Third time lucky? (Alien 3 (DVD))

Member Name: Flibble

Product:	Alien 3 (DVD)
Date:	24/10/01 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's another Alien film, Good ideas

Disadvantages: Poorly executed, No exciting extras

It seems as though the movie producers have hatched a plan – Alien was met with great success, Aliens (the sequel) pulled in huge numbers of people two – hey, here’s an idea, lets make ANOTHER Alien film!

Now, I really enjoy the Alien movies, all of them are good and all of them are different in their own unique ways. Take Alien and Aliens for instance, whilst the first film introduced us to the character of Ripley and the Alien itself, the second film was a real action movie, thanks in no small part to director James Cameron. The first film had a distinct style to it that was unmistakably Ridley Scott.

For it’s third outing the franchise continues its idea of using a different director from the previous movies (in this case David Fincher) and giving the films setting a different twist to it too. Prior to working on Alien 3 Fincher was someone who’d never really directed a movie as big as this – he had worked alongside some of the big names in Hollywood today though, his part as an assistant cameraman in ‘Return of The Jedi’, as well as matte photographer in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ certainly gave him a taste for working on big pictures. It came as a shock to many that such a young and (relatively) inexperienced director should be given the responsibility of continuing the Alien legacy into its latest incarnation.

Now, sadly for you lot I can’t really go into too much detail about how the movie opens, as it picks up from where the previous film ends! Suffice to say that Ripley finds herself being rescued from an escape pod. Ripley initially believes that she is back on earth, her problems over. But we know better than that don’t we!

Ripley is on a former prisoner colony. The worst scum of the universe are being held here – murderers, rapists, arsonists – you name them, there here. Ripley is the only woman here too, which mak
es it even more difficult for her as she is often attacked and intimidated by the inmates.


In charge of the prisoners is Andrews (played by Brian Glover who sadly died in 1997), he struggles to keep a hold on the prisoners here and things certainly aren’t helped by the arrival of Ripley. Andrews decides the best thing to do in the situation is to keep Ripley until a rescue team can come to collect her. That would be fine, expect Ripley wasn’t the only thing on the escape pod. It soon becomes apparent that an Alien is in the colony as the prisoners are hunted down one by one. With no weapons of any description, Ripley has to win over the prisoners as well as defeat the Alien once and for all (until the next movie anyway).

Many feel that this movie is something of a let down. I can’t really make my mind up to be honest. I like the premise and the situation Ripley finds herself in. All the actors put in a top-notch effort into their respective roles and Fincher does a good job for such a big task, but something is just lacking a little.

Reading a bit about the movie itself over the years it becomes clear that Fincher had ideas that the Studio just weren’t interested in or didn’t have the budget necessary to create them – that’s a real shame as his ideas really could have lifted the movie. What we are left with is a movie that is probably the second weakest of the four Alien movies, although the way the movie ends would have been a great way to end the franchise there and then.

Enough of the movie though, what about the disc itself? The transfer is as reliable as ever here. This movie features predominantly dark and gloomy sets that come across as well as you would expect. A large amount of fire and explosions ensue during the films final act and the bursts of colour pose no problems either. Whilst not overly outstanding, the picture certainly isn’t disappointing either
– it does what it needs to do.

The sound is also ‘average’ A nice sound-stage allows for decent spot effects from the rear speakers and dialogue comes across as clearly as any other DVD you will have seen – nothing groundbreaking either here. The score of the movie helps to build the tension nicely and the sound transfer certainly does a credit to the work done by Elliot Goldenthal (who also worked on such titles as ‘Heat’, ‘Sphere’ and more recently ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within)

Sadly for the Alien movies however, as the number of films in the series increases, the number of extras given to the DVD releases seem to decline. Prepare yourself for standard DVD fare here – yes, it’s the ‘This director/actor/producer/tea-maker is the greatest I’ve ever worked with’ speech that seems increasingly common these days. Although it does become a bit more interesting when Fincher discusses the movie and the other actors give a little insight into the parts they play – running for just over 20 minutes; this feature is enjoyable enough but only worth watching once. I’d love to hear about Ridley Scotts views on the follow-ups to his original classic, but sadly we don’t hear from him.

Coupled with a trailer, a decent (if not outstanding) set of menus and that about sums it up. I guess if you’re a fan of the Alien movies (as I am) then you may/may not like this movie – it seems to split the fans in two – some like it, some detest it. Personally I think it’s a pretty decent movie and certainly has re-watch potential. A flawed attempt at a great movie would perhaps some this up best.

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