Back In Action (Aliens (DVD))

Member Name: The Solid Grey

Product:	Aliens (DVD)
Date:	09/09/01 (165 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 17 minutes of extra footage , All the stuff you liked about the first film, really entertaining

Disadvantages: none

17 minutes of extra footage (yes 17 minutes) are included in the special edition of this film, that’s got to be worth watching, for any alien fan. I suppose the real question is how many people haven’t seen this film?, or at least one of the four alien films?, everyone’s got an opinion and this is mine.

There was a time when I wouldn’t even consider buying anything that I could see on TV sooner or later, now with DVD anything goes, almost. With the quality and extras you get on DVD, things like this are pretty much a must.

I would have loved to have got the boxed set, and I nearly did a year ago, but there was only a DVD version for £64.99 and I didn’t have a DVD player, in the end I settled for just the last film, (the others I’d taped off TV anyway). The thing about boxed sets is that you get all the films in good quality and a little extra, you can watch them all in order, and get the full experience. So anyway, when I saw Alien and
Aliens in a second hand shop for only £10 each, I just couldn’t resist.

Aliens was made in 1986, seven years after the first, and continues from where we left off. For those who don’t know, at the end of the film, she put herself into hibernation on course for earth, which she would reach in six weeks. Our story begins with her ship being salvaged, she wakes up in hospital and discovers that she’s been drifting in space for 57 years!. With no other survivors, no evidence to back up her story, the company revoke her pilots licence disbelieving her account of the alien and close the case. Riply asks them to check out the planet on which they found the alien, but colonists have been living on the planet for 20 years, and they’ve never had any problems..................a couple of weeks later Riply has found a job driving loaders when she is told that they’ve lost contact with the colonists, and they want to send a marine troop to investig
ate, with her help as an advisor, she accepts, and what do they find when they get there?, a whole bunch of aliens!.

The 17 minutes of extra footage?
Is great, all as part of the film, so its hard to say what is extra, not being overly familiar the original release of the film, but there was some great stuff from the colony before anything happens to it, you see a family finding the derelict space ship seen the first film and then the husband coming back from it with an alien on his face. The other thing I noticed, but can’t be sure its not in the original release, is Riply finding out about her daughter, I can’t remember if I already knew this, and there is a peice with smart guns killing some of the aliens, if you really want to know which bits are new to the special edition you’d have to watch them both. Just to see something new is great!.

This is a pretty good sequal, it follows on very well from the first, unlike some films which have some very shaky continuity, this is perfect. The story is good, in contrast to the first film with only one alien, this has loads of ‘em, and Riply’s character is a much more prominent and forceful one. In the original you had a few unsuspecting people encountering an alien, in this its war.

There is some really good parts in this film, its very entertaining, and at 148 minutes long, it never felt long. A couple of things about the plot that niggeled at me was, how could Riply’s ship drift through space on course for home for 57 years and not be noticed?, and why did Riply not say anything about the company’s attitude toward the ‘expendable’ crew in the first film?, however this is really here nor there, and its not something I’d make a big deal of. One thing to note is that the aliens are slightly different in design, the smooth head has now got a more rippled effect, but otherwise their just the same, doing the same stuff as before, b
ursting out of people’s chests.....

Extra’s on the region 2 DVD,

Trailer
Interview with Director, James Cameron
Behind the scenes footage
Photo gallery
The 17 minutes of restored footage
And the usual (scene selection etc.)

Quite good, the interview is interesting, and the photos are nice to look at. The behind the scenes footage was a bit of a disappointment, but good, its made up of a few clips of models shots and such, and mostly its mute, I was expecting a documentary, but still its nice to see.

So yeah its defiantly worth a watch, the action is great, the acting is good, the effects are great, the story isn’t bad, and a fairly good ending, as usual a couple of twists, in the form of meeting the alien queen for the first time and Riply having a bit of a romance.

A great addition to my DVD collection.


The Solid Grey

Summary: