‘Alien’ Was Better

The other night I saw “Black Hawk Down.” I was moved to think of another film directed by Ridley Scott.

In 1979, Scott directed “Alien,” a story about a group of men and women dressed in sexy military outfits who are sent to a distant planet to investigate a distress signal and are attacked by a giant bug.

In 2001, he directed “Black Hawk Down,” a story about a group of men--no women--dressed in sexy military outfits who are sent to a foreign county to rescue a group of Americans in distress. The bugs are human beings in Africa, Somalis, who are called “skinnys,” an allusion to their famished physiques.

“Alien” lavished great intelligence and care on its characters, the world they lived in, and the motives that drove them to their tragic and heroic destinies.

“Black Hawk Down” was so anxious to get to the slaughter that it ignored character development and waived any explanation of the circumstances that pitted Somalis against Americans. As a result, when Americans die, you can’t feel anything--you don’t even know who they are. When Somalis die, they are dead bugs.

In “Alien,” corporate greed and duplicity were held responsible for putting the astronauts in harm’s way.

In “Black Hawk Down,” we never learn what put anyone--the Marines or the Somalis--in harm’s way. The only thing that gets respect in this flick is the machinery--guns, choppers and editing equipment.

Who would have thought that “Alien”--a film conceived in the cultural wasteland of the late 1970s--would have fared so well in comparison?

“Alien.” “Black Hawk Down.” Ridley Scott. Jerry Bruckheimer. Rock on, America, 2002.

CHARLES DEGELMAN

Los Angeles