Adam Duncan reviews
Alien3
Distributed by
20th Century Fox
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 05593DVD
- Running time: 110 minutes
- Year: 1992
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 29 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish,
Finnish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Polsih, Czech, Hungarian and Icelandic.
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Original Theatrical Trailer, Making of Alien3
Director:
Producers:
Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill
Screenplay:
David Giler, Walter Hill and Larry Ferguson
Music:
Cast:
Ripley: Sigourney Weaver
Clemens: Charles Dance
Dillion: Charles Dutton
Golic: Paul McGann
Andrews: Brian Glover
Aaron: Ralph Brown
Morse: Daniel Webb
Bishop II: Lance Henriksen
Alien3
was not very well received by critics and fans when released in
1992. It was not exactly a big sucess at the box office although it did
gross back its budget, albeit only just.
Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor when her ship crash lands
on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet's
maximum security prison. Ripley fears that an alien was aboard her craft and it
turns it that this is true as the alien starts killing ex-cons.
Without weapons or any kind of modern technology, Ripley and the
remaining men must find a way to destroy the alien. But Ripley also
discovers that not only does she have to kill the alien but herself as
well.
Alien3 was very different to the two films that were before it due to
the problems in writing the script and also because a lot of material
was deleted from the film. This does not mean that this is a terrible
film. It's just that it could have been better.
The film does suffer from the lack of action from Aliens and the
suspense from Alien but puts forward its own ideas. This was David
Fincher's first film and he does his job fairly well. The film has a
very dark and gothic look to it and David presents it excellently.
One problem with the visual elements of the film is the alien effects.
When done by traditonal methods, the creature looks good. But as soon as
CGI takes over, it looks very false and badly inserted into the film.
The cast are not as strong as in the first two films. Sigourney Weaver
is the expection particulary towards the end as she realises her fate.
Of the rest of the cast, Charles Dance and Charles Dutton are the only
other good performances. The rest of the cast don't make much of an
impression.
The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 ratio and looks very good.
There is some sparkle evident but there is little grain and digital
artifacting.
The sound is Dolby Digital 5.1 and is reasonable for this film.
It is not as good as the audio on Aliens though but then this film is
not a gung-ho action epic like Cameron's effort.
Extras:
Chapters/Trailer:
There are 29 chapters for this film which is excellent. A trailer is
included.
Languages and Subtitles:
There is only one language on the disc and that is English. There are
subtitles in English, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Portuguese, Hebrew,
Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Icelandic.
Making Of Alien3:
This is a 22 minute documentary on the film which also focuses on the
first two as well. This is actually very enjoyable and features
interviews with not only the cast and crew of Alien3 but also of the
first two films such as director Ridley Scott, Tom Skerrit and Veronica
Cartwright from Alien and Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn and producer Gale
Ann Hurd from Aliens. We also see an excellent look at the alien effects
along with some brief footage of H.R Giger at work from the first film
followed by an interview by the man himself. Well worth a look.
Menu:
The menu for this film is very strange as it appears to be moving
tentatcles! This must be one of the most weirdest DVD menus to date.
This film is far from being a sci-fi classic but it is not one to be
ignored either. It is worth repeat viewing and is an enjoyable film.
The disc is fine but it is nowhere near as good as the discs for Alien
and Aliens.
It's not really worth £20 either so it's perhaps best to get this as
part of the Alien Legacy box set or buy it from an online site where
prices are cheaper than the high street.
FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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OVERALL
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Review copyright © Adam Duncan, 2001.
E-mail Adam Duncan
The following is a list of all the Alien films reviewed online to date :
2005 DVDfever Dom: Alien Vs Predator Special Edition (DVD)
2001 Adam Duncan: Alien (DVD)
2001 Adam Duncan: Aliens: Special Edition (DVD)
2001 Adam Duncan: Alien 3 (DVD)
1996 DVDfever Dom: Alien (PAL Laserdisc)
1996 DVDfever Dom: Aliens: Special Edition (PAL Laserdisc)
1996 DVDfever Dom: Alien 3 (PAL Laserdisc)
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