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Dom Robinson reviews

Aliens: Special Edition

Distributed by
Encore Entertainment

Cat.no : EE 1089
Cert : 18
Running time : 148 mins plus trailers
Sides 3 (CLV)
Year : 1986
Pressing : UK, 1996
Chapters : 51 (17/19/12+3)
Sound : Dolby Surround
Widescreen : 1.85:1
Price : £42.99
Extras : Trailers for all 3 films

Director:

James Cameron

True Lies, Terminator 1 and 2, The Abyss, Titanic

Producer:

Gale Anne Hurd

Screenplay:

James Cameron

Music:

James Horner

Cast:

Ripley : Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters, Gorillas in the Mist)
Newt : Carrie Henn
Burke : Paul Reiser (Bye Bye Love, Too Hot To Handle)
Hicks : Michael Biehn (The Terminator, The Abyss)
Hudson : Bill Paxton (True Lies, Trespass)
Bishop : Lance Henriksen (Hard Target, No Escape)
Gorman : William Hope
Vasquez : Jenette Goldstein

Aliens: Special Edition: Ward Officer Ellen Ripley, NOC14472, is back in this sequel to the original film, "Alien" for 148 minutes of sci-fi action and fantasy, which is the extended director's cut of James Cameron's classic film.

Upon learning that she has spent 57 years in hypersleep, Ellen Ripley enquires about her daughter who was due to reach her eleventh birthday by the time she returned, but learns the sad truth that she died two years ago at the age of 66.

At a court hearing to determine exactly what happened, none of the executives understand, the judge decides that Ripley "acted with questionable judgement" when blowing the Nostromo apart at the end of the first film, and rules that she should be suspended from all duties indefinitely.

After all, none of the analysis team who looked over her lifeboat found any trace of the creature... but the audience knows that these bureaucrats are wrong, and the trouble is due to start again, when Burke tells Ripley that the Company has lost contact with the people on Colony LV426, and they want her to investigate along with a group of Colonial Marines.

Should she stick with her new job as a cargo loader, or accept and on return be reinstated as a Flight Officer...?

This Special Edition contains an extra 17 minutes cut from the theatrical release which fills in some of the gaps in the plot left out of the original version, and further establishes Ripley's relationship with the young girl, Newt.

For a lot of the film, action replaces the suspense that the first film had, although it still has its share, and great comic relief is provided by Bill Paxton.

The picture quality is not as good as the other two films for some of the time, but the surround sound kicks major ass as the alien creatures are blasted into next week with hundreds of rounds of firepower. Their screams, as they die, echo out of the speakers, and after one of them is pulled away from Ripley's neck, its tail flicks around the front two speakers with ease.

The film comes as two discs in a beautiful gatefold sleeve with information regarding various aspects of the film from scripting to shooting.

It would have been nice if one side had been in CAV, but the two side-breaks are the best they could have been. Side 2 ends at around 50 minutes into the disc, but upon playing side 3, if that side had begun a further ten minutes in, the action would have been interrupted.

This was James Cameron's last film to be shot at hard-matte 1.85:1. All of his films made since then have been shot in Super-35 where non-SFX scenes are filmed at around 1.60:1 and then matted for cinematic release, and all SFX scenes are shot at a 2.35:1 widescreen ratio.

Hence, for a fullscreen version of such films, non-SFX scenes can have the matte opened up, so more can be seen top and bottom, but SFX scenes are pan and scanned.

Fans of the Bruce Willis film "Die Hard" may be interested to know that music playing at the end of the film as Sgt. Al Powell offs the final terrorist was actually written for "Aliens", but never used, and held over for "Die Hard".

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1996.

The following is a list of all the Alien films reviewed online to date :

2005	DVDfever Dom: Alien Vs Predator Special Edition (DVD)
2001	Adam Duncan: Alien (DVD)
2001	Adam Duncan: Aliens: Special Edition (DVD)
2001	Adam Duncan: Alien 3 (DVD)
1996	DVDfever Dom: Alien (PAL Laserdisc)
1996	DVDfever Dom: Aliens: Special Edition (PAL Laserdisc)
1996	DVDfever Dom: Alien 3 (PAL Laserdisc)

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