I’m giving this a 2.5/5 not because Aliens is a bad movie, far from it, but that it’s a blatant cash grab by Fox. Now, one could argue this is for the casual movie watcher but for fans, all you’re getting is new packaging and “collectable art cards” and a booklet.
Aliens
— 30th Anniversary Edition —
(1986/1991)
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Horror, Action
Fox | R – 134 min. / 154 min. – $24.99 | September 13, 2016
Date Published: 09/13/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 4.5/5 |
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Quick Hit Review (copied from Anthology Review): While Ridley Scott brought us one of the best sci-fi/horror movies, it would seem that James Cameron, a decade before he became “King of the World”, perfected it with one of the few sequels that managed to actually surpass the original. Like Scott, Cameron took the concept of the horror on a spaceship and expanded it to not only a ship but onto a foreign planet and giving more aliens to scare the crap out of the characters and in turn, us the audience. Of course, Sigourney Weaver puts in a fantastic performance since at this point she is Ripley but it seems she encompasses the character and now she gets yet another amazing supporting cast headlined by Michael Biehn making a great action counterpart to Ripley while pre-“Mad About You” Paul Reiser fills in as the corporate hack quite well… |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
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This cash grab… err… release of the 30th anniversary has the single disc in a standard Blu-ray slim case which side slides into a sturdy cardboard box. Inside the box is a mini-booklet and concept artwork cards. Checking, this disc is exactly the same as the one included in the Anthology set and the features are the same. The only difference is the disc artwork. That’s it. Although inside is a Digital HD code. 1986 Theatrical Version (2:17:14) and 1991 Special Edition (2:34:26) with Introduction (0:34; SD) by James Cameron Audio Commentary – This one features Director James Cameron, Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Alien Effects Creator Stan Winston, Visual Effects Supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, Miniature Effects Supervisor Pat McClung and Actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn, and Christopher Henn. You have the option of listening to either Final Theatrical Isolated Score or Composer’s Original Isolated Score by James Horner. Deleted Scenes Index (19:57; HD) has the scenes included in the Special Edition version in case you prefer to watch the theatrical version. |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Aliens fares probably a little just as well as it also is well detailed throughout. I did notice some unevenness from scene to scene (one would be heavy with noise while the next not so much) but I feel that’s probably due to the shot rather than any flaw with the transfer. |
AUDIO – 5.0/5 |
| The disc comes with a slick DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. I knew I was in for a treat when the score is immersive before getting into the film where it continued to make full usage of every channel. The dialogue levels are also great and don’t have the flatness you often find with certain older films and the sound effects (such as the alien screams), which is probably the highlight on each movie, gives you the full home theater experience that I often miss out on even for recent releases. |
OVERALL – 2.5/5 |
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Overall, I’m giving this a 2.5/5 not because Aliens is a bad movie, far from it, but that it’s a blatant cash grab by Fox. Now, one could argue this is for the casual movie watcher but for fans, all you’re getting is new packaging and “collectable art cards” and a booklet. As it is, the video and audio transfers are nice and the bonus features are fine, though really wish the studio at least ported over the Aliens-related features included in the Anthology release. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.