Upon further Review: Alien 3

I remember being as excited as ever to see this film as a 12 year old. Oops, did I just reveal I saw this film that young and in theaters? Sure did, but thankfully it never enticed me to want to grow up and be some prisoner on an off-planet penal colony. Phew! The lights dimmed, and within the first 4 minutes of the follow up to the well received ALIENS, three really important characters were killed off (one even impaled). In my mind I kept thinking "WTF", even as a pre-teen I just felt like I was cheated and this ruined the rest of the film for me back then. How could the characters of Hicks, Newt, and Bishop be eliminated in the 3rd Alien film so swiftly? Regardless of this downer, and the fact the film was set in the depths of hell, AND the fact there were no fun action sequences with the classic guns a blazing Mise-en-scène , I've grown to really appreciate this film some 21 years later. Add to it, a very lengthy extended cut was released on Blu-ray, adding in an entire action sequence we never got to see back in 1992, and the story now makes a hell of a lot more sense.

So what's to like about this very dark entry for an Alien film? For starters, Charles S. Dutton, who plays a very convincing prisoner named Dillon. He's like the prison's vocal cheerleader, he keeps the morale up as much as humanly possible for being stuck in such an incredible shit-hole. His acting in this film is above and beyond any performance for a supporting actor we'd seen in the previous two films of the series. He owns this role and by the end of the film, as he's stuck inside that dead-end corridor with the beast, there's a good chance you're rooting for his character to survive in some regard. Anytime an actor can elevate the material he's given, along with being able to make you see past that in his case, he was a prior murderer and rapist of women (to which he exclaims to Ripley upon their first encounter in the mess hall), show's you the actor embodying the role is kicking major ass in the part. Secondly, Charles Dance, who plays the prison's medical doctor named Clemons, delivers an outstanding performance given the more limited screen time his character has, and is another tragic sort of character that the main character of Ellen Ripley can relate to, along with the audience. I guess what I'm getting at is if there's one thing that really soars in this movie it's the performances of the cast. Many of the cast members were from England, i.e. classically trained, and just seemed a cut above the supporting cast from Aliens in my opinion. And this is a facet that you're less likely to notice and appreciate as a 12 year old who just wants to see a rehash of its predecessor. It's not something you'll miss as an adult viewer.

As far as the film's pacing, and action, well, there are no guns in this iteration of an Alien film, and quite frankly that pissed a lot of people off, myself included (until now), but what it does is opens up the film for a couple of very original action sequences you never would have seen if not for leaving guns out of the equation. For example, towards the middle of the film, Ripley and the bulk of the prisoners come up with this crazy plan to lure the Alien into this completely sealed room, used to normally store toxic chemicals, but to do it one prisoner in particular has to literally trick the beast into the room. There's explosions going on, mass chaos, prisoners getting doused in flames, and overall director David Fincher does a nice job making the facility they're in feel as cluster-phobic as humanly possible. The film's conclusion, uses the camera to make the viewer feel like they're looking through the eyes of the Alien as it chases down prisoners who are running for their lives, one by one, to try luring it into chamber they'll drop scorching hot cement onto. Either way, this is material the viewer had never seen in an Alien movie up until this point. So bravo for taking an original approach and not just doing some formulaic rehash of the previous two films.

The visuals, the soundtrack, both set the mood of this picture perfectly. I think of David Fincher's original vision, which falls in line with the now available extended cut, had been released back in 1992, it may not taken another 20 something years for fans like myself to embrace this film. Sigourney Weaver also does some of her best work as the character of Ripley here, portraying a woman who is on the verge of finally caving in from her past encounters with these creatures but ultimately won't cave and allow this kind of bio-weapon fall into "company" hands by the end of the movie. All the little intimate details made possible by this extended cut should really drive home the point that a true effort was made to make a solid third entry into this series of films.

So really, give this film a whirl in adulthood, but make sure it's the extended version, not the theatrical cut. You still may find it to be too dark and brooding as compared to the first two entries, but how in the hell were the first two films not entirely dark and disturbing?? Nuff said.