FuckyeahAlien!

I have this saved in my Alien folder as “Sassy Bald”… I think that’s a good enough caption. 

Alien3

Xenovision ‘92

vaarna:

30 favourite movies - 2. Alien³

You’ve been in my life so long, I can’t remember anything else.

Although often called nihilistic, I don’t quite share that view in regards to Alien³. I think the movie is extremly bleak, disturbing and depressing, but it is not nihilistic. This is first and foremost the story of Ripley, a woman who has been lost in a nightmare for decades now. Some might crave for an upbeat ending with her self-made family, but that is not her journey. Instead Ripley is left to pick up the pieces and grieve for the fallen. Along the way she also gives a cast of wretched souls the chance for redemption as they join in her quest to kill the alien. But the most powerful message is her sacrifise, which saves mankind in the end. 

It is a well known fact that the production of Alien³ was troubled. Sets were being built without a finished script, no one knew which way to take the story next, the studio denied David Fincher the final cut, Sigourney Weaver wanted to end the franchise… It’s a miracle that the movie emerging from this even had a coherrent story (plot holes are present even in the first minutes). Yet the movie looks amazing. Despite everything, Fincher manages to bring in his eye for detail. The movie has a unique bleak atmosphere and mood that frightens and disturbs me years later.

The score by Elliot Goldenthal is the best in the series: creepy, touching, uplifting and horrifying. And Sigourney gives her best performance as Ripley. She is just enigmatic on screen with her pain, determination, toughness and fear. I love the supporting cast who shine as characters that aren’t written as easily likable: Charles Dance as the doctor Clemens, Charles S.Dutton as conflicted Dillon, Paul McGann as the disturbed Golic, Danny Webb as the spirited Morse and Lance Henriksen in a strange dual role that remains ambigious to this day (who or what was Bishop II?). I also love the dialogue in this one; Dillon, Golic, Ripley, Clemens… they all have such great lines. Dillon’s funeral speech is just amazing.

Alien³ remains a favourite of mine, because it offers no easy solutions for the viewer. It’s a flawed product that has a strange charm. I suppose the movie makes the saga into something else by going against our expectations and mutilating its predecessor’s uplifting ending (and then making us sit through the autopsy). The final scenes are just compelling to watch, almost like a saturnine spell that stays with me for a long time after I’m done watching.   

Alien3 poster by rossburt

Here’s the dog in costume I was referring to in this post. I quite like how it looks.