Alien 3 (Review)

I did this review a few years back on ZombieKeeper.com (RIP)

Sorry if there is an old thread, I used the search function and found nothing....

***Spoilers***

In the finale of Aliens, Ripley successfully escapes alien filled Planet LV-426, along with young Newt, Corporal Hicks, and what was left of Android Bishop. While in space, their cyro sleep is interrupted, due to a fire on the ship, and they are jettisoned out in an escape pod to a different planet. A bleak and isolated planet. When she comes to, after a nasty crash landing, she is given knowledge that she is the only survivor. To make things worse, the planet is inhabited by former inmates of a maximum security work-correctional facility. After being told about the partners that didn't survive the crash, Ripley insists that she sees what's left of the ship, and this is where she is given a hint that an alien may have been on board. She talks Clemens (The facility's doctor) into letting her see the remains of Newt, whom had supposedly drowned in her own cryo fluids. After an autopsy, there are no signs of bodily violation. With her questions still are left unanswered, she insists that Newt and Hicks' body are cremated.

During the cremation process, two inmates find an ox (this is in the extended version only) outside of the facility that has mysteriously keeled over. They also find a spider like creature that appears to be dead at the scene. As they joke and talk about our heroine in sexual manners, the cremation process commences. While everyone is watching along as Newt and Hicks' body are dropped into the hellish inferno, the ox hanging upside down from a group of chains begins to shake and convulse. Blood and guts protrude from it's chest, and out bursts a Xenomorph, dropping into a puddle of gore below the animals shredded corpse. In what seems to be a painful birthing, the creature squeals out with meat from the ox oozing off of its body, and it runs off into darkness. "Fury 161" and Ripley now have a new problem, and it has little to do with a group of vicious convicts.

Ahh, Alien 3, the sequel known as the bastard of the series. Rightfully so, I suppose, especially after a fantastic combatic sequel to the original; fans must've been expecting so much more. Before even mentioning that it isn't the action filled Sci-FI epic the second entry was, nor was it the breakthrough slasher in space that the original was, this third entry underwent more problems than Ripley herself did over a course of many decades, give or take a day or two. Does anybody remember the teaser trailer for this film that was released almost two years before it came out? If not, let me refresh your memory. Fans across the globe were basically led to believe that this was the sequel everyone wanted, because it was going to be a showdown on earth. WRONG. During so many script inconsistencies (talks of the story taking place on the alien planet, an Alcatraz in space, and many more ideas were trashed, as well), the plot for this movie was changed a various amount of times and ways, that the final product left little to be desired for the hungry masses of Alien-addicts of the first two films. Even director, David Fincher, disowns this "abomination" himself, stating many times that this isn't his baby, it's 20th Century Fox's, as they took lead in most of the creative control during the entire process. He can't really be blamed for his harsh feelings. Yet, I still don't agree with him, since I feel this movie didn't come out so bad once taking into consideration all the problems it went through.

While the extended version doesn't add anything new to the story as far as desirable elements go, some how it still ends up being a more fulfilling and finished looking product. Probably the biggest change in this extended version is the chest bursting scene. In the theatrical version, everyone's favorite nasty comes out of a dog's chest to begin its life of ferocious killing. Here, we see it come out of an ox, in what seems like a bit gorier display than it was originally (the theatrical version). This doesn't disrupt any continuity of the original version everyone saw, since both animals consist of 4-legged attributes, and that's what the alien in this film is all about. Though, I must admit that the creature seems much more like a dog, ultimately, since he's fast moving, and an oxen cannot be nearly this quick. Anyhow, the beef of the other extended scenes are dialogue driven moments and snippets of gore here and there. Nothing to get excited over, but like I mentioned earlier, the movie does seem more complete this way.

Now, the first film is known as a horror film to most, the second is clearly a Sci-Fi/Action vehicle. Alien 3, in a way, tries to explore both boundaries. It really only excells partially. It mostly wins over the more horror aspect again, like the original. But like most sequels to slasher films, a lot is rehash, and we see more of the killer this time around than we did in the first entry. That's what makes it less suspenseful. What's most terrifying about this one, is the environment Ripley is thrown into, which is scary enough even before dropping the murderer (Xenomorph) in the mix. Put yourself in her shoes, waking up on a planet inhabited by murderers, thieves, rapists, and child molesters and try not to be frightened. Oh, don't forget, you have no weapons to defend yourself. There's only a scant few members of the bunch that can honestly purify themselves completely of their past, but they're not fully to blame. Not one of them has seen a female in many years, thus, they have had no temptation for sex. Unfortunately, in this case, religion isn't going to fight off the hormones of a group of men that have an evil past such as these. So, not only does Ripley have to look over her shoulder in fear of an alien, but in fear of an ex-gangbanger, still carrying the potential to be an evil entity. A nightmare in its own right.

This is a much more darker vehicle than the first two movies, and that's one thing that works the best, which is what keeps it from being an utter rejuvenation of the original. It's a shame that the movie was so sporadically put together, because it carries a lot of brilliant ideas, but sadly only executes them here and there. The best scenes of the movie are helped into execution by a near epic score from Elliot Goldenthal. The music here is just as amazing as it was in the first two films, if not more, whether the movie is just as enthralling or not.

One thing the Alien series as a whole has always demonstrated well is solid and likable characters, no matter what their past or present personalities consist of. Alien 3 is no exception. First off, we'll get into Ripley, portrayed once again by Sigourney Weaver. Since she has been in the same mishap for as long as she can remember, a more sarcastic, confused and desperate performance is expected. The frightened persona she had originally is a little more faint this time around, and it makes total sense as the film progresses. Charles Dutton is completely fantastic as Dillon, the more or less religious front man for the inmates. Though, he does have little remorse for what goes on outside of their planet, and is more than angry at first that a female is scurrying about a group of prisoners that have a past of rape and murder filled to the brim. Weaver and Dutton completely carry scenes of the movie where they perform together, and a segment towards the end of the two talking the inmates into fighting for their lives is utterly brilliant. That performance is probably the most powerful dialogue moment in the film, which is also helped by an extraordinary music score.

We get a lot of nice, juicy gore scenes in this part of the series. Probably one of the nastiest moments is the chest bursting segment, in which we are first introduced to the alien. A disgusting runner-up has to be an inmate that's attacked by the Xenomorph, then rolls down into a massive fan, exploding on impact. This isn't shown on screen quite as long as a gorehound would desire, but the aftermath of said victims innards dangling from the ceiling is quite gruesome. The computer generated alien FX are absolutely terrible here, almost cartoonish. One scene to point out shows the creature running about on the ceiling, with a victim dashing for his life across the floor below. What comes to mind is a familiar scene in The Blob remake, where Kevin Dillion and Shawnee Smith are running to a freezer for protection against the blob. In Alien 3, we get a shot almost exactly the same. Alien 3 was made a few years after The Blob remake, yet the FX here look no more spectacular, and possibly not even as impressive. James Cameron pulled off a scene similar to this in Aliens just by filming the shot upside down, and rotating it during the editing process, and it looked amazing. If they had just went with a full on make-up and puppeteering job here, the final product would've looked much more believable.

To sum it up, Alien 3 will always be dubbed as the worst in the series, and it's understandable. A lot of holes in the plot, a lot of rushed ideas, good characters being tossed away, and not exciting or as impactfull as the first two films. But I, myself, cannot help but enjoy it for what it is. Perhaps seeing it fully uncut may change some peoples minds, but overall, probably not. It was destined to be a goner from the start. But coming from a fan of the entire franchise, I don't really think being the least enthralling episode within' the storyline is necessarily an awful thing.

[Unaboner3000]

For a third movie in a horror franchise, Alien 3 is actually very good. Ridley Scott's and Jim Cameron's films are true classics (ranked #2 and #4 on imdb on the horror chart), so almost every film will pale in comparison. But if you watch it and try not to make comparisons to the first two films, then it is actually pretty enjoyable.

[PR3SSUR3]

I agree the CGI is pretty poor, and bad decisions were made to use it for the creature as an 'advancement' over the puppety of the second film.

But... David Fincher is an outstanding visionary (his film was subject to endless tampering by worried studio heads), and against the odds most of the film works very well indeed, crafting an atmosphere and enchantment only dreamed of by other recent sci-fi film makers.

The decision to proceed with a script that laid to rest just about all of the hope left over from Aliens was a bold one, and the director at least gave it his all in providing a cold, generally negative and definitely anti-Hollywood mega budget action horror from a red, red hot franchise which might still yet turn into a five or six part pain in the arse.

[ferretchucker]

I liked it. It wasn't action packed, nor like the first one. It was something new to the series as was aliens to alien. The 4th film was a combination of the first two films so that wasn't really new. I'll admit it wasn't the best in the series. I'd rank it Alien, Aliens then both alien 3 and alien ressurection together.