economy has gone to hell, but you can still afford to splurge on the
latest in High Definition treats. The CHUD Home Entertainment Team has
taken upon themselves to draft the Top 25 Blu-Rays released in Region A
thus far. From the 1st of December until Christmas, we’ll count down to
the greatest Blu-Ray release of all-time. Join us and marvel at the
treasures of the 1080p set.
THE FILM THAT EVERYONE SUPPOSEDLY OUTGREW
Aliens is one of the R-rated flicks that the younger generation uses to cut its mature teeth. Out of all four Alien films, it’s the one that’s the easiest to digest. Space Marines seem to have this ability to implant themselves into the global subconscious in a way that few archetypes can replicate. Why people give a shit about a bunch of dumb grunts traveling the universe and shooting aliens is beyond me. It’s almost like a passive aggressive fantasy perpetrated by an English speaking people against an unknown entity that seems to attacking for undefined reasons. I’ll leave it to the Liberal Guilt crew to work out any extra meanings.
Out of the four films in this release, this is the feature that benefitted the most. Cameron’s flat shoot seemed like an angry response to Scott’s scope in the last picture. Yet, Cameron went out of his way to load more action into the frame. This is something that you don’t notice when you’re younger, but as technology catches up to theatrical exhibition, it catches the eye. One has to wonder if economic use of the screen is related to Cameron’s early days at New World. I chalk it up to an FX technician graduating to the director’s seat before he had learned proper film grammar.
That’s not to say that I’m calling James Cameron an inferior director. There’s an army of others to make that claim. What I’m stating is that revisiting the film in a cleaned-up format has helped me to see a lot of the shortcomings. Both cuts of the film show that most of the film was a studio shoot where sets were being constantly reconfigured and demolished to make way for the next set-up. The puppetry of the Queen and latex bodies of the Alien warrior drones pop in a way that seems cheap to the first film’s artistry.
Yet, it doesn’t matter. Unless you have a copy of the film print or this pristine HD release, you’re not going to notice the warts on the frog. That’s where Cameron has built his career and garnered several Awards. Spectacle is often mistaken for talented camerawork, but Cameron does something here that falls in and out of that realm. One has to wonder if he wasn’t playing to expectations, as this was a film series born by a greenlight from Moebius storyboards.
The
film’s arrival on Blu-Ray offers up a new look for Cameron’s ode to Reagan era aggression in deep space. As previously stated, this flick lives and dies by its visual pieces. From the discovery of Ripley in deep space to the failed attempt to save LV-429 to the final battle with the Queen, the 1080p transfer marks the definitive visuals for the Blu-Ray generation. There’s an amazing Home Theater experience and then there’s rebirthing a film for the masses. Hell, I haven’t begun to describe the DTS-HD master audio track that will rattle your seat with the spray of Pulse Rifle fire.
If you’re new to Blu-Ray and you want a chance to really show off all that scratch you spent, I’d recommend bringing up Apone’s squad switching to live ammo upon their arrival at the infection site. Hearing the various guns, ricochets and ambient noise mixing together with James Horner’s score produces this wall of sound that will either make you go deaf or give your neighbors a reason to move. There are other key moments to show off the power of your subwoofer. Scenes such as the facehugger attack on Newt and Ripley, Bishop getting torn in half and the Power Loader fighter with the Queen will test your setup and make you smile with glee. What’s even better is that the release doesn’t come in that Eco-friendly hippie bullshit packaging that Avatar: Collector’s Edition received.
Aliens
is a film that carries a ton of baggage, but it deserves your attention on Blu-Ray. It’s very rare to have a film restored so gracefully and I would like to take a moment to applaud the work of Charles de Lauzirika and his team. Your work here will be remembered for some time and one can only hope that it inspires other teams to bring their A-game to the next major releases to drop in 2011 and beyond. Ladies and gentlemen, you can retire your DVD copy of the Alien Quadrilogy. 20th Century Fox has topped themselves again.
SCREENSHOTS
So, I’m supposed to leave with you. The lady who couldn’t work an automated suspended animation chamber. The woman who overshot a simple trip home by nearly 60 years. Yeah, ummm…I’m going to take my chances with the facehuggers.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell anyone if you fucked Vasquez.
The end result of a Bill Brasky threesome.
