Back to basics

Rating: 6/10 (9 November 2000)

WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Alien3 is a return to the low-key realism of the first, and as such is the most underrated film in the series. Frequently scorned, Weaver had to be talked into doing the fourth after this, yet after the flashy Resurrection she has no reservations about a fifth. Also, on the "Making Of" trailer on the Resurrection tape, this movie is marginalised, scarcely mentioned, an embarrassment to the series, best overlooked.
Why? I've never fully understood the reason. One of the main gripes seems to be the death of Newt. I mean, for flip's sake! The girl'd be about fifteen when this was made  that'd be some statis booth! So Ripley finds herself alone on a penal colony that has turned to religion. The colony is filled, as in the first film, with decent actors, and Weaver's presence there puts their vow of chastity at risk. However, it's just as well the rape fear comes from the monks, as it won't come from the alien this time, and this is the biggest flaw in the narrative. The alien won't kill Ripley as she's pregnant with an alien baby. So therefore there is no tension. Ripley is safe, and we know the rest of the cast are just there to be wiped out anyway. (Though again as in Alien, the swiftness of top-level actors' demise are startling. Charles Dance cops it almost as soon as John Hurt did, thirteen years earlier). The film concentrates less on the aliens (who aren't very scary at all this time, thanks to some seriously ropy CGI), but more on Ripley. Maybe killing her off at the start would improve this story, as it's starting to wear a little thin now. What is Ripley, indestructible? Well, no, and that's another bugbear for the fans. As at the end of the film (which should have been called Ripley3), she commits suicide. Of course, I didn't realise till I read it somewhere that this is a culmination of the Christ analogy running through the film.
Now, I said the film is underrated, yet all I've done so far is discuss its low points. There are good bits, notably the acting (Dance particularly) and the characterisation. For Alien3 is an adult film, with realistic coding. The characters are genuine, rather than the juvenile cut-outs of the second. Dance in particular gives a dignified performance, while Ripley's death gives a grandiose poetry to the climax. Criminally underrated, the direction and camera angles are well above standard, and the dark, industrial settings magnificent. The set-up with the criminals converted to monks is original, and the character dynamics dealt with well. The effects are, as you might imagine, as improved upon Aliens as that film was on the original. The space shots are exquisite, while the depth in the movie reinstates the literary bent the second had discarded. Now if only they hadn't used naff CGI for the alien. Maybe that's the reason why there are no genuine moments of horror. 6/10.