| Alien³ (1992) | |
|---|---|
 |
Rating: 6.4/10 (318,693 votes) Director: David Fincher Writer: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Vincent Ward Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance Runtime: 114 min Rated: R Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi Released: 22 May 1992 |
| Plot: Returning from LV-426, Ellen Ripley crash-lands on the maximum-security prison Fiorina 161, where she discovers that she has unwittingly brought along an unwelcome visitor. | |
David Fincher is a name which, these days, is associated with quality, highly praised films. However, when he was given this film to direct, he was a fresh, new director, straight out of music videos. Thus, he was used as a tool, in place simply to do the bidding of the producers, and offering little of his own vision. Indeed, many people refer to the extended cut version of this film as ‘the director’s cut’, but this is a falsity – he had nought to do with the re-edit version, having refused to get involved…it was simply not ‘his’ film.
Where the film disappoints is hard to exactly pin down. It looks great, has a marvellous cast who are all putting a lot into their roles, and the production values overall are generally polished. Even the basic story is a nice take on the alien-lore. But something just doesn’t sit right.
Perhaps the casual manner in which two characters built up in the previous film are simply dispatched at the start (Newt and Hicks) is the start of the flaws. Maybe the disjointed plotting brought about by having an unfinished script, and a whole load of sets from an already aborted version is to blame. Lousy editing which means the alien can be extremely fast one moment, yet incredibly slow when chasing people down winding corridors. Indeed, many are the flaws in the film.
However, it is not a complete mess. Fincher has an eye for a good shot, and uses the environment effectively. As also mentioned, the cast are really on fine form, and it seems were unaware of the mess the rest of the film would be. The idea of one creature against everyone means we are back in the tension fuelled style of the first film, and the alien attacks are built up well.
But it is all let down by what could have been. The many aborted projects that paved the way for this film are well documented, and would have been great projects. Even this basic story could have worked, but it is a prime example of a film ruined by execs pulling the strings. No wonder Fincher wanted nothing to do with it after release.
