Serial Killer's, Child Rapists...and Sex Starved Fundamentalist's....help Ripley (kinda)

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 2005)

1992, and 20th Century Fox gave the world ALIEN³.
For the director's chair, Fox hired silver screen virgin -- David Fincher; who was at the peak of a successful career directing music videos and television commercials, while also having worked at George Lucas' ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) during the 80's.
The tale of ALIEN³ takes place on one of the most inhospitable environments (asides from Los Angeles) ever portrayed on film. Human criminals and an Alien scream away at each other in the cinematic equivalent of 'Hillary Clinton Vs. Condaleeza Rice' in a Bangkok backstreet prostitute fight. The location is Fury 161, an evacuated lead mine and prison colony with only a fraction of it's original population wishing to voluntarily remain of they're own accord.
There, some of society's most wretched and vile convicts have been isolated; murderers, child rapists, serial killers and loons have formed a sort of monastic order, living in the lead mining facilities. The prisoners (logically) have no weapons, no escape vehicle, no booze, no pornography, no TV, no internet access, no HBO and to make matters even worse, are all inclined to regularly shave their head and body hair, as the planet is infested with "future" lice. On this delightful planet arrives Lt. Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver), the future equivalent of Typhoid Mary.
No sooner has Ripley shaved, deaths immediately begin occurring throughout Fury 161 with a rather suspicious Xenomorphic air about them . Realizing what she may have inadvertently brought Fury's unsuspecting residents from her visit to LV-426, Lt. Ellen Ripley goes about doing what must be done in order to save Fury's quickly dwindling prison population, and perhaps - humanity itself.
From this point onwards, the rest of the film is spent franticly running around, strenuously arguing, overly screaming and weeping through the depressing Fury 161 facility, while awaiting Bishop II (played by Lance Henriksen) to arrive to make his (gimmick) guest appearance.
On a more serious note, the plot does takes time to advance. The first half of the film is short on action, BIG on character introduction, development, tension and suspense. The thought of having weapons taken away adds even more to the terror as the theme goes into that of vulnerability/helplessness/defenseless. The power structure is reversed and the frustration is evident, and seeing how a group of prisoners, who's crimes are based on those of assumed power, deals with it is a very strong concept. Without the sympathy for Ripley from the previous ALIEN movies and only minor flashes of humanity from the prisoners themselves, the film is without sympathetic characters worthy of redemption. A truly wonderful change from the traditional film status-quo B.S..
Asides the undeserving criticism the film received on it's debut, ALIEN³'s superb intermixed UK & US cast, cinematography, excellent production values, beautiful art direction, flawless editing, menacing score, visually stunning set designs and not forgetting of course - skillful directing; make this an underrated masterpiece, that continues to find itself in greater appreciation in a modern day sea of mediocre Hollywood productions.
Despite the constant high level daily studio interference throughout the troubled production of ALIEN³ (back in 1991), Finchers directorial (debut) brilliance continues to shine throughout ALIEN³ in the above noted departments. All in all, this movie is a worthy conclusion to the ALIEN trilogy. It's my personal favorite in the series due to the multiple themes and concepts presented. Brilliantly acted and directed, and the prison/Gothic industrial setting is haunting and eerily beautiful.
ALIEN³ is akin to a fine wine; it matures with age.
An underrated if somewhat misunderstood masterpiece.