ALIEN 3
A film review by Terry Gaasterland
Copyright 1992 Terry Gaasterland
ALIEN 3 tarring Sigourney Weaver, directed by David
Fincher, with a story written by Vincent Ward and a
screenplay by David Giler, Walter Hill, and Larry Ferguson
is a disappointment in every cinematic sense. Rated R.
My recommendation: No matter how much you enjoyed ALIEN and ALIENS, stay away from this movie. If your curiousity about Ripley's fate is going to drive you nuts until you see it, wait until it comes to the $1.49 theatres. The wait will entail more suspense than you'll get out the entire movie.
ALIEN 3 tells of one more encounter between Lieutenant Ripley (Weaver) and The Alien. The movie opens with a very well done sequence of shots interleaving long, silent views of space and stars with quick, sharp shots of fire breaking out in a ship containing Ripley and her cohorts. Unfortunately, the visual drama of the interleaved shots is interrupted by endless film credits. The four travelers lie in hyperstasis as crisis breaks out around them. Their life-sustaining units automatically slide into an escape vehicle and plummet to the surface of a nearby planet.
The rest of the movie is unbearably predictable. Ripley learns that the Alien has also landed on the planet. Together with her and about twenty dangerous convicts, it lurks in a massive, heavy, dark, wet, moldy, underground refinery. The convicts have adopted a religious fanaticism as a way of controlling their inner drives. They consider Ripley to be a destablizing force. Unfortunately, their resentment and prejudice toward her is two-dimensional and bland. For the remainder of the movie (the remaining hour and a half), we follow Ripley as she challenges the warden of the convicts, tries to convince everyone that the alien is a dangerous entity, and then organizes an alien hunt through the dimly lit ductwork and tunnels of the refinery. Ripley's character is central to the movie. Yet she remains lifeless, glamorless, and drab. Her charisma, so strong in ALIEN and ALIENS, is disturbingly absent. As she moves through the movie, one almost does not care what is happening to her.
The camera work of the chase is interesting. The camera follows the point of view of the alien. The alien has a tendency to run around on the ceiling during the chase, so the picture flips up and down and around in a compelling manner. Unfortunately, this one clever technicality fails to carry a long, drawn-out, repetitious, sometimes confusing scene.
(Hit 'n' now if you want to avoid minor spoilers)
The only interesting character, the medic who cares for Ripley as she emerges from hyperstasis, meets an early end. The other character with potential, the religious leader of the convicts fails to be charming, appealing, or inspiring in any way. The plot development is so confused that when he finally sacrifices himself for the good of all, it is unclear why it is necessary and why Ripley does not join him.
The thread of action looses sense many times as the movie unfolds. Several times, one has no idea what just happened or why. When the prison warden is looking at a CAT scan of Ripley's head, we are supposed to be horrified at what we see, as he describes it to Ripley, but the horrifying sight is impossible to pick out. The audience sits confused, peering at the screen as the warden announces the worst to Ripley.
(Hit 'n' now if you want to avoid a slightly bigger spoiler)
Ripley's final sacrifice is utterly melodramatic, predictable and boring. The outspread arms in the symbol of the cross falling into the fire project a lame image. Instead of emanating noble self-immolation, the falling body seems pitiful.
In summary, wait until a friend rents the movie and watch it for free -- with the Sunday paper in hand for the long, boring parts.
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