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Dom Robinson reviews

Alien³

Distributed by
Encore Entertainment

Cat.no : EE 1090
Cert : 18
Running time : 110 mins plus trailers
Sides 2 (CLV)
Year : 1992
Pressing : UK, 1995
Chapters : 36 (21/12+3)
Sound : Dolby Surround
Widescreen : 2.35:1
Price : £26.99
Extras : Trailers for all 3 films

Director:

David Fincher

Fight Club, Seven

Producers:

Glenn Carroll, David Giler, Walter Hill

Screenplay:

David Giler, Walter Hill and Larry Ferguson

Music:

Elliot Goldenthal

Cast:

Ripley : Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters, Gorillas in the Mist)
Dillon : Charles S Dutton (No Mercy, Crocodile Dundee II)
Clemens : Charles Dance (White Mischief, TV's "Jewel in the Crown")
Golic : Paul McGann (Doctor Who)
Andrews : Brian Glover (Leon the Pig Farmer)
Bishop : Lance Henriksen (Aliens, No Escape)
David : Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father)
William : Clive Mantle (Holby City, Casualty)

Alien 3: What can be said of Officer Ellen Ripley? She hasn't had an easy time of it. Her space flights in the first two films resulted in being followed by an evil creature who wiped out everyone but herself, and she managed to escape intact, almost...

At the start of this third film, problems begin again, and part of her escape pod is jettisoned out and into the orbit of Florina "Fury" 161, and Outer-Veil Mineral Ore refinery, populated by all-male prisoners of a maximum security correctional facility.

With the rest of her crew all gone, she is again on her own, and the alien still hasn't finished its duty, as it works its way through the excellent cast, mostly made up of British actors including Charles Dance, Brian Glover, and the new Doctor Who, Paul McGann.

As the cinema trailer says, "The bitch is back!"

To cap it all, there's a major head lice problem and Ripley will have to shave her head. Sigourney Weaver joked at the time that she did the movie for free, but was paid $5.5 million just to go bald!

The picture quality of the disc is excellent and definitely on a par with that of the "Alien" disc. The surround sound is a knock-out and worth the price alone. Scenes worth checking out include the opening Fox fanfare which starts in the front two speakers, and towards its climax, spills out into the rears as a crescendo builds up. You won't want to miss the autopsy scene when Charles Dance cracks the breastplate of "Newt", and the speakers will have plenty of action all around towards the end of the film as they try to box the alien in. Mighty stuff indeed.

The disc is well-chaptered and the side break is perfect, coming right after Brian Glover's demise at the hands of you-know-who, and one prisoner's perfect four-letter expression of his thoughts. Perhaps the alien took an aversion to Glover's advertisements for a certain brand of tea-bag from years gone by...

I once saw a trailer for the film on a German pay-TV channel, ending with exactly the same scene. You certainly wouldn't find that on UK TV at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, but it was spot-on.

"Alien 3" was unfairly slated upon its cinematic release, which was a shame as although it's not the best of the trilogy, it certainly deserves to be judged on its own merits, and stands up as a good film all on its own. It's a film worth seeing again now that the director David Fincher has been brought to the fore with the worldwide success of his Brad Pitt-starrer "Seven".

David Fincher has done a lot of work on music videos and in this, his first feature film, such style is prevalent from the opening credits with its quick cutting between white text on black-space background and what is happening with the ship containing Ripley, Newt, Hicks and Bishop who set sail at the end of "Aliens", onwards with the dark interoirs of the colony made up of varying shades of brown.

For anyone who saw the pan-and-scan video, you'll know that it was practically unwatchable, since David Fincher is one of the few directors who uses a 2.35:1 image to its full capacity.

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1996.

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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