Alien3 (1992) - David Fincher

After the events of Aliens Ripley finds herself abandoned on a prison planet stuck with the most vicious criminals imaginable. But even they don't compare to the viciousness of the creature that came with her.

I think we’ve all come to expect great things from David Fincher. Although not as good as more recent flicks; Alien 3 is a great starting point and real indicator of his prowess as a director. I’ve always felt it was unfair to say that the Alien franchise fell off after Aliens because I think Fincher brought something quite interesting and special with his take on the xenomorph. First though I want to come out and say do not…. AND I MEAN DO NOT… waste your time with the 2003 assembly cut. My goodness me. It’s full of completely ridiculous and unnecessary changes which if anything takes away from what made the original theatrical version halfway decent. It also extends the film by an extra half an hour or so. The fan boy in me can pretty much enjoy any Alien film but with the extended running time it really was starting to drag.

Anyway… this will end up as a review of the version that mattered because I don’t think it would be fair to detract from the original due to mistakes made in the sloppy re-release which nobody saw or cared about anyway. Not to say that the original was perfect of course. The idea of killing off two out of three survivors from Aliens before the film even started was a bit uncalled for. It kind of renders the previous outing a bit pointless ; although given the length of time that had passed between the two releases it makes sense, as particularly the young girl would have aged A LOT and her cryogenic sleep would become very unbelievable (not that it couldn't have been worked into the story).

Also the biggest flop of this film has to be the special effects. Even for its time the effects are overly crude. You have a film dominated by deep sepia tones and you decide to give the alien creature a green hum. I genuinely have no doubts in my mind that I could have composited the film better… and my highest compositing mark last year at uni was a low 2:2! It sticks out like a sore thumb and really brings down much of the believability. One thing I think that we’ve learnt about horror is to not show the beast in its entirety, unless briefly. But these new visual effects seemed to have given Fincher a license to be stupid in that department. When the cg is then intertwined with physical close ups of the beast the brain just screams at you… THIS LOOKS BAD!! It was even nominated for a special effects academy award… for shame.

But there are positives. The cast is very strong and there are decent performances all around. I think we can all agree Fincher is all about the atmosphere. Just watch Seven. The steam punk noir setting of Alien3 creates a perfect playground of unease. The corridors of the prison are maze-like and mixed with the twisted shadows and cold metals of the set design a feeling of genuine discomfort is built. In the end it’s a very stylish film and the religious tropes help build a hive of fear for this new Alien hybrid to wriggle its way through and into our memories.

Overview:

A highly stylish and interesting film. Although far from flawless it’s a damn sight better than the train wreck that Alien Resurrection turned out to be. This one is at least coherent and has an interesting back bone, in fact it probably would have capped off the series nicely, if only fox wasn’t so greedy… tut tut.

Rating:
★★★