 Get ready for a whole new breed of Blu-ray with the Alien Anthology. Four powerful films....eight thrilling versions....together at last in dazzling, terrifying, high-def clarity and with the purest digital sound on the planet. Over 60 hours of special features and two bonus discs, including never-fore-seen content and the totally immersive MU-TH-UR mode Blu-ray interactive experience, make this the ultimate Alien movie collection your Blu-ray player has been begging for. The Alien Anthology includes: Aliens Alien3 Alien Resurrection Plus all the EXTRAS listed here. (on Disc 5 and Disc 6) Alien Resurrection has its share of detractors as well, but on the whole, I think it's a satisfying—if slightly goofy—end to the series, and while it never rises to the terrifying highs of the first two films, it's at least more focused than its predecessor. Written by Joss Whedon and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet—whose darkly brilliant City of Lost Children proved he had the visual chops to take on an Alien film— Resurrection is exactly that, a story of re-birth. Some 200 years after Alien 3, Ripley is cloned from a drop of blood by the United Systems Military, who want to extract that promising alien queen embryo that once dwelled in our hero's chest cavity. These people never learn. Thanks to some black-market medical test subjects delivered by a group of space pirates—including Ron Perlman, Michael Wincott, Dominique Pinon, and Winona Ryder—the USM's lead researcher, Dr. Gediman (the always wacky Brad Dourif), is able to "harvest" his own chestbursting aliens, who quickly escape and, well, you know, kill everyone. There's some crazy stuff here, with Ripley enjoying newfound alien powers and the alien queen birthing a human/alien hybrid that adopts Ripley as its mommy. Cast Notes: Sigourney Weaver (Lieutenant Ellen L. Ripley Clone #8/#7), Winona Ryder (Betty Mechanic Annalee Call), Dominique Pinon (Betty Chief Mechanic Vriess), Ron Perlman (Betty Crewman Johner), Gary Dourdan (Betty Crewman Christian), Michael Wincott (Betty Captain Elgyn), Kim Flowers (Betty Pilot Hillard), Dan Hedaya (USM Auriga Head of Military Operations General Perez), J.E. Freeman (USM Auriga Director of Research Dr. Wren), Brad Dourif (USM Auriga Scientist Dr. Gediman), Raymond Cruz (Distephano), Leland Orser (Purvis), Carolyn Campbell (Anesthesiologist), Marlene Bush (Scientist), David St. James (Surgeon). User Comment: LordB13 from United States, 9 February 2006 • With Alien 3 closing the story arc of the Alien trilogy, this film begins with a fresh slate. The Alien films have always been a director's series but in this film it was the writing that ultimately killed it. Resurrection tries to be too many things at once. It has a very artistic and dynamic visual style, but cardboard characters. It has a very overt sense of humor, but it is all done in a very juvenile manner. Much of the maturity and restraint of the previous three films is thrown out in favor of a more comic book style. The cinematography and set design is gorgeous to the point of decadence. Sigourney Weaver has been given an interesting character to play and does it with a strange sense of detachment that lends more depth to the proceedings than the script ever could. Thinking back, the first three films all had very solid overall stories and well developed characters while Resurrection has a very solid concept but can't seem to build a coherent movie around it. If you follow the overall themes of the series with the first, second and third being birth, life, and death respectively that leaves Resurrection on shaky thematic ground. Since this is Alien: RESURRECTION obviously the filmmakers wished for rebirth to be the theme, but somehow it never quite works. The characters are basically action movie clichés, and the action sequences of the movie are hopelessly contrived. Why does the Alien always stop to snarl before it attacks giving people just enough time to shoot it? Alien 3 did not have this problem and it reinforced how dangerous the creature really was. Resurrection turns the Aliens into monsters from a B-movie. Very few scenes in the film are particularly memorable. Sure, the underwater chase is a nice bit of action derring-do, but there's no real sense of danger...except for the supporting characters you barely know who get killed in the reverse order they appear in the credits. Two fantastic scenes that I wish there were more of in the film are the doctor's examination of the Aliens where he "plays" with them. Now that was a scene of inspired genius. The other scene was when Ripley wakes up in her circular chamber. It is interesting to note that neither of these scenes have any dialogue, because the dialogue is pretty atrocious. Ron Pearlman is always fun to watch and makes a good comic duo with Dominique Pinon, but Winona Ryder absolutely kills this movie with her nonperformance. The effects look less realistic this time out and the score at times seems to try too hard to emulate the second and third films with Goldsmith's original Alien theme being used on several occasions. The film is a brilliant exercise in dynamic visuals but the story really does not go anywhere. Unlike the first three films this one does not take itself seriously at all so the danger level becomes nonexistent. I believe Jean-Pierre Jeunet was an excellent choice for a director but the script served him very badly. This is an interesting film to watch for an interesting scene here and there but not in the same league as the previous films. Summary: The Fatal Mistake. User Comment: Pluto-3 from Quebec, Canada, 14 August 1998 • Although it's got major flaws and some plot holes, I find myself liking Alien Resurrection a lot. First of all, I'm a sucker for horror and sci-fi movies. Second, I LOVE the Alien series, although Alien³ was a bit offbeat in the action department. Third, Sigourney Weaver is incredibly menacing as a cloned Ripley. She's always great to see on screen but this was truly something to behold. and last but not least, I loved the storyline, how they brought the genetic aspect so cleverly. It was truly a new twist on the series, although I wouldn't qualify A:R as a REAL episode in the Alien series but rather a new begining. Jean-Pierre Jeunet did a great job in bringing his fantastic style to Hollywood. The creatures were cool and scary although I wish we had seen more of the Queen; we still had the horrific Newborn which was truly demonic. Anyway, despite it's flaws, it's still a great film, although it will never be a classic like Alien and Aliens are. Now if only there could be a fifth one with a better script, more character development and more firepower. Summary: Alien=suspense, Aliens=action, Alien³=tragedy, Alien Resurrection=gore. IMDb Rating (11/05/10): 6.2/10 from 66,937 users
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