Alien (The Director's Cut)
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Movie Reviews of Alien (The Director's Cut)
Movie Review: Here are the new scenes for the Director's Cut
Summary: 5 Stars
The greatest sci-fi film ever made since 2001: A Space Odyssey. Period. That's all I have to say. Director's Cut is not as good as Theatrical Version, but still a great companion to the Theatrical Version and very skillfully reedited and recut by Ridley Scott and some spectacular new effects; but if only they had added more footage....
Theatrical Version Rating: 10/10
Director's Cut Rating: 9/10
DVD Rating: 10/10
Scenes only in Director's Cut:
Chapter 6: Locating the source:
The crew is trying to find where the new planet is. They listen to a new signal and are stunned by it. Lambert finds out where they are and then, they find out they are totally off course in returning to Earth.
Chapter 10: Kane's Descent:
A 7-second shot of Kane pulling out his gun has been put back in.
Chapter 14: Facehugger:
This new scene shows the crew arguing over what they should do with Kane with the facehugger attached to his face, and it also shows Lambert slapping Ripley HARD over the face.
Chapter 23: "Here Jonesy"
This extended scene shows Brett going to find Jones the cat and one of the new shots shows the Alien hanging over Brett. The other part of the extended scene shows Brett's blood falling onto Parker.
Chapter 35: Mercy
There are two parts to this scene: the first new scene shows Ripley climbing down the ladder and finding Captain Dallas and Brett cocconed by the Alien. Dallas says, "kill me" and Ripley incenarates Dallas and Brett. The other new scene shows the Alien smacking Jones the cat's cage.
Scenes/shots only in Theatrical Version:
- The camera panning right when Dallas makes his first trip to MUTHUR.
- The scene where Ripley talks to Ash about Mother translating the Alien Transmission.
- After Ash loses contact with Dallas, Kane and Lambert, the last shot looking at Ash's face is only in the Theatrical Version.
- The shot looking at Dallas climbing up the Space Jockey.
- The scene where Kane goes down the Alien chamber and after he says "What the hell is this?" you see the hole leading into the egg chamber. That shot is half as long in the Director's Cut.
- The shot of Ash leaving the medical room after talking with Ripley.
- The first shot of Ripley, Brett and Parker looking for the Alien.
- The shot with Ripley saying "open the door" behind the partially opened door.
- The last moments of Brett soaking his face.
- After the crew's discussion after Brett's death, the shot of the Nostromo traveling through space.
- This is the most noticeable difference- The entire scene of Dallas making his second trip to MUTHUR.
- Some shots of Dallas crawling through the vent.
- The shot of Parker going to refuel the flamethrowers.
- The shot of Ripley getting the key for opening the door to MUTHUR.
- Shots of Ripley leaving MUTHUR.
- Shots of Ripley, Parker and Lambert walking through the hallway.
- Shots of Ripley preparing the shuttle.
- Some shots of Ripley running through the corridor after the self-destruct has been activated.
New effects for the Director's Cut:
- When the Nostromo rolls 92 degrees to port side, the background is now a star field to the left of the planet instead of it just being black in the Theatrical Version.
Movie Review: In all probability, the greatest horror film of all time...
Summary: 5 Stars
`Alien' knows how to scare you. It crawls beneath the surface of your skin and festers, irritating your flesh until you can't take the itch anymore. It sends shivers down your spine and makes your hair stand on end and whispers the sweet nothings of despair in your ears. `Alien' understands the human psyche and it exposes it to raw unadulterated fear.
As you can probably ascertain; I am in love with this movie.
I have seen `Alien' a handful of times and each and every time I am brought to that same secluded place of pure paranoia. The setting is prime for that feeling of solidarity; the brilliant tagline (`In space no one can hear you scream') says it all. What makes the film all the more effective is Ridley Scott's masterful pace and direction. The film may seem slow to many, as if it doesn't want to get started, but that pace is what helps build the tension inside the core of the viewer.
Ridley Scott is, in my humble opinion, the finest director working today. He has a way of understanding the genre in which he is working and mastering it in order to deliver a piece of perfection to the viewer. No matter what genre he is attempting he does so with effortless precision.
How many other directors can claim to have delivered a masterful war film, gangster film, cross country drama, swords-and-sandals epic, sci-fi horror film and so on?
In `Alien' Scott beautifully crafts a feeling of dread and terror that stands up even today as one of the purest and most effective horror films of all time. `Alien' serves as a benchmark for many horror films that follow, so many of them depending on influence from this film to even make a dent in the viewers mind. `Alien' will always be remembered as one of the scariest films of all time.
Another facet of this film that excels is that superb acting by everyone involved. Who would have ever thought that this film would be Sigourney Weaver's big breakout role but in all actuality it proved to be one of the greatest female performances of all time. Weaver has never been this magnificent (although there is no denying she has turned out brilliance after brilliance). Weaver is not the only gem here though. The entire cast is flawless. Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto; everyone is on point and compliments one another beautifully.
The ship itself is probably the greatest performer in the film though. It breathes a life all its own; one of terror and misery. The art direction and set designs are flawless and evoke in the audience a genuine fear. The mood is marvelously set just by glancing at the creaky ship.
As the fated crew answers the supposed `distress call' we cringe because we know what's going to happen to them. As they are hunted and slaughtered one by one we tense up because we know it's only the beginning. And then there is the infamous tension building `chestburster' scene that will haunt your dreams and build your nightmares for a long time to come. We become one with this movie as it cements itself into our minds and slowly, yet effectively, spreads through our souls until we feel nothing except what is purposed for us. `Alien' is uncanny; a brilliant and flawless example of what cinema is all about.
Movie Review: Still a Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
'Alien' is what horror is all about. It takes its sweet time gettting going, no doubt about it, but the cumulative effect is nothing short of astonishing. Goldsmith's eerie, textured score, the creeping, endless exterior shots of the ship, the ugly, empty corridors within and the slow descent into the nightmarish alien ship. All very effective and all before we're introduced to the Alien, which happens to be the finest film-monster of all-time. The sense of reality of the whole operations is superior to just about any other sci-fi I've ever seen, and infinitely more realistic than the overblown, blindingly shiny and artificial CGI worlds of modern SF. The Star Wars films may have brought SF into the mainstream and the A-movie class, but 'Alien' brought it down to earth.
Performances are all first rate even if the characterization are a bit thin. (Well, Veronica Cartwright is pretty damned annoying, but she's believably annoying, anyway.) Holm is especially good as secretive science officer Ashe. 'Alien' brings real world blue-collar workers into sci-fi and horror, and adds a greater weight and believability the the two genres by doing so. On the downside, the film arguably lacks a strong protagonist, as Ripley is too cold to be excessively sympathetic, but the actual horrific elements are so good that the lack of audience identification with the characters doesn't much matter.
A few minor concerns: The alien is amazing... except for in his chest burster form. Giger never had a final design for it, and you can tell. As it is, the things kinda cute, and his scampering out of the room is, shall we say, less than convincing. Also, (SPOILERS) I've always been irritated by the shot of the Alien as he's about to grab Dallas, with his arms extended for too long. Looks like he's leaping out at him at the beginning of a surprise party, not trying capture him and drag him away. Finally, I don't like that Ripley goes back to get the cat. I don't think it's sexist, as some sillier critics do, but it's a pretty damn inane complication, and frankly, I just don't buy it. If she's gonna leave Cain to die out on the wind-swept planet surface just because he *might* be infected with something that *might* hurt them all, she sure ain't gonna face up to giant the monster that slaughtered the rest of the crew just to go get a cat. She seems a lot more practical than that. Still, that's it as far as flaws go. It's pretty much perfect otherwise.
As for the DVD, it looks amazing. About as good as any film you'll ever see from the 70's. Also, as you probably already know, the so called Director's Cut isn't really a director's cut. Studio just wanted a new version to release, and so the original is both more correct to Scott's vision, and just better. Still, it's worth watching once, just out of curiosity.
Yeah, a brilliant movie, all in all. Seen it probably 10-12 times over the years, and it still has a real effect. It's got a certain shock effect that carries it the first time or two, but repeated viewings allow the sheer craftsmanship of the whole endeavour to display itself fully. If you've ever enjoyed a horror movie, check out 'Alien'.
Grade: A
Movie Review: Alien Movie Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Dark, foreboding, macabre and intense, Ridley Scott's Alien is perhaps the finest example of horror and sci-fi fused into a sublime work of cinema. Often copied but never equaled, this tale of survival manages to be outlandish, creepy, deathly serious, scary and somehow within the boundaries of nightmarish believability.
In the cold depths of space, Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and a crew of six other members man the mining ship Nostromo, a horrifyingly beautiful spacecraft housing shadowy corridors and claustrophobic ingresses. When a distress signal is picked up from a nearby planet, the crew is awoken from hypersleep to investigate. A small search party examines the dilapidated remains of an alien vessel, resulting in Kane (John Hurt) being unwittingly attacked by a spider-like parasite that affixes itself to his face. He is returned to the ship for examination, resulting in one of the most memorable and gut-wrenching scenes ever filmed. As shocking as the shower scene in Psycho, an alien creature tears its way out of his rib cage, spewing blood and viscera across an appalled dinner table of crew members. Attempting to catch the tiny snakelike creature, the dwindling group is slowly picked off one by one as the alien grows rapidly in size and deadliness.
One of the most unique aspects of the film is the maturity of its characters. While slasher flicks make use of screaming teens that run frantically from a deranged killer, Alien instead features a crew of adults. Perhaps unintentionally, the older crew has a hardened, experienced feel about them, creating a more mature and realistic sense to the game of cat and mouse. Few films have been able to genuinely capture the immediacy and seriousness of fictional and outlandish alien situations. Director Ridley Scott miraculously managed to create two of the most important and influential science-fiction films of all time with Alien and later Blade Runner. The scares and terror that surmount are stunning in their simplicity and yet carefully executed with fascinatingly eerie sets, biomechanical alien designs and an overabundance of steam and slime.
H.R. Giger, a famous Swiss surrealist was assigned the daunting task of creating the ultimate alien life form. His design is flawless due to the ingenious reproductive cycle he envisioned, as well as the biomechanical design of the horrifying adults. James Cameron would later alter the cycle by creating the Alien Queen in the first of several sequels, but the main idea of an egg bearing a parasitic facehugger which lays another egg in the victim's chest, remained the same. After bursting out of the body, the worm-like chestburster would grow to a bipedal monstrosity complete with a banana-shaped head and a tongue lined with teeth. In the original blueprints, the alien drone would be capable of mutating human bodies into in an egg to start the process again.
Rivaled in suspense by its sequel Aliens, but not in sheer terror, Alien is perhaps the greatest science-fiction horror film ever made, and has certainly introduced us to one of the most terrifyingly formidable screen villains of all time.
- Mike Massie
Movie Review: It certainly is THE movie.. but is this THE disc?
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, if you liked Alien 3 enough to purchase it on DVD, there is no reason to buy this product instead of the magnificant ALIEN QUADRILIOGY, regardless of what you think of RESURRECTION (I didn't like it). The amount of stuff on that collection for the first three movies outweighs the fourth film.ALIEN already has had a single disc DVD release that kicks a lot of arse. But let's talk about the movie first.
You don't need to put the film in context of 1979 to understand its power. Ridley Scott's masterpiece of suspense slowly builds tension and horror. In this fashion, when we really do see the alien, we are much more horrified and engrossed than when we are allowed to see it all the time. In this respect, it is like JAWS in space.
This movie reminds us of how clever production design and a guy in the suit can be much more convincing and satisfying than a CG. Especially for fans of the genre, CG work is obvious and lacks presence. This film shows us why. The beautiful and repulsive design needs actual presence to show us every piece of slime dripping of its jaws. Beyond horror, Ridley Scott has a real fascination with the Alien. In his commentary, he describes how he wanted the actors to react as if the alien was a massive toy.
All of this is supported by a great cast that we fear for and enjoy. The alien is not the only star. This cast is fun to watch and works brillinatly as a unit.
. Jerry Goldsmith provides an avante garde score that is sometimes grating but somehow fascinating. Jerry himself wasn't too pleased overall with the score's presentation in the film, but for once I agree with the director in wanting a more wierd and creepy main title sequence rather than Jerry's original, which was majestic but out of place. The music in the shaft as it appears in the film is also more hard-edged and atmospheric than the original score.
Now for this product. More or less, this is the same product in terms of bonus features as the quadrilogy set. What this disc doesn't have is the REAL DIRECTORS CUT. There are 3 versions of the film.
1. 117 min theatrical release (ON the disc)
2. 115 min directors cut that trims the fat and adds important deleted scenes (NOT on the disc)
3. 137 min. extended cut, with all the fat and all the deleted stuff (ON the disc)
I would perfer a cut of the film that trims the fat WITHOUT the extra scenes, but thats just me. It simply works better, for instance, when Brett's solo scene ends with the close-up of the cat, NOT with Parker and Ripley running in.
I miss the music-only tracks that appeared on the original DVD release. I much perfer Ridley's solo commentary over the crowded actor/tech-crew one that appeared on the quadrilogy set and this one.
Still... its hard to nitpick when MOST people don't even watch the bonus features.. they just want the one with the shiniest cover. If you don't like ALIEN 3 or four, then this disc with ALIENS is the way to go.
And don't forget.... whatever it is... it's still ALIEN..... and thats what really, really rocks.