Alien 3 (1992) - film review

When a fire breaks out aboard the Colonial Marine spaceship Sulaco, an escape pod containing the surviving crew members is ejected into space.  The pod crashlands on Fiorina 161, a maximum security penal planet inhabited by some of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy.  The prison’s population is entirely male, mostly pathologically hostile to women, and is employed in operating a large metal foundry.  The only member of the Sulaco to come round from cryonic stasis is Ellen Ripley; her companions Newt and Hicks are dead.  Convinced that an Alien may have been aboard the pod, Ripley persuades the colony’s doctor, Clemens, to perform an autopsy on Newt, but there is no sign of an Alien embryo in her body.  Just when the threat appears to have passed, an Alien bursts from the body of the prison dog and begins its killer rampage.  Ripley then makes two terrifying discoveries.  Firstly, there are no weapons of any kind on the planet, which makes its entire population defenceless against a marauding killer.  Secondly, a body scan reveals that she has been impregnated by the Alien and hosts the embryo of the Alien Queen.  This really looks as if it could be the end for Ripley.  If might also be the beginning of the end for humankind if the Company gets its way...

The third entry in the original Alien quadrilogy had a problematic production and has been much maligned, although viewed today it actually has quite a lot going for it and it holds up almost as well as the other Alien films.  Much has been made of the chaotic circumstances under which the film was made - directed by a rookie filmmaker whose best efforts were constantly thwarted by studio interference, with a script that was hurriedly cobbled together as the film was being shot, on sets that had been designed for an abandoned script.   Bearing all this in mind, it is remarkable that Alien 3 stands up as well as it does.  Its totally fragmented plot, which breaks most of the rules of film narrative and goes off in some weird directions aparently for the fun of it, is actually a strength and makes the film even more disturbing than its two slicker and more formulaic predecessors. 

This is a film in which anything can happen, in which guest actors are dispatched as unceremoniously as bit players, and where nothing should be taken for granted.  Alien 3 is also far grubbier, far more sadistic than what went before, a truly nightmarish vision that offers absolutely no concessions to good taste.  Don’t even bother trying to count the number of times the F word is used. Alien 3 is a nasty, ugly, crud-incrusted bastard monstrosity of a film, and it has a solid dirty realism that the first two Alien films, brilliant as they are technically, lacked.  The characters, whilst virtually indistinguishable from one another (which is the film’s biggest failing), look as if they are absolutely terrified.  Even Ripley, battle hardened after her two previous run-ins with the Alien, looks as if she is out of her depth and about to clock up a truly horrendous dry-cleaning bill.

We can only guess at how much better Alien 3 might have been if director David Fincher had been able to realise his vision instead of being constantly compromised and sidelined by the studio executives.   As the film stands, it is a flawed masterpiece, terrifyingly nihilistic in its tone, and viciously claustrophobic in style.   Yes, the film is structurally a mess and seems to wallow in its confusion like a drunk revelling in his own vomit, but it offers one Hell of a ride.  Watching Alien 3 is not for the faint-hearted - it is a gruesome, sordid experience, and you are left feeling like you have been violated by the Alien Queen herself.  Or maybe that was the Doner kebab I ate.

© Steve Chandler 2011

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