Alien Hunter (2003) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Science Fiction |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer Audio Commentary-Ron Krauss (Director) Featurette-Director's Location Scout Featurette-Behind The Scenes Storyboard Comparisons Deleted Scenes-With Optional Director's Commentary Gallery-Photo Trailer-Bad Boys II, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle Trailer-Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2003 | ||
Running Time | 88:03 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (73:26) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | Ron Krauss |
Studio
Distributor |
Nu Image Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
James Spader Janine Eser John Lynch Nikolai Binev Leslie Stefanson Aimee Graham Stuart Charno Carl Lewis Svetla Vasileva Anthony Crivello Kaloian Vodenicharov George Stanchev Rufus Dorsey |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Tim Jones |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | Unknown | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English Italian Spanish Dutch Arabic Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Serbian Swedish Turkish Italian Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Taking around 32 days, the principal photography for Alien Hunter was completed by March 2002. J.S. Cardone wrote the script and when Ron Krauss read it he instantly thought of hit movies such as The Thing and Close Encounters of The Third Kind. But Krauss says that this story had added plot twists and characterisations which caught his initial attention and compelled him to make the movie. The film was shot in Sophia, Bulgaria where the landscape and old buildings were used to their full potential. Krauss, Skinner and a few others also find it irresistible to do a "Hitchcock" and feature themselves in the opening scenes.
The talents of William "Bill" Skinner who was the Set Designer for Blade Runner and 2010 were utilised for this film and his past experience clearly shows. The primary location for the film is in the one place, so this was something that Bill would have been used to when he was the Production Designer on U-571 where the majority of shots were on a submarine.
Alien Hunter stars James Spader who is one actor that I am interested in watching whenever he features in a movie. He also happens to have a starring role in one of my all-time favourites, Stargate. This was the first title that I imported from Region 1, and it is placed in a prominent position in my DVD collection. The character James plays in both movies is that of a bright and intelligent specialist, but one that is constrained by his character's past events and not taken too seriously by his peers. It was because of James that I thought I should give this title a go and see how it panned out. After all, I have often found hidden little gems by using a similar process in the past.
Well, unfortunately this was not the case with this particular title. There was nothing wrong with Spader or the other main actors, but the story failed to deliver what it initially promised. It did have an interesting introduction, although too many different locations were introduced causing an unnecessary diversion at times. The movie loses its way in the middle (perhaps the writer tired of the story), and then finishes off abruptly.
Scientists from an Antarctic Research Station designed to grow genetically modified corn find an object frozen in the ice which is emitting a repeating radio signal. Julian Rome (James Spader) is a well-known cryptologist and he arranges a flight to take him there to conduct some research on the object and to try and find its origins.
Without spoiling the plot, the object in question ends up being an alien (the movie's title gives that bit away already). Julian and the station's crew, including Dr. Kate Brecher (Janine Eser), Dr. John Bachman (Roy Dotrice), Dr. Michael Straub (John Lynch) and Dr. Alexi Gierach (Nikolai Binev) have to catch the creature and save themselves from imminent death.
If you have some time to spend one rainy day and want to watch a movie featuring a scary alien, then may I suggest a title called Predator instead...
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer was relatively sharp with good clean lines around objects. Shadow detail was controlled well for the greater percentage of the film. There were some sections where lighting was a little dim and Ron Krauss mentions that they were unable to bring lights in for the University location shoot around 6:00 and had limited time to film the scenes. In the Antarctica shots there were some scenes that were quite dark but this was intentional to keep you guessing and to add an extra layer of tension to the shots. There is some low level noise.
The colours were rendered well with no transfer issues being present here.
There was several moiré effects visible with their trademark swirl effect at 45:28 and 52:30. Grain was present in some of the darker scenes, particularly on the walls. Aliasing is very rare and very mild when it does occur. Film artefacts were something that was not apparent.
This disc is a dual-layered disc, with the layer change placed between Chapters 23 and 24, at 73:26. It is well placed at a quiet scene where there is no music or other form of audio to cause any obvious disruptions to the flow.
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Overall |
There are four audio tracks on this DVD. The default is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is also an English Audio Commentary track in Dolby Digital 2.0, and Italian and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks as well.
The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times. Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.
The musical score was fitting for this feature, especially during the ending sequence. It also provided a good match to the on-screen action. The volume levels did not drown out the dialogue at any point during the movie.
The surround channels were well used for ambience, music and special effects. There were frequent directional effects and good sound placement across the front and rear soundstages. This gave the movie an increased presence and soothing feel which added to the viewing enjoyment.
The subwoofer was mildly active during the action sequences, and imparted a subtle but nonetheless welcome presence to these sequences.
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Overall |
This footage was originally intended for production planning. It has been included on this disc as a visual reference for those that are interested. It contains a multitude of video and audio problems and is shot in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.
Somewhat more interesting than the previous featurette, this has the cast and crew discussing their own personal feelings and input into this movie. Running for more than 15 minutes you get a good insight into the production and pick up a few interesting facts along the way. All footage is presented in various aspect ratios ranging from 1.33:1 full frame to 1.78:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded sound.
Note that not all deleted scenes have an accompanying commentary. A total of six deleted scenes can be viewed from here in varying degrees of quality. There is just over 8 minutes of extra content to see here.
As is typical for this type of extra, the image and sound quality is lacking, but this by no means invalidates this as an extremely valuable extra. It is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, non-16x9 enhanced, with dialogue only which is basically mixed into the left channel except for one sentence which is mixed into the right channel.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
James Spader is convincing, but few of the other actors put any effort into their performance. With more direction being provided from behind the screen and a different ending, this movie could have been a made-for-TV winner. Instead, it is merely just a filler for those times when there is nothing better on. And yes, there are worse Sci-Fi movies out there - Bio-Force 1 (Mutant Species) is still very vivid in my mind.
The video quality is what you would expect from a movie made originally for cable TV.
The audio quality is great with a lot of surround and speaker activity present.
The extras are satisfactory but as I mentioned before, the commentary is quite soporific.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Denon DVD-1600, using RGB output |
Display | Loewe Aconda 9381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Amplification | Denon AVR-2802 Dolby EX/DTS ES Discrete |
Speakers | Whatmough Classic Series C31 (Mains); C06 (Centre); M10 (Rears); Magnat Vector Needle Sub25A Active SubWoofer |