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| ALIEN:
The Directorıs Cut
review by Joseph B. Mauceri
In deep space, the crew of the starship Nostromo awakens from cryo-sleep halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. After landing on a barren planet, Warrant Officer Ripley (WEAVER) deciphers the transmission and discovers it is actually a warning. But it is too late to turn back as one of crew members, Kane (HURT), encounters a nest of ³eggs² inside the alien ship. An organism from inside an egg leaps out, attaches itself to his face, and he falls into a coma. The crew of the Nostromo is unable to remove the ³facehugger² without killing Kane due to its awesome defenses. To the crewıs surprise, the facehugger dies and Kane wakes up, feeling fine. He is brought out of isolation and the crew soon makes another horrifying discovery - the lifeform they've found breeds within a human host. Now they are forced to hunt for the creature and kill it, or flush it off their ship, before it kills them all. REVIEW:
The review is not meant for virgins. So if you havenıt seen the
film take my advice and go rent or buy the original cut before you
see the re-release, a.k.a. ³The Directorıs Cut.² I recently interviewed
Scott for ³Matchstick Men,² and we spoke about this new directorıs
cut of ALIEN. Of course they cleaned up the print, corrected the
color, and enhanced the sound. I canıt remember the film ever looking
or sounding this good, even watching the DVD on my home theater
system. The director also redesigned the opening title and credit
sequence. Itıs an esthetic issue, but I kind of like the original.
That was the easy part. Scott went on
to say that ³he took five minutes out and put five minutes in.²
The ³in² has to do with a few shots of the creature in the air ducts
before it kills Brett, when Ripley finds Dallas in the nest, and
a little tweaking here and there. Some of these shots were previously
feature in the extra DVD material, but this is the first time they
been put into the film. The additions are just okay, while the enhancements
done on the film are more impressive. Scottıs ³outs²
has to do with editorial changes in sequences, to give it more of
the ³MTV² feel. He said that, I kid you not! What sequences did
he touch? Most of the action and gore after the creature bursts
out of Kaneıs chest. Over the summer my wife had a hankering to
watch ALIEN. The suspense and tension in the sequence where Dallas
goes looking for the creature in the air ducts is fantastic, and
the final shot is a killer scare. The re-edited sequence just doesnıt
have impact. Itıs too quick. It never reaches those same levels
of tension and suspense. Scott also ³fixed² the sequence near the
end where Parker and Lambert encounter the creature. The special
effect stuff is edited down to very little blood and gore. My first
reaction was that I felt shortchanged. Scott also tinkered with
the scene where Ripley first spies the creature around a corner
as she is trying to reach the escape ship. This scene also lost
something in the re-edit. Further, the style of these new edits
doesnıt really work within the editorial context of the rest of
the film. OFFICIAL
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