Fascist Cinema
328 wordsLast night we watched Alien3. This is the third in a series of films in which the protagonist advocates genocide. Indeed, characters who oppose genocide are portrayed as the bad guys.
True to the film’s reputation, it’s nowhere near as good as Alien or Aliens. I don’t want to blame the director, David Fincher, for this. I think it’s down to the script. There are only 25 prisoners on the planet. Apart from Charleses Dance and Dutton, they all remain ciphers until they die. Just a little characterisation, a little individuality, would have improved things greatly. Pete Postlethwaite is in it, for heaven’s sake. One of the world’s best character actors is given no opportunity to act a character.
The alien is far too reminiscent of a man in a rubber suit too. OK, maybe a somewhat lithe and athletic woman in a rubber suit… which is still not quite the image a terrifying alien should put across.
Oh, and we’re never sure what the alien’s motivation for killing is. Now you’re saying, John, it kills because killing is what it does. But in the previous films, this was not the case. In Aliens, for example, victims were dragged off alive to be parasitic hosts. The aliens’ motivation was reproduction.
All whingeing aside, it isn’t a bad film. It’s just overshadowed by the excellence of its predecessors.
In other news, I have just offended Dan so much, by telling him I don’t love Star Wars, that he’s stopped talking to me.
Update: A couple of points have come up. Firstly, the new alien’s penchant for indiscriminate killing might me something to do with its gestating in a dog rather than a human. Secondly, there is apparently a much better “assembly cut”
on DVD, which allows more time for characterisation. A number of the film’s faults can be attributed to the fact that Fincher wanted to reshoot some scenes, the studio balked at the cost, so he abandoned ship and all but disowned the film.