Review of Alien 3

Introduction

The third movie in the Alien series, and many would suggest the weakest. The action centres around a prison planet which seems strangely to be full of British sit-com actors, oh, and Charles Dance.

Lots of aliens are there as you would expect to keep up the mortality rate, and the lovely Sigourney stuggles with the likes of Brian Glover in trying to understand his accent. Oh and they dont get on very well either.

Special effects wise, this is the first one to make use of CGI, and it shows! The effects are excellent and make up for an underachieving plot. Plenty of tunnular camera shots follow the scurrying aliens around the complex as they make unwelcome appearances to the actors` insides.

As with all the Alien series, its a monster movie. The first one touched new ground with suspense, and the subsequent sequels could not extend this format much as we have seen the aliens before. So the sequels have to therefore show lots of em to keep the audience awake.

Video

Alien 3 is presented in a widescreen 2.35:1 ratio with an anamorphic transfer. As a result the picture quality is superb, and again Fox have provided a quality product with these newly released 20th Anniversary Alien movies. Why didn`t they try as hard with Titanic, I ask myself. This is a dark film, almost gothic at times, as Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) arrives on a planet housing an abandoned maximum security prison. However the picture quality never deteriorates and remains as bright as ever. Colours are bright and contrast is high, and the film is split over 29 chapters.

Audio

Well - what do you expect from a movie from one of the most successful sci-fi series in history? The 5.1 soundtrack is superb as you would expect, with plenty or rear channel action across the sound stage (love the whistling wind effects). The subwoofer takes a pounding too, and is essential for this type of film to get the full chest pounding effect. There is far more `in yer face` action having moved away from the original suspense filled eerie `Alien` with associated soundtrack, but this movie blasts away in typical blockbuster fashion

Features

As part of The Alien Legacy, you would expect this to be a good disk, and it does not disappoint. It cannot however match the sheer quality of the Alien DVD with its plethora of extras and amazing animated menus. But you get the trailers for each of the four Alien movies, and a 20 minutes long featurette of behind the scenes information. There are interesting insights into the sets at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire back in 1992 when this movie was in production. The are no known Easter Eggs on this disc, unlike Alien and Aliens which have one or two tricks up their proverbial sleeves.

Conclusion

Although this is widely regarded as the weakest of the four Alien movies to date, the DVD itself cannot be faulted. I found the film was enjoyable, but did not have much we hadn`t seen before. Strange as it may seem, I also found there to be too many well known British actors in the film that have been seen regularly in half hour sit-coms (Brian Glover, Paul McGann). Well as it was filmed over here, what can we expect?

The Alien creature effects are more up to date, with the first CGI alien making an appearance. The film is certainly watchable if only to provide a vehicle to the fourth, and in my opinion better, movie Alien Resurrection.