A prey worth hunting down (The Ultimate Alien & Predator Collection (DVD))

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	The Ultimate Alien & Predator Collection (DVD)
Date:	08/06/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great films

Disadvantages: Incomplete collection, Lack of extras

Hollywood loves film franchises. Once a film has achieved some box-office success it is far simpler and much less risky to simply try and reproduce that success in a series of follow up films... better for the film studios that is! Mostly the sequels to the originals are pale imitations and the merits of the films gradually diminishes so in the end the output becomes formulaic...film by numbers if you like. There are of course exceptions, the Terminator series (until the latest release) was quite good and there are others. On rare occasions the money men in Hollywood get their way to such an extent that two successful franchises are welded together to produce a super franchise as in the case of the Alien and Predator films, the box set of which I'll be looking at today.

The Films

This box set proudly proclaims to be the 'Ultimate Alien and Predator Collection', it contains seven films Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Alien: Resurrection (1997), Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and this is the first problem, it isn't the ultimate collection since one more film (to date) was made AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem (2007) which is not included. On the plus side that latest offering (now to be considered a new franchise the Alien versus Predator franchise) was so bad that it really isn't be missed that much from this 'complete' collection.

Taking a closer look at the films that are included would anyone actually want to own them? To help with this decision I'll take a closer look at each film individually and give a quick assessment of how good they are.


Alien (1979)

This is a classic. Ridley Scott invented a genre when he made this film, the modern Sci-Fi horror. His vision of the future is a nastier grittier one than the 60s/70's Sci-Fi, the setting is dark and oppressive and the character believable. In the character of Ripley we find probably the first female Sci-fi screen icon and the design of the alien also represented a landmark in special effects and film monster creation. So this film is a classic and is worth owing on its own. It was obviously a good start to the collection.

Rating: 5/5


Aliens (1986)

In this follow-up to the original the tone and style of the film has changed dramatically. Sigourney Weaver is back as Ripley and she's still kicking alien butt but this time the action adventure elements of the film take the fore over the horror. This is mainly due to the direction of James Cameron, less subtle and more special effect led. The slower pace of the first film and the dark oppressive atmosphere gives way to a more traditional Sci-Fi setting. Personally I prefer Alien but there is no doubt that the pacing and thrills that this sequel provide make it a great spectacle in its own right.

Rating: 4/5


Alien 3 (1992)

For this third outing David Fincher takes the directorial reins. Weaver is still there as the indestructible Ripley but this time a sense of the claustrophobia of the first film is re-introduced by setting the film in a planet penal colony. This film provides a slower pace than Aliens 3 but the plot is more complex and we begin to develop and flesh out the back-story. The cast is also noteworthy including some fine British acting talent in Charles Dance, Paul McGann and Pete Postlethwaite. The film possibly doesn't quite as well as the first two but is still a worthy addition to the series.

Rating: 3.5/5


Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Admittedly by this stage the series was reaching its natural end, there is a limit to how many scrapes with aliens Ripley can believably get into and still maintain the integrity of the story arc. In this instalment the plausibility of the plot is the first victim of the need to produce yet another sequel. Ripley character is also changed in ways I cannot mention here so as not to spoil the film for those who have not seen it yet. I didn't think her new persona worked as well as in the previous films and despite another strong performance from Sigourney Weaver you can begin to see that this character had run out of steam. Having said all this 'Alien: Resurrection' directed this time by Jean-Pierre Jeunet is an enjoyable action adventure/sci-fi romp, once again with great special effects and strong acting from the all the cast. More quirky, more left field than the rest thanks to Jeunet's distinctive style but still worth its place in the series.

Rating: 4/5


Predator (1987)

This is my favourite Arnold Schwarzenegger film. The plot is made for him. As he is hunted down by an unseen enemy in the tropical jungles of South America his muscles do the acting for him, always a good idea with Arnie. To begin with we are presents with another run of the mill action adventure involving covert operations by special forces and ex marines now mercenaries led by muscle bound Schwarzenegger...yawn... but fairly soon in to the film we realise that we are in fact watching a horror film which gradually revs to a explosive climax with plenty of gore on the way! The action sequences are brilliantly arranged and paced by the director John McTiernan who would the following year hit even greater heights with 'Die Hard'. Predator is a clever film managing like Alien before it to provide us with a good Science fiction plot within the action adventure/horror genre.

Rating: 5/5


Predator 2
There is one simple idea behind Predator 2, what if we replace the jungles of South America with the urban jungle of modern Los Angeles? As a premise it's not a bad one and it could've worked but unfortunately is comes nowhere near the success of the original. There are number of reasons for this firstly Arnie is missing and although we get Danny Glover in exchange his more down to earth everyman action hero simply doesn't suit the nature of the film as well as the muscle bound monosyllabic Schwarzenegger. Secondly the new director Stephen Hopkins simply fails to maintain the tension and the pace of the first film. The predator becomes rather mundane as a monster and the film soon loses its way to become a rather by the numbers action movie.

Rating: 2/5


AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)

It took a little while but finally the lure of a confrontation between tow of modern Sci-fi most iconic monsters couldn't be resisted any longer. In the same spirit of the 30's Universal Studios horror exploitation B movies Dracula meets Frankenstein meets the Werewolf, we get to see the most adept Predator in the universe taking on the most dangerous prey the Alien. So the story behind this encounter is never going to win any literary prizes but we all wanted to see this heavyweight match up! Does it deliver?...well yes surprisingly it does. The human characters in this story are really superfluous so it is not surprising that the actors involved are strictly B movie material but who cares? They are only there to articulate the flimsy plot. What we really want to see are the monsters knocking hell out of each other. While the film provides all the high adrenalin action sequences you could wish for the director Paul W.S. Anderson actually manages to inject a little more depth in to the film than would seem possible or desirable. He manages to humanise the monsters especially the Alien and by the end there is more going on than simple a 'monster gorefest'. Overall a good addition to the Alien/Predator franchises.

Rating: 3.5/5

So as a package the films are worth seeing and certainly all the Alien movies and the original Predator are worth owning as they will stand repeated watching. Looking more closely at the collection it is disappointing to find that there are few extras provided beyond the usual DVD features (language selection etc.). The seven DVDs are well packaged and presented with slick looking clear plastic DVD holders (no individual cases for each film) contained within a simpler outer box. The only extra printed material that is included is a small pamphlet giving basic details of each of the films. I wanted more! In previous collections Alien Quadrilogy and Alien Legacy DVD collections you got two discs of extras it seems that for this collection the films discs are the same but the extras have been omitted...that is a bit mean of them.

What makes this collection worth getting apart from the quality of the films is the price. At the moment you can buy it from Play.com UK for only £9.99 (plus free delivery). Even for just the seven films without extras this is a bargain!

Technical details

Format: Anamorphic
Language: English
Region: Region 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Classification: 18
DVD Release Date: 28 May 2007
Run Time: 780 minutes

Overall

A good collection even though it is not a complete collection as advertised. Despite the lack of extras it is a good buy if you can get it a discounted price.
Recommended!

© Mauri 2009

Summary: Good value if you hunt down a good price!