Alien 3 (1992)

"Alien 3" (1992) Review by Marshall Garvey Rating (0 to 5): 2 Grade: C- Starring Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley), Charles Dutton (Dillon), Charles Dance (Clemens), Paul McGann (Golic), Brian Glover (Andrews), Ralph Brown (Aaron), Daniel Webb (Morse) Lance Henriksen (Bishop II) Directed by David Fincher Produced by Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill Written by Vincent Ward, Giler, Hill, and Larry Ferguson (based on characters by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett) Original music by Elliot Goldenthal 20th Century Fox 114 minutes Rated R (violence, gore, strong language. Most teens okay, namely those with strong stomachs)

The first two "Alien" movies are great for a number of reasons. One is that they created a dark atmosphere that carried the sense of the film perfectly, whether it be the unknown terror of "Alien" or the multiple danger of "Aliens". "Alien 3" has a familiar sense to it as well, though unlike the first two it carries the franchise in the wrong direction, and by its end it feels surprisingly empty and pointless. While it is still somewhat atmospheric, it makes the unfortunate mistake of trying to bring back the classic suspense of "Alien" by using just one member of H.R. Giger's famed species. Instead, this well directed but depressingly bleak film does little more than add on different story elements and repeat its thrill attempts as it spins out into a pointless haze that left me with an equal feeling of emptiness.

Several people have despised "Alien 3" beyond belief. Some have said it shouldn't be part of the series, while others claim it shouldn't exist. Despite this negative word of mouth, I had high hopes for the film when I finally snatched it off the shelf at Hollywood Video. Before watching it, my thoughts were preoccupied on whether or not it had a chance, and that it would hopefully overcome its disadvantage of killing off some of the loveable characters that made it out of "Aliens". I also saw it as a chance for David Fincher to make his mark, knowing "Se7en" and "Fight Club" are a bit too graphic for me to view as of now. Ridley Scott had already won me over with "Alien" and would later direct another one of my favorite movies, "Blade Runner". When I saw "Aliens", I had already seen James Cameron's "Titanic" and truly loved it, and after viewing his brilliant sequel to Scott's classic he became one of my all-time favorite directors ("The Terminator" and "Terminator 2" also helped in persuading me). In "Alien 3", Fincher's direction does succeed in being fresh, thanks to his captivating use of putting us in the perspective of the alien as it chases its prey through the hallways. However, Fincher's direction does have its flaws, and is also tethered by Vincent Ward's weak story and a mediocre screenplay courtesy of David Giler, Walter Hill, and Larry Ferguson. In the end, this hopeless film contributes absolutely nothing to the series.

Despite his credible direction later on, Fincher begins the film in a rather annoying fashion. As the members of the cast and crew are introduced, Fincher decides to cut in between the credits with different shots of a facehugger finding its way through the Sulaco spaceship, where survivors Newt Jordan, Dwayne Hicks, Bishop, and, of course, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) rest in cryosleep. When the cryosleep stasis is corrupted and the facehugger finds its host (although we can't tell whom), the pod in which everybody rests ejects itself and crash-lands on Fiorina Fury 161, a bleak and windy prison planet that bears much resemblance to the LV-426 planet from the first two films. When a group of prisoners are sent out to investigate, it turns out that Hicks and Newt are dead, while Bishop still remains deactivated. Ripley, though, is the only survivor, and is taken to the hospital wing for treatment.

When Ripley finally regains consciousness, she is more than disappointed to hear that she's the only survivor of the four. Afraid that Newt may have been impregnated with an alien, she asks prison doctor Clemens (Charles Dance) to take her to the morgue and examine her body. As Clemens suspected, it turns out that she had died by drowning in her cryotube. Taking no chances, Ripley asks for the bodies of Newt and Hicks to be cremated, and her request is met. However, as the ceremony is held, an alien emerges from the stomach of a dog that had met with the pod's facehugger, even more fully grown than a regular newborn and ready to feast upon the prisoners.

As it turns out, Ripley is the only female in the prison, a fact that's met with mixed approval by the other inmates. Nonetheless, she must adapt to the bylaws of the prison, such as shaving her head due to the lice problem there. She does, though, receive a little help from prisoner Dillon (Charles Dutton), a holy and religious leader who foils a rape attempt on Ripley despite being responsible for such crimes in his past. He warns Ripley not to get too close to anyone during her stay, especially himself. But things change when some of the prisoners are mysteriously killed one by one, and when the boss is picked off Ripley soon becomes the leader and must help the remaining men prevail against the alien despite not having any weapons or modern technology of any kind (there aren't even batteries for the flashlights). It seems impossible, but when Ripley learns that she's been impregnated (with a queen at that) and that the alien won't kill her, she suddenly becomes the ideal bait to lure the creature to its death. But with a rescue ship approaching, Ripley knows that she must die as well, for if the queen escapes Fiorina it will reproduce and wipe out the entire human race easily.

The "Alien" movies have two major stages: the establishment of the alien threat level and the climax, with some moments in between to develop the characters and story. David Fincher gives a nice touch to the climax here by filming most of each chase sequence through the alien's point of view, sometimes doing it upside down as it crawls along the ceiling. Yet, despite the inventive touch, the sequences aren't entirely fulfilling due to the fact that I didn't care for anybody who died. None of the actors do a particularly bad job, and very few of the characters are made out to be likeable. But as the bodies mount, there's very little impact, for as a whole the characters form no more than a wooden, faceless conformity that erase the film's chance of having any emotional impact when you see who dies and who lives. I did, in particular, have admiration for Clemens and Dillon, but two memorable characters amidst twenty-something wooden ones didn't help the film's cause, and half of them are about as compelling or colorful as dish soap.

The weakest aspect of the characterization, however, is that the film seems to go to any means necessary to taint each and every worthwhile figure. After the enlightening and sweet bond between Newt and Ripley was formed so well in "Aliens", the writers here decide to attempt to stun viewers with a surprisingly dark twist and kill her, which instead of doing the story any good had me booing at the screen. To accompany Hicks' unfortunate but predictable death, Bishop's character is also needlessly spoiled when it turns out he's merely an android clone of an actual human (played, of course, by Lance Henriksen) who intends on studying the alien species. Worse is that this occurs after Bishop (or at least what's left of him) confirms Ripley's fears that an alien was indeed onboard the ship, a scene which seemed to signify his end. After all, he wasn't even top of the line anymore. Yet, still, it seems the writers couldn't help but erase every last bit of the overflowing optimism left over from "Aliens", and in doing so they succeed in stopping "Alien 3" itself and disrupt the flow of the series.

The worst point of "Alien 3" is undoubtedly its weak story, which instead of being a viable chapter in the series brings almost nothing new into play. First off, it tries to go back to using one single alien for its suspense, and while there are some tight moments there's no freshness or originality to it now that the species has been entirely uncovered (well, most of it). The "Alien" series is one that is always liable to take another step forward even when it seems to have reached its peak, and "Alien 3" is more than a failure in that sense. While it still carries some of the atmosphere and feel of the preceding films, it is marred by bland screenwriting and an utter sense of emptiness that puts and end to the series' momentum. Even though the next installment, "Alien: Resurrection", has been panned by many as well, I still hope it fills the void left by this.

So you're probably wondering what my final thought is on this film's existence. Do I think "Alien 3" shouldn't exist? Of course not. It's far from good, but on the other hand it's also quite far from the worst movie of all time (I'll take "Battlefield Earth" instead, thank you very much). Then again, is it a worthy addition to the series? Absolutely not, and I do carry hope that "Alien: Resurrection" will be a dramatic improvement. Of course, I could be setting myself up for even more disappointment.

Note: This review is purely of my doing, and I do not copy off other reviewers.

So, what does this rating system mean anyway? *****-A masterpiece of filmmaking that should be seen at all costs ****1/2-A fabulous movie. An absolute must catch. ****-An excellent show. Tell everyone else about it. ***1/2-A good film. Recommended. ***-Decent movie that could be a lot better. **1/2-Average movie with a number of flaws. **-Pretty bad with a few saving graces. *1/2-Bad. Don’t see it. *-As much fun as having your seat kicked for two hours. 1/2-Just plain awful. 0-Death may come

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X-Language: en
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X-RT-RatingText: 2/5