Alien Gift Set

Anyway, personally, I bought this because - well duh - its the Alien series. The pros are that I have my prized DVD collection in a nice little box. The cons are that it came packaged with a lump of [poo] called Alien: Resurrection. Personally, I've always looked down on people for their dim view on Alien 3. It made a perfect circle, I thought, to the series. Everything was fairly nicely wrapped up in an intriguing and fittingly depressing conclusion. The fourth film, however, was such a pathetic attempt I wish it hadn't been made. The impressive cast aside (although it certainly wasn't Ron Perlman's pinnacle as an actor. "So, like, what'd you do?") there were very few saving graces, and Buffy's Joss Whedon needs to check his head if he even thinks for a second that he's ever going to be Aliens material. He needs to stick where he belongs: television.

Anyway, given that this is only the price of 3 DVDs, you're basically getting the fourth one for free, so I strongly suggest it, just as I strongly suggest burning the fourth installment and sending it to Joss Whedon with a picture of his dog being sodomized by a kimodo dragon.

The sequel, Aliens, directed by James Cameron (Terminator I & II, Titanic) continued the saga of Lt. Ripley and the "Alien" in fine style. It is my favorite of the four and has an excellent supporting cast. I'm not going to tell you about it; Just watch it!

So, I've had nothing but good things to say about the first two movies. Why only four stars? Because the third movie really went down compared with the first two. I dont think it's because it was really bad, but more because the first two were sooo good, and my expectations for the third episode were high. It turned out to be slow and a little boring. The first two movies were 5-star material; this one only gets 2.5 stars from me.

Unfortunately, the final movie, Alien Resurrection, fails to improve much on the previous movie. Yes, there's definately more action, but Ripley's clone comes infected with the Butch/Slut gene, and makes her character less likable. The script takes much of the blame here. I dont think she was as comfortable in this role. Winona Ryder should have stayed away from this one. Her character softens the plot and generally weakens the whole movie. I struggle to give it 3 stars.

For my money, I would buy Alien and Aliens, instead of the entire legacy. They are two of the best Sci-Fi movies EVER! The last two, I'm sorry to say, are not worth the extra money.