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Alien Quadrilogy - Alien (2 Discs)
It doesn't get any
better than this and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Alien, 20th
Century Fox have released a nine disc set of the entire Alien legacy entitled
Alien Quadrilogy. These movies contain everything from horror, action,
science fiction, romance and even comedy that not only pushed the current
movie market but also set a new standard for science fiction. The first
movie called Alien, revolves around the crew of Nostromo, a mining craft that
is finally returning to Earth. Unfortunately for the crew of Nostromo, they
receive a distress message from an uncharted planet that will have a
devastating effect on their lives.
While exploring the
mysterious craft, a small alien attaches itself to one of its crew members who
unbeknown to the crew is actually impregnating the host. Without spoiling the
film any further, the alien soon grows to maturity and systematically starts
to hunt the entire crew down. Director Ridley Scott does an amazing job at
installing fear and suspense into the audience and this movie is still one of the most
nerve wrecking movies that I have ever seen. The original movie also contains a
bevy of professional actors that include Sigourney Weaver as
Ellen Ripley and
John Hurt as Kane,
with a small supporting cast that include the
very talented Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton
and Yaphet Kotto.
The
image transfer of Alien is almost crystal clear and considering how old this
movie is, the distributors have done a brilliant job at cleaning up the
footage that you could almost be forgiven in thinking that it was filmed
yesterday. The picture quality is extremely sharp and all the colours are
vibrant and bright that really helps in immersing viewers into this thoroughly
entertaining title. It should also be mentioned that CGI never existed in the
late 70's and all the puppet like special effects included in this movie still
holds up quite well against the current CGI
blockbusters. Alien is presented in 2.35:1
anamorphic widescreen that simply looks amazing on high definition television
sets.
The
sound quality of the disc is phenomenal and contains both Dolby Digital 5.1
and DTS for some of the most brilliant sound effects to have ever graced a
movie. As with the image transfer, the audio quality of this movie has also
been cleaned up, resulting in extremely clear and audible sounds that make
great use of home entertainment speaker setups.
The
first two discs of Alien Quadrilogy contain two discs devoted to the first
movie Alien that contain a plethora of extras on both discs. Everything from
documentaries, photo galleries, screenplays and production notes are included.
Apart from the documentaries, the deleted scenes are probably the most
interesting of the Special Features that lace the first two discs of this
series.
Alien Quadrilogy - Alien Special
Features
* 7 Deleted Scenes
* Screenplay
* Production Notes
* 9 Documentaries
* Storyboard
* Picture Disc
Alien Quadrilogy - Aliens (2 Discs)
Six
years after the first Alien movie was released in 1979, James Cameron decided
to tackle one of the most complex and exciting movies of the Alien legacy. The
movie is based 57 years after the first film that once again returns Sigourney
Weaver in her role as Ellen Ripley. After the devastating events of Alien,
Ellen Ripley placed herself in cryogenic sleep and hoped that someone would
discover her spacecraft. She was discovered by the Company, a futuristic
fascist corporation that demands to know why Ripley destroyed the mining craft
Nostromo.
Ripley also learns a shocking discovery that the uncharted planet where they
first encountered the new alien species has now been colonized.
After
communication with the colonists is severed, Ripley must now accompany a group
of military marines to re-establish contact. Unlike the first movie in the
series, Aliens features a larger cast of actors that include Michael Biehn as
Corporal Hicks who is Weaver's love interest, Paul Reiser as the scheming
company man Burke, Lance Henrikson as the android Bishop and Carrie Henn who
plays a child colonist called Newt. Although Cameron does a brilliant job
at recreating the suspense for this movie, the entire film is one huge
rollercoaster ride that features futuristic weaponry and of course a plethora of
deadly aliens that compliments the first movie nicely.
The
image quality of second movie is spectacular and features a transfer ratio of
1.81.1 widescreen that really helps immerse viewers into the world of Aliens.
The picture quality is sharp but I did notice a few errors and graininess
while I reviewed this movie. Generally on the more darker scenes, the
graininess is a bit more noticeable. Although the colors are extremely sharp
and vibrant, the movie itself is an extremely dark tale, so don't expect too
many trips to wonderland with this title.
The
sound quality of Aliens supports both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS for some
spectacular sound special effects, especially the sounds of pulse-rifles being
fired at the deadly aliens. The audio quality is extremely clear and audible
that goes hand in hand with the soundtrack of this film to produce one of the
most
brilliant sounding movies to date.
As
with the previous two discs, the distributors have not skimped on
any extras with
the second entitlement of the legacy and everything from deleted scenes,
documentaries and storyboards have been included in this package. Probably one
of the most interesting features of Aliens is the audio commentary by James
Cameron that also features a variety of actors (unfortunately no Sigourney
Weaver) and the people behind the scenes such as visual effects supervisors.
Alien Quadrilogy - Aliens Special
Features
* 14 Deleted Scenes
* 7 Documentaries
* 4 Featurette(s)
* Storyboard
* 1 Feature commentary by James Cameron, Gale Anne
Hurd, Stan Winston, Visual Effects Supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak,
Miniature Effects Supervisor Pat McClung, and Actors Michael Biehn, Lance
Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Bill Paxton, and Carrie Henn
* Storyboard
* THX Optmiser
Alien Quadrilogy - Alien 3 (2 Discs)
Alien 3 directed by
David Fincher strays away James Cameron's former epic and returns viewers to a
more subtle thriller that is a cross between Alien meets music video. Although
the survivors of Sulaco destroyed the Alien menace in the previous instalment,
their thorough sweep of the vessel failed to locate an alien egg that was laid
by the alien queen. Not only did this alien hatch but it also destroyed key
components aboard that star craft that led to the deaths of Newt and Corporal
hicks who were suspended in cryogenic pods. Crashing upon the prison planet of
Fiorinia 161, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is once again the sole survivor of
this alien menace. Joined by Weaver are a plethora of talented actors that
include Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Brian Glover and Lance Henrikson who
are just a few of the stars that grace this film.
Unlike Aliens, this
movie involves only one deadly alien that runs rampant upon the religious
denizens of Fiorinia 161. Although the original movie was quite literally
butchered by editors and movie studio heads, there are two versions as with
the previous movies available in this set. The two versions include the
original theatrical release and the Special Edition that runs a little more
than 30 minutes longer than the original. This is probably one of the darker
movies in the quadrilogy with some extremely disturbing religious undertones
mixed with some extremely gruesome violence that leads to a very clichéd
ending. As with most people, this is probably one of my least liked alien
movies but I do recommend that people watch the special edition version of the
movie that really goes beyond the original theatrical release.
Once again the video
transfer of the third movie is spectacular and is presented in anamorphic
widescreen that features a variety of vibrant colours and sharp images that
are mixed well with the special effects of the movie. The discs do contain a
little graininess in certain sections of the movie but thanks to the digital
enhancements, it looks like it was created yesterday at the movie studios.
The audio quality of the
discs features Dolby Digital 5.1 for a stunning surround sound experience that
features crystal clear sounds and a beautiful music score that pays homage to
the aliens universe. It should be noted that there are a few audio problems on
the Special Edition Alien 3 version but that's because they are trying to mix
footage that was never really meant to appear on the original movie itself,
although it's nothing too distracting.
Once again Fox does an
amazing job at including a variety of special features that include a variety
of pre and post production documentaries, deleted scenes, galleries and a
variety of special effect featurettes that really goes beyond the film. One
must also wonder why certain deleted scenes were cut from this movie because
they do increase the experience of this movie with information that actually
adds and not distracts from the storyline.
Alien Quadrilogy - Alien 3
Special
Features
* 26 Deleted
Scenes
* 6 Documentaries
* 5 Featurette(s)
* Storyboard
* 1 Feature commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thomson, Editor Terry Rawlings,
Alien Effects Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Visual Effects Producer
Richard Edlund, and Actors Paul McGann and Lance Henriksen
Alien Quadrilogy - Alien Resurrection (2 Discs)
Alien Resurrection is
the final instalment of the Alien legacy that returns Sigourney Weaver two
hundred years later into her role as Ellen Ripley. Ripley may have died in the
previous movie but through the wonders of genetic technology and alien
DNA, Ripley returns as the ass kicking chick to help liberate mankind from
this alien threat. The movie is directed by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
(City of Lost Children) who does a wonderful job of transforming the script
Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) into another entertaining
saga of Aliens. The company may be long gone but this time the military has
decided to take advantage of alien DNA in an attempt to create and train these
deadly aliens as soldiers.
Unfortunately for the
denizens of this hidden military science vessel, playing with aliens has never
been considered a good idea. Probably one of the most strongest cast of actors
since the first movie, Alien Resurrection features some strong performances by
the beautiful Winona Ryder, the extremely talented Dominque Pinon and of
course Ron Perlman, Gary Dourdan, Michael Wincott, Kim Flowers, Dan Hedaya and
Brad Dourif. Alien Resurrection works so well because not only does it use an
American/French cast of actors but unlike the other movies, does not try to
take itself too serious. This is probably my second favourite movie of the entire
Alien series as it features some amazing action scenes, some humorous
anecdotes and of course some extremely vicious alien critters. The movie also
contains two versions of Alien Resurrection, the original theatrical release
and of course the special edition.
Alien Resurrection
features the cleanest transfers of image quality and is presented in 2.35:1
anamorphic widescreen that can be used as a reference quality DVD. The colours
are vibrant with extremely sharp images and I detected no errors whatsoever on
this instalment of the series. Some of the special effects, especially the
underwater scene looks quite simple spectacular.
The audio of the disc
once again uses DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 for some down amazing special effect
sounds and a beautiful musical score that really makes this movie a fun watch.
With clear and exceptionally sharp dialogue, this movie cannot be faulted at
all.
The discs are also
littered with special features that includes audio commentary by Director
Jean-Pierre, a variety of deleted
scenes and some extremely interesting documentaries.
Alien Quadrilogy - Alien Resurrection
Special
Features
* 10 Deleted
Scenes
* 4 Documentaries
* 7 Featurette(s)
* 1 Feature commentary by Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Editor Herve Schneia,
Alien Effects Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., Visual Effects
Supervisor Pitof, Conceptual Artis Sylvain Despretz, and Actors Ron Perlman,
Domique Pinon, and Leland Orser
If there is one DVD
collection that you must buy this year than I would highly recommend that you
purchase Alien Quadrilogy because not only does it contain four extremely
entertaining movies but also some of the most ambitious special features to have
ever graced a DVD Collection. Not only does the collection give you a look
beyond the movie and into the alien universe but it also shows the hardships
and people behind the scenes. If you're an alien fan... then it doesn't get
any better than this! It should also be mentioned that this collection
contains a bonus 9th disc for some extra alien information.
-
Andrew B
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