near-brilliant use of tone

Rating: 7/10 (28 August 2003)

Alien3 has a great many detractors for a great many reasons. But let me offer just one example of how thoroughly effective this film is in terms of tone and atmosphere: the funeral sequence where the bodies of Newt and Hicks are thrown into the molten steel and the new alien is born from the dog. Look at all the layers Fincher successfully employs in the space of two minutes. The use of irony (Dutton's eulogy) and contrast (alien ripping its way out of the dog's chest), blending beauty and horror, together with an impending sense of doom (Riply's bloody nose) and loss (the death of loved ones), taking place in a physical environment of bitter cold and scorching heat. The scene is both cathartic and devastating, visually-stunning and unrelentingly morbid. To me, it's a near-perfect hybrid of Ridley Scott and James Cameron. And Fincher deserves a place right next to them. What other director, apart from the true masters, can evoke so many seamless transitions so efficiently?