Best versions of all Alien movie's to watch?

thorbarry

Hi Guys,

I never seen any of the Alien movies before (I've no idea how i missed them). I've just bought Alien Anthology on blu-ray and see that they have the theatrical and directors cut of all 4 movies included. I'm wondering which versions I should watch first time to get the most out of them. I've heard that the directors cut of 3 is alot better than the theatrical cut but I would like your views (without spoilers)

Sad Professor

Watch the theatrical cut of Alien, which is the actual director's cut. The so-called "director's cut" is really just a slightly tighter version with one or two extra scenes that Scott did a few years ago under pressure from the studio. Unless you are a big fan of the film, there's not much difference. Some people prefer the director's cut, but watch the original version first.

Watch the Special Edition of Aliens. It's a longer and more complete version of the film.

There is no director's cut of Alien 3. Fincher never got to complete the film as he intended and was fired/quit before editing was completed. The theatrical cut was put together by a bunch of monkeys at Fox. The workprint cut on the Blu-ray is just a recreation of the last version of the film Fincher was involved in. It's a little rough, but gives you a better idea of what he was trying to achieve. Watch that first, I guess.

It doesn't really matter what version of Resurrection you watch.

hidinginthebush

I always preferred the theatrical cut of Aliens, that way

you don't get to see the aliens until well into the film, I feel it builds the suspense a good bit for the first hour, before all the madness kicks off, where in the director's cut, we see them early on, so we know pretty much what's gonna happen

TheIrishGrover

Sad Professor wrote: »

.......It doesn't really matter what version of Resurrection you watch.....

Ain't that the truth

Outkast_IRE

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Ain't that the truth

Im not going to sing its praises but is it wrong of me to say i went back and watched the directors cut of it last year and didnt think it was as bad as i initially remembered.

I will go as far as saying it would of been a solid addition if the final 1/3rd was stronger, also i would maybe of cut the hybrid alien crap out of it.

Notch000

I preferered 4 to 3,,,just oging ot put that out there !!

Is the blue ray set worth getting ???(HMv 15E)
I already have them on DVD (lent them out to sombody) but plan on watching again, how much enhanced is a 30yr old movie on blue ray ????

Sad Professor

Notch000 wrote: »

IIs the blue ray set worth getting ???(HMv 15E)
I already have them on DVD (lent them out to sombody) but plan on watching again, how much enhanced is a 30yr old movie on blue ray ????

Alien looks fantastic on Blu-ray. Visually the film has aged very well. Aliens not so much, but they did a big clean-up for the Blu-ray.

Galvasean

Notch000 wrote: »

, how much enhanced is a 30yr old movie on blue ray ????

As someone who had the DVD box set as well, I can assure you that the picture and audio quality on the BluRays are much much better.

Tayleur

The extended version of 3 is better than the original. It makes for a more rounded movie. Id argue that it was more like the film fincher wanted than the theatrical cut that was forced on him. For me its the one movie in all four that is improved greatly by the extended version.

WatchWolf

Alien - Theatrical

Aliens - Director's Cut

Alien 3 - Special Edition

Alien 4 - Doesn't matter. It's ****e either way.

jc84

Alien - theatrical

aliens - special edition

Alien 3 - assembly cut

Alien: resurrection - definitely theatrical, I thought the special edition was put together for the sake of having a second version for the box set, the effects are crappy on the added scenes and make a bad movie even worse

thorbarry

Thanks a lot guys, i have an idea now of what to do

krudler

Notch000 wrote: »

I preferered 4 to 3,,,just oging ot put that out there !!

Is the blue ray set worth getting ???(HMv 15E)
I already have them on DVD (lent them out to sombody) but plan on watching again, how much enhanced is a 30yr old movie on blue ray ????

it puts the majority of modern sci-fi movies to shame

FlashD

I always prefered the theatrical cut of Aliens. It is shorter and moves quicker maintaining a better sense of urgency.

In saying that, it dosen't really matter, either version is excellent.

The director's cut to Alien 3 has a better beginning, that's a fact.

krudler

FlashD wrote: »

I always prefered the theatrical cut of Aliens. It is shorter and moves quicker maintaining a better sense of urgency.

In saying that, it dosen't really matter, either version is excellent.

The director's cut to Alien 3 has a better beginning, that's a fact.

I like the sentry gun scene in the special edition of Aliens, not crazy about the scene showing Newts family finding the derelict ship though I prefered when you dont know how the aliens get into the colony.

Agricola

Finally opened the Bluray set I got at Xmas and watched Aliens again last night with the directors commentary. The special edition of that is much better imo. Theres alot more filler (the good story enhancing and tension racheting kind) It never ceases to amaze me how so many classic movies are made in the teeth of the money men. Cameron mentions many times that he was being constantly harrassed by execs that there were too many talky scenes before the shooting started! He hit the nail on the head when he said thats a major issue of modern sci-fi (and movies in general) All the eye candy is front and centre from almost the first minute, there is no real payoff when it comes, as in Aliens.

Thank God for DVD and now Bluray is all I can say.

al28283

Aliens special edition stinks!

krudler

Agricola wrote: »

Finally opened the Bluray set I got at Xmas and watched Aliens again last night with the directors commentary. The special edition of that is much better imo. Theres alot more filler (the good story enhancing and tension racheting kind) It never ceases to amaze me how so many classic movies are made in the teeth of the money men. Cameron mentions many times that he was being constantly harrassed by execs that there were too many talky scenes before the shooting started! He hit the nail on the head when he said thats a major issue of modern sci-fi (and movies in general) All the eye candy is front and centre from almost the first minute, there is no real payoff when it comes, as in Aliens.

Thank God for DVD and now Bluray is all I can say.

Aliens is paced brilliantly, it cranks the tension to the point where when the action does kick off it never stops. the entire third act is one long action scene, from when the aliens cut the power in the room to Ripley fighting the queen it rarely lets up aside from a few pauses.

crazygeryy

Anyone know why the blu ray anthology is 66 dollars on amazon.com and 18 sterling on amazon uk? Is there a difference in the two versions? The price difference is huge.

krudler

crazygeryy wrote: »

Anyone know why the blu ray anthology is 66 dollars on amazon.com and 18 sterling on amazon uk? Is there a difference in the two versions? The price difference is huge.

there is a vanilla one with just the movies and then theres the one with the extras and making of docs, get the one with the extras, its one of the best blu-ray releases ever. its 25 euro on zavvi: http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/alien-anthology-box-set/10227029.html?vtp=b

Mickeroo

I agree the extended version of ALiens is more complete, but I think it also kills the excellent pacing of the Theatrical cut. There's a few great scenes in the extended one that make it worth the watch though. Namely

the sentry gun sequence, I also liked the little bit where Hicks and Ripley tell eachother their first names before she heads off to kick some ass

krudler

Mickeroo wrote: »

I agree the extended version of ALiens is more complete, but I think it also kills the excellent pacing of the Theatrical cut. There's a few great scenes in the extended one that make it worth the watch though. Namely

the sentry gun sequence, I also liked the little bit where Hicks and Ripley tell eachother their first names before she heads off to kick some ass

Yeah some of the additions are good, the sentry and scene you mentioned, and when they talk about there being a queen alien, Ripley talking about her daughter adds to the whole Newt thing but its not a great scene overall.

PerrinV2

krudler wrote: »

Yeah some of the additions are good, the sentry and scene you mentioned, and when they talk about there being a queen alien, Ripley talking about her daughter adds to the whole Newt thing but its not a great scene overall.

Is this the extended version yer refering to?
If so they showed that version on film 4 last week

the_monkey

For me

Alien - Dir. Cut
Aliens - Special ed.
Alien3 - "Dir. cut" - I cannot stress this enough, it IS a different and far superior film ...

And for me thats the TRILOGY --- I SAY TRILOGY..... Like the Indiana Jones TRILOGY ...

:p:p:p

Technocentral

[IMG][/img]

Mickeroo

PerrinV2 wrote: »

Is this the extended version yer refering to?
If so they showed that version on film 4 last week

Yea, it was on Channel 4 last week too and they showed the extended one. Seems they always show that version.

humanji

Agricola wrote: »

Cameron mentions many times that he was being constantly harrassed by execs that there were too many talky scenes before the shooting started! He hit the nail on the head when he said thats a major issue of modern sci-fi (and movies in general) All the eye candy is front and centre from almost the first minute, there is no real payoff when it comes, as in Aliens.

And then he went on to make Avatar.

Miguel_Sanchez

krudler wrote: »

there is a vanilla one with just the movies and then theres the one with the extras and making of docs, get the one with the extras, its one of the best blu-ray releases ever. its 25 euro on zavvi: http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/alien-anthology-box-set/10227029.html?vtp=b

Got the one with all the extras for 10.49 from sendit.com a while back - it was on offer though, it's gone up in price again since then.

Technocentral

15.99 in HMV for blu ray boxset yesterday.

Galvasean

€15 for the 4 films on BluRay in Xtra Vision. Contains both versions of each film and (I'm fairly sure) all of the extras too, albeit not as nice packaging* as the one in the link above.


One caveat though, the nicer packaging is a bit taller than your average BluRay case so might not fit in a BluRay specific storage area.

thorbarry

OP here. I finally got around to watching all of these movies

Alien (Theatrical) - Great horror movie, still looks good to this day. Characters are great in it too. Really good tension, and suspense building.

Aliens (Special Edition) - Just great, simple as. I dont know why I never watched it before, great action movie, really good characters.

Alien 3 (Assembly Cut) - So, I found it a bit difficult to watch, it was a bit boring. I didnt care for the look of the film at all, it looked a bit "muddy" if that makes any sense. I didnt care for any of the characters apart from Ripley

Alien Resurrection - First off, I enjoyed this movie. I'm not saying it was a great/ good movie, but I enjoyed it. The mercenaries were good, some dodgy acting aside. I felt it flowed much better than Alien 3, like it knew where it was going. So I quite enjoyed it, even tho it was a bit of a cheese-fest.

Alien and Aliens are far superior films than the latter 2. We are actually lucky we got 2 good movies.