minutes of Matchstick Men, Scott has convinced me that it is one of his great films. Certainly, much of the runtime is carried on the backs of Cage, Lohman, and Rockwell, but the strength of the writing (particularly the twist and the aftermath of its reveal) allows the film to exceed expectations and make a lasting impression on those willing to go along with its seemingly basic premise. The Martian (2015) In the last decade, Ridley Scott has returned to his sci-fi roots established with films like Alien and Blade Runner. Not only has he released two prequels to his original 1979 classic in the form of Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, but in 2015 he adapted Andy Weir’s sci-fi survival novel “The Martian” to the big screen. Similar to my viewing of Matchstick Men, I did not expect to like Scott’s take on a Mars survival tale as much as I did. Much of the credit goes to Matt Damon in the lead as botanist Mark Waney who does a hell of a job portraying the complex dimensions of long-term isolation in harsh environmental conditions as well as exploring the psychological consequences therein. For me, it is easy to put Damon’s work in this role on the same level of his performances in films like Good Will Hunting and Ford v Ferrari. Aside from the central performance, The Martian is a very good modern addition to the science-fiction genre. From the seemingly fact-based look at survival on an unforgiving planet surface to the relationship between Watney, his crew and NASA, it makes for a thoroughly entertaining flick of this nature. To be clear, it doesn’t hold a candle to other sci-fi flicks from the decade like Interstellar and Blade Runner 2049, but it is an exceptional movie that surprised me enough to put it in my top-five list for Ridley Scott. With all that being said, here is my ranking of my five favorite Ridley Scott films:
What is your favorite Ridley Scott film? What film of his that I didn’t talk about do you think deserve some praise? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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