Alien³ (1992)

Aliens, a great action movie, cheapened the original by replacing one hyper-intelligent, indestructible monster with an army of gormless critters. This third entry has only one creature, but unfortunately it's just as gormless. When Ripley (Weaver) crash-lands on a prison planet full of hard-nut slap-heads, they haven't seen a woman in years. Discovering that there's an alien loose, Ripley asks the warden to break out the guns, and can't believe it when she is told there aren't any. Nor can we. Good acting has salvaged many a poor script in the past, but not here. Dance is slaughtered in the first act, as is the regulation bastard warden (Glover), leaving only Sigourney, impressive as ever, and a motley cast of extras. Though wasteful of the expensive sets, Fincher's tight close-ups do add to the sense of claustrophobic panic.

Don't feck with The Baldies!

Special Edition.

I love it, I really do. OK! So it's basically a monster on the loose piece, but the setting at a sci-fi prison colony - complete with nutty religious shards - makes for a thrillingly atmospheric ride. Of course if this was merely a stand alone film, where there was no Alien and Aliens previously, I feel sure the special edition cut would be thought of differently.

A roll call of Brit thesps line up for some tension filled entertainment as director David Fincher and cinematographer Alex Thomson provide a look that is both beautiful and scary. The metallic nightmare of chambers and cold concrete fused together for some hellish stalk and paranoia. Industrial Punk? Steam Punk? Cyber Punk? Fincher Punk? Hey man, we gotta give it a name! And of course there's Siggy Weaver front and center, the reassuring presence among the murderers, rapists and child molesters.

I could live without the attempt at a transcendent finale, but in extended form this has much to light your fires. It also showed that Fincher would be a director to watch - imagine if had he been left alone to craft his own vision? His subsequent career and standing makes a mockery of the studio execs involved in the making of Alien³. 8/10

**Superior in every department to the basic shoot em up, Aliens,**

Alien 3 returns the franchise to its artistic horror roots established by Ridley Scott. No more Disney kids, happy endings and machine gun wielding irritants.

This movie is a beautifully bleak experience and is the true sequel to Alien (1979). Performances are excellent all round - especially Charles Dance as prison doctor, Clemens, and, of course, Sigourney Weaver - who gives us her best performance as the downtrodden Ripley.

A masterwork by David Fincher that restores the horror and dignity to the series. Thank goodness for Alien 3!

- Charles Dance

**The end of an epic trilogy**

_Mild spoilers:_

Everything has been said about this movie already, but let's find out why the rating of it (on a different, shabbier website) is so low. Here are some points of a popular reviewer, who has almost 100 percent support of their readers.

1. At some points the audience is bored stiff and at other moments they are confused by the outlandish action sequences.

Outlandish action? Was it too alien? And sorry you were bored by the exceptional cinematography, underlined by a pace that was just right not to rush things, which brings me the second point.

2. ...a disjointed mess that feels forced and rushed.

Story seemed linear to me. And which one is it, boring or rushed?

3. The direction is never clear and there is no real screenplay here at all.

This is just saying it was bad, without saying anything at all. How is this helpful.

4. Charles Dutton is pretty good, but his character lacks the development to really make him interesting. Everyone else is just present...

Dutton's character needs no development. What do you want, him finding Jesus again? Dance's backstory is interesting, and we get to know little details about everyone else like for example the IQ of one of the guards who then later unexpectedly gives his life for what he believes in, pretty strong character development for a minor player in a Sci-Fi Thriller. And that is the main problem people have when rating "Alien³", they don't know it's not a horror film like "Alien" and it's not an action flick like "Aliens".

5. Overall a disappointment that is not very impressive at all. 2 stars out of 5.

More bashing without sound reasoning behind it. This film is clearly underrated, and if the aforementioned reviewer had seen what we have seen in 2017, especially in the Science Fiction genre, he might even agree and change his opinion about how a "disjointed mess" looks like.

I give 5 stars not to up the overall score, but because "Alien³" ends Ripley's ordeal in a stylish and original way, without insulting the intelligence of the viewer, or rehashing previous plot lines.

4 August 2017

I am migrating my reviews from a different site which has become simply garbage. TMDB looks awesome and I look forward to be a part of it.

Did Gordon Ramsay direct this? F-bombs galore!

Sigourney Weaver remains a joy to watch, while Charles S. Dutton and Charles Dance are strong additions; Dutton especially. As for other positives, I enjoyed the score and the fact that we (seemed to) get way more of the alien itself; which is what I wanted from the first two, personally.

The plot isn't the greatest but is very watchable, the ending is pretty good. One criticism I do have is the dialogue, as alluded to at the top of my review. I've nothing against the use of swear words whatsoever, but man does this film overuse the f-word; it feels like every other word across the conclusion.

Overall, it's a definite drop down from the two very good predecessors, though I still got the required entertainment from <em>'Alien³'</em>. A noteworthy directorial film debut for David Fincher.