Alien Quadrilogy (DVD, 2003, 9-Disc Set)

The first two movies of this series are two of the best ever made, with Ridley Scott directing the first and James Cameron the second. The second half of the Quadrilogy is drastically different and in my opinion not as well made. I would have liked to have see 20th Century Fox get some more experienced directors than David Fincher (Alien 3 was his feature film debut) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Resurrection) to continue the work that Scott and Cameron started.

Alien:
This is a excellent movie, the one that set the standard for all future sci fi. What I love about this movie is the sense of isolation Ridley Scott creates aboard the spaceship. A gigantic cargo ship deep in outer space that gets ordered to inspect an uncharted planet, where they find the Alien. In the claustrophobic ship, every action and reaction is magnified because the crew is so small and the Alien is completely new and at that point thought to be unkillable. Scott does a great job of building the tension surrounding the crew (something the last 2 movies don't do at all), I love the scene where Harry Dean Stanton is standing under some dripping water and the camera just focus's on him as we wait for something to jump out of the darkness at him. Great cast with Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley) and Ian Holm both doing memorable jobs This in my opinion the scariest and most tense of all the movies, a great credit to Scott's directing given that we rarely SEE the Alien at all in the entire movie.

Aliens
This is my favorite of the four. James Cameron is an excellent director and this is some of his finest work. 60 years after the first movie's story, Ripley (who was in hyper-sleep for 57 and did not age) is recruited by the army to go back to the planet the Alien came from and act as a guide. The planet has been colonized, but when the band of soldiers (great performances from Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn) get there the colony is deserted. This film is more more of an action movie than the first one, the soldiers first look for the missing civilians, but when it becomes clear that none are alive the story focus's on the soldiers getting off the planet alive. After finding the Alien den and losing most of their brigade, the small remaining band barricade themselves in the civilian space and try to signal for help, only to find that the satellite has been destroyed. Unlike the first movie where there was only one Alien, there are hundreds this time, each one coming from the stomach of captured civilian that was infected with an alien parasite. Despite being able to kill the aliens this time (unlike first movie), there is still plenty of tension in this movie, as the band of survivors try to repair the satellite and recall their spaceship before the hordes of aliens break through their barricade. Great acting again from Sigourney, Paul Reiser does a great job too in his role (which I wont give away).

Alien 3
This is definitely the worst of the 4. After escaping from the Alien planet in the second movie, Ripley's pod crashes on a prison planet. The plot is full of blatant errors, one of the worst being how Ripley refuses to tell anybody about the Alien when she suspects it may have gotten loose in the prison. This is one of those plots that only succeeds if the characters are stupid, which they are. Bad movie.

Alien Resurrection
Nothing special here, just a typical action movie where the people are running the whole time. Oh yeah Ripley is now

The first Alien movie blew my mind out, and I'm not that easy "blowable" when it comes to Sci Fi movies. The icy, slow moving and claustrophobic atmosphere directed by Ridley Scott, enchanted by the bio-bone-metallic alien surroundings created by Giger, makes Alien one of the most scary Sci Fi movies up to this date. It was also by the time one of the best acted Sci Fi films made, and I have to admit that Ripley really was "my kind of gal".

The follower-up, The Aliens, took years to develope and was a different kind of movie.
Directed by Cameroun it had a fast moving and action like setting, with big mouthed marines determined to really kick some ass and killing of the alien bugs just like that, and a sombre Ripley calling the cards saying: "Oh yeah ? A single one of them took out my entire crew one by one, and now we might be
facing a lot of them"
Aliens lack the erieness, and creepy feeling of the first movie, but I've yet not decided which movie I like best. But they're both very good to outstanding movies, ranking 5 stars in my book.

In front of the third Alien movie there was a lot of rumours that this would be the last in a triology, giving answers to what the Alien species really was all about, where they came from and their purpose in life. There was to be a final battle between "us and them" on their home planet.
Instead we had Ripley facing a smarter, more agile alien trapped on a prison planet. The movie is trying hard the have some deep profound human sentiment in it, telling us that the bad guys really are great guys when it comes down to the nitty gritty. It ends up with Ripley biting the dust in a bacward swan dive into molten metal, and by golly, I thought this was The End of the Alien saga. Yeah right! Well, I'll give it a 3.5 star rating

Now, in the fourth Alien movie Ripley is cloned back to life, but have had her DNA mixed with the alien's DNA, (back from movie No 3).
She is now partly alien and has quite exceptional reflexes and strength, but there ends the excitement for me so I shall say no more about this movie, except giving it a 2.5 star rating.
Total for the Alien quad pack is a strong 4 star rating from me, as it is a must in every Sci Fi collection.
NB! there has been a longstanding rumour of a fifth Alien movie, but if Ripley is gonna be played by S.Weawer, they'll better hurry up before they have to roll her on the set in a wheel chair so; hurry on kitty, kitty !

First off...9 DVD's!!! WOW. Each movie disc has two movies on them. Yep, TWO! The original theatrical release and either a directors cut or special edition. If that is not enough for you ALIEN fans out there, then take a look at the other five discs. Over 50 hours of bonus materials to be reviewed...how they done it, commentary by cast and crew and producers, photo galleries, multi angles and much, much , more!

Plus every movie release has been digitally remastered for the best possible picture and sound. This is the definitive ALIEN DVD collection, and is a must have for any fan. Years ago this did cost well over $100.00 in stores, but now on Ebay, it is averaging around $35.00 complete! You can't buy 9 dvd's in the store for that!

What are you waiting for? Just buy it, you'll be glad you did, I know I am! :)

This set is so interesting; for lovers of commentary,like myself, there is commentary. For each movie, there are two versions: theatrical and "special." Usually, theatrical wins. "Special" is pretty much for fanatics only. BUT the commentary is the same on each movie - - a cheat, folks.

"Alien" is still genius; theatrical "Aliens" is incredible (long-winded James Cameron loses with his slower, repetitive "special version" imo), "Alien to the third power" is still a wonderful nihilist examination (and Ripley gets laid -- Charles Dance, yay!), and "Alien Resurrection," despite wonderful performances from everyone, is still a yuck-fest that only a teenager could love. In his commentary, the French director admits this.

Lots of stuff, if you want to wander in the dusty halls of the nerd collectors, etc. but the movies are what count.

I have always loved the Alien franchise but this box set will blow your mind! This set includes the original theatrical version as well as the directors' cut of each of the four films. Having the ability to watch the two different versions of the films will really amaze you. The director's cuts are fantastic. Imagine being able to watch the film as it was intended to be watched from the directors point of view with all the deleted scenes placed back in the film. This is an amazing set to own or give as a gift. I have had the opportunity to do both. The price has also dropped significantly. This set was originally priced at $99 when it was first released back in 2003. Now you can pick one up as cheap as $39. Thanks & I hope this was helpful.