Review of Alien Resurrection

Introduction

The fourth and final movie in the Alien series. Sigourney is joined by Winona Rider for this outing, and again we have lots a Aliens, lots of special effects and lots of dark sets and lots of slimy teeth.

This film is regarded as one of the better ones, and found more fans than the previous movie, Alien 3. Sigourney Weaver (`Ripley`) died at the end of Alien 3, and so when a further sequel was decided, the main character had to be brought back! How? Well why not try using a clone? It serves the purpose and can be (almost) justified.

As you would expect being the most recent Alien jaunt, the special effects are effective, with major use of CGI. Gone are the days of H. R. Giger`s original Alien design used for the first movie in the late 70s, that seemed to be a bloke in a costume at the end! However this proved amazingly effective in creating the memorable suspense of the original.

Video

Alien Resurrection is presented in a widescreen 2.35:1 ratio with an anamorphic transfer. It is the final chapter in the Alien series, and is available as part of the Alien Legacy 4 DVD box set. All four films have been THX mastered for this DVD presentation.

A superb image quality thus results and is the best visuals of all four Alien DVD movies, this film being made recently in 1997. Colours are bright and vivid and contrast is high. The film is split over 27 chapters.

Audio

Again for a recent movie with a THX soundtrack the 5.1 surround is superb. The scurrying around from the rear channels as the creatures are loose is very eerie, and the loud scenes in the film come across as powerful and haunting yet very detailed.

Features

As with the other discs in the Alien Legacy, you get all four trailers on this DVD. A featurette is also available but is only 4 minutes long, and is therefore not as informative as the similar featurette on the Alien3 disc. This should have been a little longer, and would have completed a very well presented box set of films.

The animated menus are good, but none of the sequel Alien movies can compare to the menus presented on the original Alien movie DVD, which set a standard.

Conclusion

This film reminded me a little of `The Fly` at the end when the alien/human hybrid monster makes an appearance, crying out for Ripley`s affections. The CGI special effects are fun and have come a long way from H. R. Giger`s original `man in a suit` alien design of the original movie.

This DVD completes a classic box set in the DVD world, and has set many standards along the way as to what can be achieved if film companies are prepared to spend some time and money. The end result is excellent and is a `must have` for any DVD collection. The first, second and this film are the ones to have, but get Alien 3 also just so you don`t break up a set.

As the DVD inlay proudly states: `Resurrection Rocks!`