The Essence, Killed Before the Film Even Starts

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2006)

When the very glue that held the air-tight plot of ALIENS together is torn off its fabric before the film begins, proper, can any amount of "clever camera angles" and "moody set pieces" fill in the void that is left? That is the question I ask myself because at the time this film was released I was in awe of David Fincher's dark images and clever editing, most notably in his videos for Madonna. True, ALIEN 3 tries to bring back the dread that the first movie contained and has some very unnerving sequences, but numerous re-writes leading to Newt's off screen death and Ripley's impregnation by an alien (as forced as any life-like expression on a mannequin) killed any emotional resonance that otherwise it would have had. This is what happens when money takes over and creativity flies out the window. Everything becomes a color-by-numbers cat and mouse game where everyone is a mouse running away from an alien. Ripley makes some questionable choices which are out of character early in the film and the time it takes for her own alien to pop out raises the issue: does the chest burster come flying out only when the plot deems it so?