Lucas
Versantvoort / January 6, 2015
Six years
after the success of Aliens, Alien 3 reared its head. Directed by no
one less than newcomer David Fincher, the result was altogether quite…peculiar.
And one need only inquire a little about the film’s production to see why.
After a nice manipulation of the 20th
Century Fox logo by composer Elliot Goldenthal, the film immediately kicks you
in the balls. The escape vessel carrying Ripley, Newt, Hicks and Bishop crashes
on a prison planet in the ass end of nowhere. Ripley is found unconscious on
the beach, but Newt, Hicks and Bishop have all died. If you want reason no. 1
why some viewers like to pretend Ripley’s story ended with Aliens, there you have it. The prison is home to inmates who are
trying to find God. Needless to say, some find the presence of a woman most
unsettling. Ripley discovers what happened from a friendly inmate played by
Charles Dance and now has to learn to cope with life in the prison facility
while waiting for a rescue ship. What nobody realizes however, is that our
friendly neighborhood alien queen left a little surprise for them before she
died at the end of Aliens.
Alien
3 is a strange film to review. It shares a lot of elements with its
predecessors: there’s a single alien wreaking havoc on the inmates; Ripley has
to slowly assume a position of authority and get everyone to work together,
etc. But there’s something decidedly different about this third outing and I
think it’s mostly to do with the humor, which is of the gallows variety. Make
no mistake, the story is very dramatic. (spoilers) Ripley discovers her fellow
passengers (including potential love interest and surrogate daughter) have
died; she’s forced to shave her hair due to lice issues in the prison; she
discovers there’s an alien inside her, the list goes on. And yet, there are
times I’d label this film a comedy, albeit a very dark Fincher-ian one. It’s
mostly because of the inmates; whether it’s the spiritual Dillon (Charles S.
Dutton) giving speeches or some of the inmates acting crazy, it’s a very funny
film at times. Consider the scene where the warden is killed. He’s always seen
carrying a small black ball. When he’s dragged up into the ceiling by the alien
to everyone’s surprise, the same ball drops to the floor moments later and one
of the inmates carrying a chair appropriately responds with a resounding “Fuck!”
Also, the film’s definitely got its
own style and themes. Even if you consider Alien
3 to be overall inferior to its predecessors—which I do—at least the final
product’s something that has got its own feel. Whether it’s the dark humor or
its many religious overtones, it’s clear that they tried to do something new
rather than rehashing ideas or turning the series into a boring formula and
milking it for all its worth. (We’d have to wait until the Alien vs Predator movies for that…) While the troubled production (many
writers, countless script revisions, Fincher complaining about studio interference,
etc.) ensured the film itself was also troubled, a revised version dubbed the
Assembly Cut changed and clarified a lot of things. The consensus is now that
this is the version to watch. Needless to say, it’s the version I’ve seen prior
to this review and I imagine I would’ve disliked Alien 3 quite a bit had I seen the theatrical cut first.
One of the more noteworthy changes has to do
with the ending: apparently, in the original version, while Ripley falls into
the lava, the alien bursts out of her chest, but Ripley holds on to it to
ensure they both die. This however completely negates the difficult choice
Ripley faces before when talking to Bishop: have the alien taken out in an
operation after which Ripley will live on or sacrifice herself. She doesn’t
trust the company. She fears they’ll keep the alien alive for research purposes
instead of killing it. However, if she agrees to the operation, chances are she’ll
still be able to live a happy life. Finally, she refuses and decides she’d
rather die knowing for certain the alien threat would die with her. Having the
alien burst out of her while she’s falling only indicates that she made the
right choice as she was moments away from death. Had she accepted Bishop’s
offer, she’d still have died and the alien would be in the company’s hands. The
ending in the Assembly Cut is definitely more bittersweet as the alien does not pop out of her chest, indicating
that she might have lived happily
ever after. Not to mention her Christ-like pose as she falls which befits Alien 3’s religious vibe.
All in all, I definitely like this film. Despite
it not being as tightly woven as its predecessors, there’s still a lot to
appreciate. Whether it’s the great acting, the religious themes or the gallows
humor, you’re bound to like some aspect of Alien
3. Just make sure you’re watching the Assembly Cut.
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