DVD Review: Alien:Resurrection

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"ALIEN" DVD Reviews
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien:Resurrection

Alien:Resurrection
20th Century Fox
2.35:1/ Dolby Digital 5.1/(+French 2.0)
109 Minutes
Subtitles:French, English
Rated:R
THX Approved
Region:1
Dual Layer:Yes

The Movie:
The least interesting of the series, "Alien: Ressurection" does have some rather cool visuals but it certainly lacks the interesting screenplay that the first two films had and I found it even slightly less interesting than David Fincher's attempt at directing the 3rd film. The problem is that this film is completely not needed. We find that Ripley(after meeting with an end in the 3rd film) has been cloned and brought back to life in this edition, the 4th in the series, directed by French director Jean Pierre Jeunet. The production design is certainly more detailed than the previous movies, but all of the sets look a little too "sharp" and they aren't visually that interesting, or at least as interesting as some of the previous film's sets. Especially lacking are the strong characters that populated the first 3 films and replaced are uninteresting stereotypical characters who aren't worth caring about as they run through the halls of the ship.

I certainly like Winona Ryder, but she's miscast here as Call, a young woman joining the crew who may not be all she seems. Ryder as an actress simply is far too opposite to the intensity of Weaver here to have much impact at all. Speaking of Weaver, she's the best thing about this film: strong, intense, grim and with a certain sort of sarcastic humor that livens the rather dull proceedings.

The film also relies far too much on violence and gore and not enough on the thrills that we can hear. The first two films were gory,sure, but they also had enough moments where they created a phenomenal tension through the tone- they didn't always have to show violence.

"Resurrection" is simply a dissapointing choice to continue a series that really didn't need to be extended. It may provide a few moments of basic thrills, but beyond that, there isn't too much to like about this film, the 4th(and hopefully last) in the series. Technically, it may be slightly more advanced that the other films due to its recent age, but it certainly isn't as smart or entertaining as the other three.

THE DVD:
VIDEO QUALITY: The anamorphic transfer is letterboxed at 2.35:1 and in my opinion, reference quality. If not reference quality, extremely close. The color scheme with all of its green and brown and metalic colors are very similar to the color palettes that were used for the other films, but on this disc, the image looks sharpest and wonderfully defined, with clear and crisp images that are stunning. Flesh tones are presented accurately. Color saturation and contrast also are enjoyably presented. There isn't anything in the way of problems with the print or with artifacts. This is a smooth, clear and great looking "film-like" transfer that is sure to please, although I'm not sure there are many fans of this, the last picture in the series. It's a great showcase for the cinematography of Darius Khondji, who has also done the cinematography for such pictures as "Evita". His work is pretty stunning at times during this film and I guess a reason to recommend watching it, if you just want to see great cinematography. The famous "swimming" scene looks(and sounds) especially great.

SOUND: Nothing compares to that first deep growl from the creature and that kind of deep force is carried on for the length of the film, especially during some of the more intense action sequences, where surrounds are used frequently and to good effect. Bass really packs a solid, rich punch for most of the film as well. Dialogue sounds natural and clear and isn't overshadowed by everything else going on in the film.

MENUS: Again, a stylish menu but nothing like the menus from the first two films, and even a little less cool than the menus for Alien 3. Animated, but slightly.

EXTRAS: All we get here are again, the trailers for all of the films as well as a very short "Featurette" on the making of the film that isn't very interesting.

GRADES:
The Film: 71/C = (355/500 possible points)
Video: 95/A = (380/400 possible points)
Audio: 97/A = (388/400 possible points)
Extras: 74/C = (222/300 possible points)
Menus: 84/B = (168/200 possible points)
Value: 82/B = (246/300 possible points)
Presentation:87.25/B = (87.25/100 possible points)

TOTAL POINTS:1846.25/2200
Overall:83.92%/B
Final Thoughts: Certainly the worst film in the series, and the least also in the way of extras. At least on the 3rd disc, we got a nice, 20 minute or so documentary detailing the history of the films. Here, all we get is, I believe, the same very short documentary that was included with the widescreen VHS version. I said it about the 3rd film as well: if you aren't a huge fan of the series, I'd highly recommend the first two discs. The last two aren't the best films in the series and they don't provide the extensive extras that come with the first two films.