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Title:
Alien Vs. Predator
Region:
A
Media:
Blu-ray Disc
Genre:
Sci-Fi Action Thriller
Stars:
Sanaa Lathan, Lance Henriksen, Raul Bova, and Ewen Bremner
Writer:
Paul W.S. Anderson
Based
On A Story By: Paul W.S. Anderson, Dan O’Bannon, and Ronald Shusett
Based
On Characters Created By Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Jim Thomas and John
Thomas
Director:
Paul W.S. Anderson
Theatrical
Version Feature length: 101minutes
The
Unrated Extended Version: 108 minutes
Extras:
Extended Version Of Film Never Shown In Theaters, Optional Added Footage Marker,
Audio Commentary By Director Paul W.S. Anderson and Actors Lance Henriksen and
Sanaa Lathan, Audio Commentary With Visual Effects Supervisor John Bruno and
Creature Effects Designers/Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodrufff, Jr., Trivia
Track, Enhanced For D-Box Motion Control Systems, Trailers
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 HD Master Lossless Theatrical Surround Sound, and French
and Spanish Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and Closed Captions and
Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Elite Blue BD Case
Theatrical
Version Chapter Stops: 26
The
Unrated Extended Version: 32
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 HD Master Lossless Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2004/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2006
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Theatrical
Version MPAA Rating: PG-13
The
Unrated Extended Version MPAA Rating: Not Applicable
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
After
a satellite detects a strange heat signature at an abandoned whaling station in
Antarctica where no human life has even ventured to since 1904, Robotics
visionary Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) creates a team of the best
experts to explore a pyramid discovered 200 feet under the ice that has elements
indicative of three different ancient world cultures. What they fail to realize
until it is too late is that this is a trap so the Predators can perform a right
of passage by hunting the most dangerous creature in the galaxy, the Alien.
Alien
Vs. Predator is presented on Blu-ray
Disc in the original (2.35:1) widescreen aspect ratio that preserves the manner
in which the film was exhibited in theaters as close as possible for home video
users. The picture quality is up to six times sharper than the standard
definition DVD releases with a resolution of up to 1080p where available. Alien
Vs. Predator has many moments when the characters are trapped within the
pyramid, which is buried under 200 feet of ice so in some scenes there is still
a bit of visible grain that I think is indicative of the manner in which the
film was made and not at all a defect of the MPEG2 video process used for the
mastering of this disc. Like most of the Blu-ray Disc releases available from
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, the studio has included an English DTS
Digital 5.1 HD Master Lossless Theatrical Surround Soundtrack that is by far
when heard using uncompressed analogue 5.1 composite audio output to a
compatible receiver, the best home video audio version of Alien Vs. Predator
that I have ever heard. French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtracks and English Subtitles for the Deaf And Hearing Impaired as well as
Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the disc as options. The Blu-ray
Disc is enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Systems for an even more invigorating
interactive home theater experience. You can find out more about D-Box by
visiting www.d-box.com.
I do not own D-Box equipment to try this feature out so I cannot comment on it
other than to state that it is there for those who have the equipment to use it.
The soundtrack and subtitle options are applicable to both the theatrical
and unrated extended versions of the film too.
The
two feature length audio commentary tracks found on the original DVD release are
included on the Blu-ray Disc as well for the theatrical version only. The first
features Writer and Director Paul W.S. Anderson and Actors Lance Henriksen and
Sanaa Lathan while the second feature audio commentary track has Visual Effects
Supervisor John Bruno and Creature Effects Designers/Creators Alec Gillis and
Tom Woodrufff, Jr. Paul W.S. Anderson is a fan of the Alien and Predator series
and has established himself not only as a genre filmmaker, but perhaps the only
Director to ever produce feature films based on video game franchises that were
actually entertaining with the original Mortal Kombat and Resident
Evil movies to his credit and if anyone has any doubts, just rent a few DVD-Videos
based on games and then watch the above mentioned films Anderson directed and
even if you hate them all, I think it would be hard to argue that Anderson’s
adaptations are not the best of the bunch. I think he genuinely has an interest
in these projects and understands the differences between the medias whether it
is adapting a popular video game franchise or bringing two sci-fi icons together
in such a way that it truly tries to pay homage to both signature characters
while remaining true in some manner to the original comic book that first
brought them together too. Anderson frequently will point out exact references
in the film that are meant either to directly allude to something from the
respective Predator and Alien films even if it is a certain visual
composition or camera shot and he also points out exactly where elements from
the film were taken directly from the original Dark Horse Comics series. The fan
in me only wishes that Anderson had stuck with the interesting design of the
interior of the Predator ship as seen in Predator 2 because it looked
very extraterrestrial in some ways and clearly not like something we can imagine
humans building for space travel in contemporary times.The interior of the
Predator ship in this film looks more or less typical of the genre. The exterior
look of the Predator ships in Alien Vs. Predator is also different from
the ones seen in the first two films. There is no explanation for the change
given in either commentary track. Sanaa Lathan has a humorous comment regarding
the face huggers in Alien Vs. Predator where she described the interface
where the face hugger would connect to the host as looking like a “flying
vagina” and well… I think she’s right.
The
technical commentary track is very informative and also somewhat humorous and if
one does not walk away with anything from listening to the second commentary, I
would hope they at least would gain an appreciation for the seamless mix of
conventional and computer generated effects used in the film because I
personally believe very strongly that the work done by artists like John Bruno,
Alec Gillis, and Tom Woodrufff, Jr. as well as many others like Stan Winston Tom
Savini, Greg Nicotero as well as Howard Berger, the folks at WETA, and the great Ray Harryhausen are extremely important because
there is something about the human personality that goes into creating
characters and settings that I think enhances digital effects and I honestly
fear sometimes that these techniques will become lost unless they are passed
down to other aspiring artists with talent in a mentor to apprentice sort of
manner.
With
eight minutes of footage reedited into the film for the Unrated Extended
Version, fans may be a little disappointed that not much of the new
information really enhances the battle sequences between the two
extraterrestrial titans nor does it possibly add some sort of possible
definitive proof that somehow as a result of this encounter the Weyland-Yutani
Corporation from the Alien films would have enough information to
accurately determine the location of such a species as what the crew of the
ill-fated Nostromo will
discover 150 years after the events of Alien Vs. Predator. I think a
firmer connection could have been established that would have enhanced both
franchises while still leaving room for further possible Alien Vs. Predator
films in the future. There is an optional icon that will appear that enables the
viewer to know exactly what has been added, but there seems to be extended
dialogue in this new version that is not accounted for regardless. If you choose
to watch the extended version, the menus take on the biomechanical exoskeleton
motif for the seamless interactive choices that will not interrupt the film
while you watch it. The choices are highlighted in green while in the theatrical
version, we get another Predator influenced look at the choices with the
red targeting of the shoulder omni directional smart laser gun the Predators use
and highlighted choices appear red instead of green. Scenes from the film serve
as the background when accessing the main menu while not watching the film or
when disc first boots up in the drive. These animated opening menus are easy to
navigate. The six scenes added for the Unrated Extended Version can also be
viewed through a “Play All” feature (10:54) if one chooses to see the
Theatrical Version instead.
Exclusive
to the Blu-ray Disc release is a text commentary track, which is meant to be a
data transmission between scientists discussing the Aliens, which are referred
to as Xenomorphs and the Predators, which are called the Yautja. The
transmission is being shared on the Earth date June 11, 2359, which would place
the data exchange at approximately sometime during the 200 year break in time in
between Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Much of the information is
based on the Dark Horse Comics series and the text was indeed prepared for this
release by the folks at Dark Horse Comics. As a fan, I found the information
thoroughly fascinating and I feel it gives a greater understanding to the
unified franchise as a whole. This text commentary that I feel is labeled
incorrectly as a trivia track is available as an option for both versions of the
film. Trailers in high definition with 5.1 Surround Sound for Alien Vs.
Predator (2:17), Behind Enemy Lines (2:25), Phone Booth
(2:23), Planet Of The Apes (2001) (: 54), and The Transporter
(1:26) wrap up the extra features on this Blu-ray Disc release.
Alien
Vs. Predator will make it’s Blu-ray
Disc debut at retailers on and offline on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 courtesy of
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2007 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved
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