Alien-Ate

though alien 3 wasn't perfect it was a fitting end to ripley, unfortunately a film studio can never leave a franchise be and so ripley is now back from the dead. with alien 4 were in friday the 13th territory the franchise doesn't offer us anything new, the aliens are less scary. you could call this alien 4: a new chapter luckily this is were the sequels ended but unfortunately for us the alien films would continue with the AVP films and would get even worse.

it's always interesting when a editor takes a film that most of the fans consider to be a poor entry in the franchise and look to improve the film. and on a whole this edit succeeds in doing so though i won't get carried away by saying the edit can now stand alongside parts 1 and 2.

as others as mentioned the cuts made are on the whole flaws i did feel they were one or two moments in which the cuts were obvious but nothing to spoil my enjoyment. this is the second time i've seen the edit and when i first saw it the new ending past me by. so seeing it again i knew what to except. it's really well done but i don't think it improves the film, but it's certainly a really good alternative whenever you wish to return to the film.

for me we the audience don't know which side ripley is on at the start. this is obviously a new ripley to what we've seen before but as the film progresses i felt ripley more human side was starting to take over. with this version she openly gives herself up (as with the original) to seemingly become a monster to which she seeks to kill the crew that she's been helping to stay alive. as i said i think this is nicely done but i'd prefer to watch the cuts made with the original ending

i also don't fully understand why the footage from AVP was used, couldn't ripley have gone into the womb of alien queen from part 4 then be reborn and kill the queen? again it's nicely executed but i come away thinking why was it played out in this way (note it has been a while since i saw alien 4) because it's now ripley killing the queen alien and as i mentioned she's now seeking to kill the remaining survivors i'm left feeling a little confused regarding the character of ripley

overall this is what i'd expect from a TBTM edit technically it's of a very high standard with an ending that you either love or hate. i think the cuts improve the film up until the ending, though nicely done i say i prefer how the original played out.

This review represents an evaluation of the edit only and as such is intended as constructive commentary only.

Alien 4 is my least favorite installment of the Alien franchise, but one which I *want* to like. So the question for me was, could The Man Behind the Mask rescue it?

Video Quality: As usual, great work. Video holds up wonderfully on a 52″ Plasma. Color work is also fantastic.

Audio Quality: Again, great work here. Levels are great, never had to touch the remote.

Editing Quality: As I have come to expect from The Man Behind the Mask, the editing here is flawless, and invisible. It has been years since I’ve watched the original version and I can safely say that none of his edits are visible. Audio is seamless. Of particular note are the added visual effects. Because it has been so long since I watched this movie, I couldn’t spot any of his changes on a conscious level. The only one I knew of for a fact was one which was discussed while this was In-The-Works. The rest of the visual changes I noticed on a hrmmm.. I didn’t notice that/recall that is how it went kind of way.. particularly during the climax. In a single word, the effects work is fantastic.

The question is, with all of his work, what has he created?

Story: The original Alien 4 is a failure in my opinion. It was a great opportunity which was miserably executed. Joss Whedon’s script, an obvious testing ground for the crew which would eventually populate Firefly, has many gems in it, but horribly missed opportunities. Every installment in the Alien franchise always boils down to the formula of good guys must race against time to kill/escape the Alien(s). With Alien 4 they attempted to throw a new twist by introducing the human-alien hybrid – yet this twist didn’t change the story, it was still good guys running against time from the bad guys, and even worse, the human-alien hybrid is absolutely horrid to look at, it’s just a pile of melting flesh and bone, and looks marginally better than the failed rock-monster-demons from Star Trek V.

TMBTM’s version is leaner, tighter and to the point. More impressive is that he created an entirely new twist to the ending. In all fairness, the formula remains the same; good guys run from the bad guys, but his solution to the human-hybrid mess actually makes a lot of sense given the set-up of the first half. But at the end of the day, did I care about these characters any more? Not really.

Now if I’m going to watch Alien 4 again, this is likely the version I would watch.. on the rare occasion that I would want to watch it.

Where I would give the original a 5.5 out of 10, I would say that TMBTM has improved it enough to give it a 7.5 out of 10, and when I consider the amazing editing work that went into this project it rounds up to an 8 for me.

The final product isn’t amazing in my book, but his work to get it there IS amazing and I think has made it as good as Alien 4 can get.

To start with a brief rundown of where I’m coming from with this edit, I started it with a little bit of trepidation. I think like a lot of people I was a fan of the Alien trilogy before this movie came out and while I had had my issues with Alien3 overall I enjoyed it and thought that it worked as an end to the series, but then this movie came out. It looked drastically different; a lot of it was very goofy, Ripley – though understandable to some extent as it wasn’t really the Ripley we knew – was very out of character, and just over all the film just felt like it didn’t quite fit the series. All of that was capped off by an ending that was just too strange, hokey, and utterly goofy. So to say that I was curious to see what TMBTM had done with this is very much an understatement.
Before I get into any of the actual content I just want to talk about the technical for a minute. The presentation here is excellent. Menus, bonus features, etc. all look great and feel like the kind of thing you would have gotten from an official studio released DVD from just a couple of years ago. The sound quality is excellent. As has come to be expected from TMBTM the edit work itself is masterfully done. Often I found the cutting to be completely invisible, and never once did I ever catch the editor at work with any hard cuts or choppy work of any kind. Beyond that the new F/X work is done brilliantly. One added bit towards the end with a newly created reveal (the footage taken from Alien VS Predator as mentioned in the cut list) works perfectly and feels as though it’s a part of the original film. Had I not known that it wasn’t I would not have questioned it. On the other hand, there is a moment with the Queen Alien, where we see it walking, that I do find looks a little bit wonky. However, I can’t determine if that’s because of the effect itself or just because I know so clearly that it’s not from the film.
Now, moving to the content. Unfortunately much of what I don’t like about the film is so ingrained into the film that a lot of my problems couldn’t be fixed by any edit. So while I truly appreciate the work done here, unfortunately I’ll never find the movie to be anything beyond average. That being said what I would have originally considered to be a 5 or 6 out of 10 is turned, here, into an easy 7 and turned into a much more enjoyable and entertaining experience. Bad or goofy dialogue is removed, which goes a long way towards helping the film, and the overall odd tone of the film is stripped away as much as possible, and a very subtle recoloring helps to get the picture more in line with Ridley Scott’s original film.
As for Ripley’s acting out of character a dramatic, bold, and inspired change to the ending actually manages to justify this far more than anything the original edit/narrative ever accomplished. If there is one thing about this version of the picture that absolutely makes it a watch it’s the ending. The editing, F/X work, and general concept and execution turns a silly, somewhat stupid and soulless climax into a controversial, fresh, and truly emotional cap to the series.
For me this, despite not being able to excise all of the things I have issue with, is a brilliant piece of work and I’m happy to give it an 8/10