Rent Alien (1979)

Review of 4K Blu ray - Alien review by MM

I won't focus on the story of the film which I quite agree changed cinematic history. (I attended the preview of its first night. i will never forget it) I'll concentrate on the $k remastering

Content

The Blu ray 4K contains 2 versions of the film and two commentaries, both are worth listening to. There are also 2 film score tracks. the film made interesting watching listening only to the score which actually works well. There are also so brief deleted scenes , which honestly are so short they are not worth mentioning and were honestly disappointing.

4K Film quality

The film has been remastered 4K in HDR10. This means black is truly black! What this means is that there is a lot more visible in the film than before. Corridors stretch into far distance, giving a much greater impact to the interior visuals. there is more to see on each frame than previous versions which seemed largely black ! The remaster if from film and there is a lack of sharpness because of it so I'd probably say the sharpness is not greater than non 4K.

Sound

The sound is Dolby digital 5.1 remember that the original film was only Dolby surround so what we have is largly a remix to 5.1 which does the job.

Conclusion

This groundbreaking film has been lovingly remastered for a new generation. The film has not aged a day. the 4K is probably not much better than 2K because it is a film transfer but the high contrast gives it a whole new feel. It is a masterpiece. this disk is only worth watching if you have a HDR screen or a fan of the commentaries of film score.

Masterpiece - Alien review by GI

A masterpiece and a game-changer. A science fiction film that's influence cannot be underestimated, indeed it's style, editing and ideas have been much copied since. When this arrived it was an unbelievable experience, not only because of its, now infamous, scenes but also because of its look, its vision of future technology and the sheer tension and excitement and it went onto spawn a hugely popular franchise with mixed results. But as a key science fiction film this remains a benchmark in the genre. In the far distance future a commercial tug spacecraft, the Nostromo, with it's seven crew in hypersleep, are en route back to Earth. The ship's computer picks up an unknown signal and awakens the crew to investigate. On a small, desolate planet they find an abandoned alien ship but one of the crew is attacked by a strange creature that attaches itself to his face and by bringing it aboard the Nostromo they unleash something very terrible indeed. With it's imagery and themes of primeval awakenings, deviant sexual assault and unique designs by the concept artist H.R. Giger this is a film that deserves close and careful viewing. There's a host of things going on here that are complex and very interesting. There's plenty of shocks including a now very famous and bloody scene and plenty of unexpected twists. The small cast are all exceptional: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver (in her first major role), John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton and Ian Holm. Director Ridley Scott is responsible for two of the most influential scifi films ever made this being the first. It's a must see film, and I recommend having a look at the Directors Cut which adds some interesting character scenes, a significant extra scene which links it neatly to the sequel Aliens (1986) and trims some other scenes to make them more impactive. A modern masterpiece, if you've never seen it then it's worth your time believe me.