Rich conceptual film lacking drama

Rating: 7/10 (14 October 1999)

After viewing David Fincher's subsequent effort, Seven, this film gains a lot. There's obviously a lot more going on conceptually in Alien3 than dramatically. What interests me is how Alien3 (much like the other films in the series, especially the second and fourth) explores ideas of aggression, sexuality, and motherhood.
There are obvious connections made between the first two in Aliens. When Hicks offers Ripley a lesson in using a military weapon, the sexual overtones are heavy. "Show me everything," Ripley says suggestively. Their relationship never develops, as Hicks dies early in Alien3. Ripley winds up seducing Clemens, the doctor for the monastic base on Fury. Fincher suggests that the result of their contact is that Ripley is "pregnant" with an alien. Heavy stuff.
There is plenty to work with here, but Fincher unnecessarily adds religion to the mix. The base, formerly a prison colony, has evolved into a monastery of sorts, with Charles Dutton as the pugilistic leader Dillon. If Fincher was trying to equate the alien with some sort of demonic being, he failed completely. Much of Dillon's religious exhortation seems woefully out of context.
There is much to admire stylistically in Alien3. The opening credits interpose snapshots of action that effectively construct a longer, more complete sequence of events. The shots of the funeral for Hicks and Newt are intercut with shots of the new alien emerging explosively from a dog, as Dillon eulogizes how life emerges from death. The juxtaposition is truly effective.
Fincher's style doesn't lend itself well to extended action sequences, and the climactic attempt by the base inhabitants to trap the alien feels rather devoid of energy. It's also hampered by the failings of his special effects; in most of the action scenes, the alien is an obvious add-in to the shot. The ending however, is challenging, and a real departure from what one would expect from Hollywood (as it was in Seven).