Aliens (Special Edition)

What can I say? It’s aliens. One of the best if not the best action movie of all time. It’s just an awesome movie. It’s aWhat can I say? It’s aliens. One of the best if not the best action movie of all time. It’s just a awesome movie. It’s a fantastic creature feature. It’s an awesome military drama. It’s a fun horror movie.

Okay, this GenXer fully admits, I’d never seen any of the Alien franchise before about 2 weeks ago. My wife has been trying (for years), but frankly, I’m not into SciFi all that much. I do the Star Wars franchise (the ones I acknowledge as actual films), but beyond that, I just can’t get into it. But Amazon had Alien on Prime recently, so I told my wife I’d watch with her, and it turned out... it was actually pretty darn good. Then Amazon had a really good deal on Aliens - the sequel if you didn’t know - and we grabbed it. (We have also agreed to get Alien when it has a good deal) and, I liked it as well. it’s a pretty good movie. I was impressed. Never realized the first two were James Cameron films, but watching, I’m not surprised. I’d never paid attention, but then I could see his voice all over it. Alien and Aliens are smart films. Not just your run of the mill, giant dangerous monsters take over and kill people. In fact, I know there was stress and anxiety and action and heightened, growing tension as the Alien/aliens have to be hunted and destroyed, before they get closer to civilization. But I don’t remember blood and gore (for the sake of it or not). The great films don’t need to put it in your face, or at least do it in a way that you aren’t overwhelmed. All of that is expertly built into the action of the film. But the other thing about great action and thriller movies, they are about someone - there is a way for the audience to come in, be engaged, and want their hero to win. Aliens, like its predecessor, has that kind of heart. Without it, a person may still like movie, but there is always “something missing,” they often just can’t tell you what... so yes, Aliens has that heart... found in both our hero, Ripley, and her new charge, the little girl, Newt. Cameron has done a great job of picking up where the first one let off, then grab us and brings us into Aliens quickly and easily, then builds a story with both the action and growing energy most want, but the heart that your viewer’s heart knows it needs. There are the standout performances of Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn (Newt), Lance Henriksen, and Michael Biehn. In this turn, Paul Reiser does very well as the villain. But I think my biggest surprise was found in Private Vasquez, played by Jenette Goldstein. If you want to know why, watch Aliens. If you want to know even more... she’s the Irish mom in Titanic, the James Cameron masterpiece. And a few other parts - she’s an unknown/little know chameleon actor with such a talent, when I found out all she’s been in, I was blown away - she’s excellent. The story picks up where Alien left off, taking Ripley back to the planet of her greatest challenge and threat of death from... the alien now aliens. She and the others sent to find out (many years later) what has happened to an ill advised colony there. As things play out she and the others, a top military team, are hunted by even more aliens. They also find a young Newt, in need of their help - well, as far as a kid who’s survived on their own for so long needs help that is (think Jurassic Park 3). In the end, will anyone get off the planet... I can honestly say, I think you’ll have fun finding out. I will add, I have now watched the next in the franchise and did not like it at all. Why? Because it is completely missing what Cameron did - the heart as the hero of a SciFi film. Every movie needs heart and this SciFi has it.

It is rare to find the directors cut, with a few added scenes. I was very happy to see this one goes much further! There's a good 30 minutes of scenes I'd never seen, and I've been watching this movie in every version since I saw it in the theater when it was new. I realize they had to cut scenes to make it a reasonable length, but this 2½ hour movie held my attention from start to finish. It didn't just include extended scenes, or a few quick additions like the extended version. This had entirely new and extensive scenes that were excellent. I highly recommend this movie if you are an Aliens fan, or have never seen good SciFi.

So you may or may not have seen videos on Youtube calling the 4k transfer of Aliens an abomination. People showing frames where the AI has gone haywire, melting actor's faces in the background or just making things look glossy and artificial and fake. I was about to swear off buying this disc until I started seeing more and more reviews where people completely disagreed, saying that the transfer looked great and they didn't notice any of these weird aberrations. I'm here to say that I completely agree with the latter camp - I personally think Aliens 4k looks INCREDIBLE - it's a huge step up from the Blu Ray version, and I literally spent most of the movie just marveling at how crisp and clear everything looked. This is a movie I've seen dozens of times, on VHS, DVD, and Blu Ray, and I can say with confidence it's never looked better. (I was watching via a Panasonic UB820 4k Player and an LG B4 OLED TV, if that matters to anyone). There is only ONE time where I noticed the AI remastering went haywire - and it's unfortunately in the climax where Ripley is fighting the Alien Queen. She totally has googly eyes like a cartoon, but it's literally a few seconds out of a 2 hour movie and my wife didn't even notice. Get this if you're an Aliens fan and I bet you won't be disappointed!

great movie

As a fan of James Cameron, I was excited to buy this THX certified DVD and pop it into my player as soon as it arrived. Upon opening this DVD package, I first noticed the rather lazy disc design and booklet. I think the booklet can use a facelift with much more behind-the-scenes info rather then a resume on all the actors. When I buy a "Special Edition", I expect more then that. Call me crazy, but I want every aspect of the package to be 'special' if you are going to label a DVD package as a "Special Edition". But maybe I'm being picky......maybe not. So anyway, I popped the disc into my player and enjoyed the menu graphics....simple, yet attractive with easy navigation. I started to play the movie and was instantly impressed by the sound quality. I knew I was in for a treat. The picture looked terrific, with rich blacks and saturated colors. Fine detail and a clean transfer made this film a pleasure to watch. I hope all films are transferred from High Definition masters in the future....it really is a noticeable difference. The sound quality throughout the film was explosive. The surround elements are wonderful and the stereo separation is quite pleasing and realistic. There are many scenes where the bass will test your system, so be prepared for your ears to bleed a little bit. Although the vocals on the actors sound just a tad dated (a little flat in some areas), overall, this DVD sounds quite impressive. Having THX certification is almost a sure guarantee that your audio experience will be the best it can be. The disc also includes the usual stuff.....trailers, scene selecion.....but the addition of 17 minutes of restored footage is the real reason I bought this disc. The scenes fit flawlessly into the original cut, and if you are like me, you'll appreciate trying to recognize the scenes and enjoying the restored footage. I can see why they were originally cut, not being THAT important or necessary to the flow of the film, but having them included did not ruin the experience for me....I found the scenes quite enjoyable. In conclusion, I recommend this DVD to anyone who is a fan of the Alien series (except for Alien 3) and/or a fan of James Cameron. The original was wonderful, but as usual, James Camerons need to thrill us all comes through loud and clear in this sequel. Although I do recommend a better job creating the booklet and the disc graphic in this "Special Edition", every other aspect of this DVD is wonderful. Enjoy!

A realistic, tense, sci-fi action movie from start to finish. The portrayal of the marines are both funny and inspiring by turns. Great special effects that stand the test of time well help move the story to a very dramatic climax. This is a classic action film that you will enjoy again, and again. Highly recommended.

Not sure why there has been so much controversy regarding this 4k release of Aliens. Ordered this after watching the original Blu Ray of ALIENS from recently... and Full Disclosure: I was in the audience when this "shoot em up with heart" came out back in the day. So it was with some trepidation this spun this 4k disc up, but I was pleasantly surprised. With this higher resolution version, the blacks are deeper with a greater range of colors in the palette and some more intensity to some of the contrasts. Lots of wonderful detail appropriate to the scenes. I was expecting things to look weird, different, or unnatural from the film I am familiar with, but there was nothing like that. This is definitely a BIG step up from the last blu ray release, although I'm not clear on exactly how they did this from a technical standpoint. The sound is also FLAWLESS. I highly recommend this.

100 % OK Goede verzending en besteld item beantwoorde volledig aan de beschrijving van de verkoper ( uiterst tevreden ) :-):-):-)

El bluray no cuenta no nada diferente a las diversas ediciones de esta película en el mismo formato o incluso en dvd (de dos discos), ya que vienen el corte teatral y el del director. Lo relevante es la presentación vistosa que tiene, la cual va desde una caja dura que resguarda la película, así como diversas postales con imágenes conceptuales del film, un booklet con arte de las criaturas (de hecho viene usado en el cómic "Aliens: Estadilldo", de Dark horse. Yo en lo personal compré esta edición porque "Aliens" es una de mis películas favoritas de todos los tiempos y debida a que con la adquisición de 20th Century Fox por parte de Disney, las películas que distribuía irán desapareciendo. Si eres un acérrimo fan de la saga "Alien", la compra vale la pena porque es un precio accesible (a mi me costó $320) y porque dentro de poco quedará descatalogada.

Chegou no prazo, a edição é linda,os cd também, contém extras muito divertidos, só é uma pena não ter em português, mas isso não me incomoda tanto. Extremamente satisfeito

Absolutely Awesome classic

Good movie