Thursday, December 2, 2010

BD impressions: Alien: Resurrection

4:10 PM / BD Impressions / Comments11 Comments

BD Impressions
Blu-ray

Hold on a minute... THIS one is considered the red-headed stepchild of the ALIEN series? Granted, after the jumbled mess of ALIEN 3 it wouldn't take much to create a more coherent film, but I actually found myself enjoying ALIEN: RESURRECTION more than any instalment since the first ALIEN. Of course, RESURRECTION is very much in the shadow of Ridley Scott's masterpiece, and I can understood people being put off by the quasi tongue in cheek tone of the thing, but I really enjoyed it both as a stand-alone film and a more satisfying (not to mention uplifting) wrap-up to the Ripley saga than was offered by the previous film.

Yes, I liked it more than ALIENS. Sue me.

RESURRECTION is interesting, both as a prototype for writer Joss Whedon's criminally short-lived FIREFLY series (I found it interesting how much that series borrowed from this film not just in terms of the ragtag crew but also the visual style) and for its interesting take on identity with regard to clones and androids. It may not be the most original premise, but it's a good deal more fully-formed than the themes of ALIEN 3 (such as there were), and several steps more intelligent than anything in ALIENS. I've read plenty of reviews stating that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's style is completely unsuited to the ALIEN series, but I find that a little hard to swallow given that each of the previous three films has its own completely different style and tone. Nothing about Jeunet's treatment of the material strikes me as sacrilegious - at least no more so than Cameron and Fincher's approaches - and I was impressed that Whedon managed to make his supporting cast interesting enough that for the first time since ALIEN I didn't find myself thinking "Hurry up and get back to Ripley!" every time the narrative focused on them.

Of course, it's a long way from perfection. Winona Ryder is irritatingly shrill, the revelation that one character is an android feels like a cheap twist, Jeunet's apparent inability to cut away from the monster effects ultimately destroys much of their credibility, and I'm still trying desperately to convince myself that Ripley's line about saving the earth was deliberately hokey. Still, for me it delivered the thrill ride I was promised with ALIENS but ultimately didn't get. I'm giving them both the same rating of 7/10, but one is a much higher 7 than the other. All in all it's very much a B-movie, but a thoroughly entertaining one nonetheless.

So, for those keeping track, my decidedly atypical order of preference looks like this:

  1. ALIEN - 10/10
  2. ALIEN: RESURRECTION - 7/10
  3. ALIENS - 7/10
  4. ALIEN 3 - 6/10

Image quality: Another cheapo job à la ALIEN 3, I'm trying to decide whether this one looks better or worse than its predecessor. Probably very slightly better overall, though that has a lot to do with its more consistent appearance, less invasive grain reduction and the fact that the higher contrast gives the perception of better detail. It's still fairly soft, but it looks like film throughout, which is preferable to what it would probably have looked like if Jeunet had been granted his wish to degrain the whole thing (see here). 6/10

Alien: Resurrection
studio: 20th Century Fox; country: UK; region code: ABC; codec: AVC;
file size: 30.6 GB (theatrical cut), 32.55 GB (special edition);
average bit rate (including audio): 40.27 Mbit/sec (theatrical cut), 40.12 Mbit/sec (special edition)

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11 Comments

1. Kentai said:

I actually saw Resurrection when it was released in theaters. I try not to show my age if I can help it, but I'll say that it was my first "R" rated film I saw in a theater and leave it at that.

I don't dislike the film, not by a long shot. I'm mostly just disappointed in the direction that it chose, literally reviving the heroine who (at least per previous films) would have no justifiable reason to come back, and setting the whole thing on a location that wasn't the only place for the franchise left to go: Earth itself.

The concept of Giger's Alien is malleable that I think it (almost) works in Jean-Pierre Jenuet's unique visual style, but as you said, he doesn't ever leave well enough alone. I can understand wanting to give the nightmarish design some room to breathe on the screen - it's an iconic and truly impressive beast - but stare at a monster for too long and you've removed much of its' power. The Aliens in this film are another part of the scenery, just a race of wild animals that pose a threat rather than a force of terrifying omnipresent malevolence. For that reason alone, Aliens is much more successful in my eyes... but I'm hard pressed to argue with much else.

Resurrection is neither an action feature nor a horror film, just a slick looking Sci-Fi adventure. That isn't a flaw as much as it was a director choice, but it just isn't one that I felt was totally beneficial to the concept.

Michael, have you seen any of Fox's companion films in the Predator vein?

(Posted on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 5:41 PM)

2. Author Profile Page Michael said:

I haven't seen any of the PREDATOR films, no. Which reminds me, I really should pick up Fox's original, non-degrained PREDATOR BD before it's impossible to get hold of.

As for RESURRECTION, a slight correction: none of the action takes place on earth. I believe that in the original script the final act was supposed to take place there, but for whatever reason that was nixed.

(Posted on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 6:02 PM)

3. Kentai said:

Let me try that again. Re-reading what I posted above, I didn't make as much sense as I'd hoped:

I was disappointed that Resurrection wasn't set on Earth. After Aliens introduced the "unstoppable horde" scenario in an enclosed colony (that may as well have been another spaceship), I've felt that the only way to ramp up the stakes to the point where revisiting the idea was worthwhile in a film was to bring the monsters crashing down in the audience's backyard. Of course, the eye-rolling setting of the finale for the second "VS" film proves that I should always be careful what I wish for...

I picked up the initial BD release of PREDATOR in a discount two-pack with Terminator. Amazon US still has it for $12.99 plus postage, which is only $3 more (per film) than I would have paid a year ago. The unfortunate combination of a BD25/MPEG-2/Uncompressed PCM/Delicious Grain means the compression is pretty bad, but at least the master they sourced it from was in decent shape. Looks similar to the 2-disc DVD with less in the way of film damage, which is fine by me. It's certainly no reference transfer, but it's clear that the film is never going to look any better, so I'm keeping it and largely satisfied.

(Terminator, however, might be the single worst BD I own...)

(Posted on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 8:46 PM)

4. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Aaaah, OK, I get you now.

On the "reactions" section of the making-of documentary on disc 5 of the set, at least one crew member remarks that there really needs to be a fifth and final instalment set on earth.

(Posted on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 12:00 AM)

5. David S.H. said:

"Obviously, Americans have never heard of dégrainage."

Wow.
Not perfect, but at least Resurrection dodged that bullet.

(Posted on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 2:06 AM)

6. Daniel Sardella said:

I like this entry more than most.
I like it better than 3, but not as much as the 2nd film.

(Posted on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 4:27 AM)

7. bosque said:

There's not much to say about the execrable Alien Resurrection although I wouldn't say - as many have - that I would never watch it again. Mind you, when I do re-watch it I'm always reminded why they said that. And the early cull of the always watchable Michael Wincott seemd a pity.

But this movie should look a lot better on Blu-Ray than it does. DoP Darius Khondji's use of the bleach bypass process at least made it look good in cinemas but that look has never come across sucessfully in the various home-video formats (VHS, DVD and now HD). As bad as the movie is, it could look as good as Se&en now does.

(Posted on Saturday, December 4, 2010 at 4:16 PM)

8. Neil said:

Fun comic booky Alien film, shame that the hybrid creation definitely lets it down. Better than Alien 3 - terrible film, no matter which version you watch, and how hard you may personally attempt to convince yourself otherwise. Order of worth: Alien, Aliens, Alien Resurrection - then Alien 3, and quite frankly, both AVP films are on the same level...albeit with less English actors shouting 'Wanker' in their best Mockney accent, and superimposed Alien rod puppet effects. Most depressing thing in world - internet people who actually argue that Alien 3 was the best film of the series. WTF.

(Posted on Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 1:53 AM)

9. Steini said:

"I'm giving them both the same rating of 7/10, but one is a much higher 7 than the other"

How can 7 be higher than 7? It's the same friggin' number! :p

(Posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 10:50 AM)

10. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Steini:

So you're saying you don't think there can be different gradations within each score? My marks out of ten are a blunt instrument, not a precise measurement.

(Posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 11:06 AM)

11. Anonymous said:

No, not at all. Just thought it was slightly humourous that you basically said 7 > 7

(Posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 3:39 PM)

 
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