Alien3 (rewatch)
Posted by martinteller on December 25, 2010
Haven’t watched this in about 10 years. Decided to go for the so-called “assembly cut” since I’ve never seen it. Most people seem to hold this film in contempt, but I think it’s not that bad. Fincher does pretty much the exact opposite of Cameron, for better and for worse. Instead of hi-tech weaponry, the cast is made to cope with the barest of tools. There’s not a single line of dialogue that made me wince like Cameron’s shitty tough talk. It’s not a thrill ride, but more of a dark, introspective nihilistic slow burn. It’s a more interesting setting and scenario, with a complex dynamic between the characters — characters who, although not especially likeable, have something approaching real personalities and not just clichés from bad war movies. The musical score is… well, okay, the score is still bombastic, but it’s also much more unusual, I liked most of it. But there are some trade-offs. First of all, the effects are rather poor. At several points in the movie, the alien is clearly superimposed over the action… it has an odd outline or something that makes it look pasted in. No sequel should have worse special effects than its predecessor. More importantly, Fincher doesn’t have Cameron’s skill in putting together an action setpiece. The geography of the location is never clearly established, which makes most of the action (especially the whole business with the corridors) a confusing clusterfuck. Like I said, it’s pretty much the opposite of Aliens… the buildup is really quite interesting and engaging, but the last 45 minutes are tedious (while we’re comparing Fincher to Cameron, however… it’s kind of funny that the ending is jarringly similar to Terminator 2). So while I don’t hate the third movie nearly as much as most people appear to, there’s not a lot to love either. It’s got some good photography (special effects aside) and some intriguing stuff going on, but it’s still nowhere near as impressive or iconic as the first movie. Rating: 7
