Alien 3 updated

 

Alien 3 1992 - updated

• Director: David Fincher
• Seen by this director: Gone Girl, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Panic Room, Fight Club, many music videos
• Based on Book: no
• Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Brian Glover, Ralph Brown, Danny Webb, Lance Henriksen, Pete Postlewaite, Phil Davis
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
• Sigourney Weaver – Chappie, Paul, Snow Cake, Be Kind Rewind, Avatar, Holes, Galaxy Quest, Working Girl, Dave, Death and the Maiden, The Ice Storm, A Map of the World, Holes, Gorillas in the Mist, The Year of Living Dangerously, the other Alien films.
• Charles S. Dutton – American Violet, Honeydripper, Secret Window, Homicide Life on the Street, Mississippi Masala
• Charles Dance – Victor Frankenstein, Woman in Gold, The Imitation Game, Merlin, Starter for Ten, Black and White, Gosford Park, Hilary and Jackie
• Paul McGann – Bletchley Circle, Our Mutual Friend, Withnail and I
• Brian Glover – Prince of Jutland, O Lucky Man, Kes
• Ralph Brown – Jack the Giant Slayer, The Kid, The Boat that Rocked, Star Wars, Amistad, Cold Lazarus, Karaoke, The Crying Game, Impromptu, Withnail and I, The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Danny Webb – Humans, Endeavour, Hustle, Valkyrie, Shackleton, Still Crazy, Henry V, Twelfth Night
• Lance Henriksen – Aliens
• Pete Postlethwaite – Brassed Off, The Constant Gardener, The Shipping News, Amistad, Romeo and Juliet, The Last Mohican, In the Name of the Father, Hamlet
• Phil Davis – Merlin, Case Histories, Brighton Rock, Another Year, Doctor Who, Notes on a Scandal, Bleak House, Rose and Maloney, Twenty Thousand Streets under the Sky, Vera Drake, White Teeth, Still Crazy, Photographing Fairies, Secrets and Lies, In the Name of the Father, Underworld, Quadrophenia
• Why bought: classic sci fi, recommended by friend ÖB.
• Seen: once – September 21, 2012. Updated 12 February 2021 

Cool. Almost more philosophical than the first one with lots of gender issues.  Ripley ends up on as maximum security planet with a couple of dozen real baddies – murderers, rapists and whatnot.  They don’t like having a woman in their macho, neo-Christian midst.  Does that bother her? Not Ripley.  She’s a toughie.

The religious aspect is quite interesting. It seems reasonable that these guys without hope would create hope for themselves by believing – recently starting to believe – in the apocalypse. The good guy Clemons (Dance) stands apart and observes this phenomenon as do others. It is not a religious movie. The message is that religion doesn’t help against aliens. It would be ridiculous if it did.

The gender thing works out pretty well too. Ripley manages fine except when being attacked by three thugs at once – she is saved by a forth sort-of hero but not in a damsel in distress way. And she ends up leading the fight against the aliens.

Which is in the second half after the rather contemplative first half and it becomes the mad running, chasing, flame-throwing battle of the first two films.  Confusing, as this kind of scene often is, but exciting enough. And in the end Ripley, in another interesting parallel to the Christian legend, sacrifices herself in a falling Christ-on-the-cross image to save humanity.

Maltin wrote that this was a same-old same-old film just repeating the first two. He must have slept through everything but the chase scenes. It’s better than the second and as good as the first and it gets

 

4* of 5.

Update: I agree with myself.