Alien Quadrilogy  (2003)

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Yaphet Kotto, Ian Holm, Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henrikson, Paul Reiser, Charles S. Dutton, Wynona Rider, Ron Perlman

Directors: Ridley Scott, James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Ratings: R

Distributor: Fox Home Entertainment

Release Date: December 2, 2003
Review posted: March 22, 2004

Spoilers: Minor

Reviewed by Jon Bjorling

SYNOPSIS

Alien - This one started it all. The crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their voyage home when the ship receives a strange beacon of alien origin. What they find is a derelict spacecraft which houses a creature unlike one they have ever seen before.

Aliens - Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the sole human survivor from her last mission, spends 57 years adrift in space before she is finally recovered. However, some things have changed since she has been gone. LV-426, the planet that housed the derelict alien ship has now been colonized. But now the "company" has lost contact with the colony and suspect that Ripley's claim of an aggressive creature may not have been fabricated. With the assistance of a team of high-tech Colonial Marines, Ripley returns to LV-426 to confront the nightmare which plagues her night after night and kill the creature forever.

Alien³ - Lt. Ripley is the lone survivor when her crippled spaceship crashes on a planet inhabited by former prison inmates. Ripley's fears that an alien was aboard her craft are confirmed when bodies begin piling up. When she tries to lead the inmates into battle against the creature she makes a horrifying discovery that will forever alter her life.

Alien Resurrection - Two hundred years after Lt. Ripley died, a group of scientists clone her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the new Ripley is full of surprises as are the new aliens. Ripley must team with a band of smugglers to keep the creatures from reaching Earth.

CRITIQUE

I enjoy the Alien series. Yes, even the bad ones, which are either 3 or 4, depending on how you feel about them. The Alien Quadrilogy box set is quite possibly the best way to present these movies.

To begin with, Alien is a classic horror film. The original cut is perfect as is. The 2003 special edition is great, and is in some ways a tighter film, yet it lacks the mystery (as if there was any left) of the alien with the inclusion of the cocoon scene. The film holds up well and will probably remain timeless because of the realism that Ridley Scott brought to the film.

Aliens is a completely different film than its predecessor. While Alien was an excellent haunted house story, Aliens is a great action film. The horror of the Alien (which we got to see in the first film) is turned into suspense as we watch wall upon wall of aliens attack the outnumbered marines. The 1991 special edition adds an emotional center to the film with the inclusion of Ripley's daughter and thus confirming and validating the adoption of Newt. The special edition also adds more suspense as we see that the Aliens are constantly attacking the marines and the marines have to find ways to defend themselves. The only drawback to the special edition are the scenes at Hadly's Hope with Newt's family which aren't that important.

Alien³ is the black sheep of the films and is not as bad a people claim. What turns people off is how nihilistic the film is. Yes, there are plot holes, but then, no one really hid the fact that Alien³ had a troubled production (just how troubled will surprise you.) The special edition is fantastic. It fills in most of the plot holes and helps bring a human face to most of the characters. It always bugged me that, for some reason, there are a lot of prisoners at the beginning of the film, but after the "explosion" there aren't that many left. And yet, we aren't shown how catastrophic the explosion was. And also, what happened to the crazy prisoner named Golic, the guy who survives his run in with the Alien? That is explained in the special edition.

Alien Resurrection is my least likeable of the films, and simply because I hate how the "newborn" is designed. It's petty, I know, but it's a major plot point of the film and it never worked for me. Jeunet's English language debut is fine. The cast is enjoyable. Joss Whedon's script was okay. The special edition of the film contains a new opening and ending as well as a few minor tidbits. It's something to check out, but nothing that demands immediate attention.

THE VIDEO

The video on each of the films looks remarkable. The only complaint, which is addressed before you watch the special edition of Alien³, is that some shots in the new special edition are grainy. This is because these were pulled from another source and cleaned up to the best of their ability. These additions do not harm the flow of the film, but if one is looking for it, one just might see it. These changes are far more noticeable in the sound.

THE AUDIO

Like the video, the sound is excellent. All the films are presented in 5.1 Digital. But as stated above, Alien³'s special edition contains variable sound. Most of the new scenes contain production sound (which is especially noticeable in the iron works finale.) But, as I stated above, it is brought to your attention before you watch the film. Overall, great sound.

THE EXTRAS

So many extras! Each movie disc contains similar features.

Discs 1, 3, 5, and 7 (the feature films)

- Theatrical and Special Editions

- Audio Commentary by various cast & crew

Each of the discs feature the original theatrical cut of the film as well as the special edition releases, as well as commentary by the directors (except for Alien³, which Fincher had washed his hands of,) writers, cinematographers, actors, and producers. All the commentaries give great amounts of information, although I think it would have been better to have left out the actor commentary (aside from Weaver) since many of the actors really have nothing to say, especially the actors who played the Marines in Aliens.

Discs 2, 4, 6, and 8 (special features)

- Pre-production feature (screen tests, story development, and photo gallery)

- Production features (creature designs, and on set documentaries)

- Post Production Features (reactions, editing and sound, and visual effects)

There are many featurettes to watch on these discs, and each one is worth checking out. With each step of a films production, we are able to see how the films evolve from the script through the final product. The most interesting one of all to watch is the Alien³ catastrophe. Everyone interviewed in the documentaries about the film agree that it was unfair to have put first time director Fincher in the hot seat for this film, having never given him a solid script and making changes to the story each day. It's remarkable to see the film that he shot (the special edition) and then compare it to the film we saw (the theatrical cut); one can see how bad a film can be when the studio has no faith in the project. Whether you love or hate the films, these documentaries give a great perspective on this genre of film.

Disc 9: Quadrilogy Supplemental

Geeze, more stuff?

This disc features the trailers to each of the films as well as a few other documentaries (which, by this point, most of, if not all, the information has been covered.) This disc seems to be more of a filler to expand the Quadrilogy to a 9-disc set.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you're a fan of the films and you haven't bought this set yet, go buy it. If you only like a few of the films, you are able to buy them individually. Don't. Buy the whole set. This is definitely worth the investment.

VERDICT: MUST-BUY DVD SET

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