sacateca
09-08-2004, 09:56 AM
i'm not a big fan of Alien-series, or movie-series in general. While i think Alien is an excellent movie, it's not that to me because of the story, or the alien, or Ripley, or any other in-movie thing, but because Ridley Scott, and the writers, clearly had something to express with it. Aliens was a plain-ordinary sequel that didn't care about the deeper meanings, but only took the story and then ran with it, relying on storyline and characters to keep interest up. Obviously this worked for Cameron, it was hugely succesfull and even acclaimed, but it doesn't work for me in the least. Also i find the characters too much like cardboard cartoon figures, unlike in Alien (for my sensitivities, Cameron always fails to deliver believable characters, but writes them for the lowest common denominator in the audience, resulting in nothing but feel-good entertainment movies).
David Fincher, "unfortunately", has an artistic vision that has very little to do with the "in-movie" things of Alien-series. Thus he got rid of the crowd-pleasing (cardboard) characters, and continued with the original premise, but without the desire to really contribute to it, but to use it to manifest his own visions. This is unfortunate because Alien-fans seem to be a narrow-minded bunch who didn't want to see a great movie, but rather a continuation of the story.
Instead of being just another Alien-franchise movie, Alien 3 stands on its own. A deep foreboding oppressive apocalyptic atmosphere combined with magnificent photography and excellent performances from the whole cast with well-written characters, much like in the first movie. But this is by no means a rip-off from Scott's version, even if the premise is somewhat similar, the difference lies in the content (=subtext). While Alien was Freudian, the theme here is human condition, much like in Fincher's Se7en and Fight Club. Their small closed community is like a miniature model of any place on Earth, and the convicts are representatives and manifestations of ordinary people (in the end, the movie shows them just as sympathetic as anyone else; there is no substantial difference between a criminal and an ordinary person).
This is one of the true under-rated masterpieces. Though the original theatrical version wasn't as impressive as this one, i find it was still almost on par with Ridley Scott's Alien, and way superior to Aliens. But in my opinion, this Director's Cut version even exceeds Scott's original. And this is certainly on a level that's not usual in sequels.
SACATECA
David Fincher, "unfortunately", has an artistic vision that has very little to do with the "in-movie" things of Alien-series. Thus he got rid of the crowd-pleasing (cardboard) characters, and continued with the original premise, but without the desire to really contribute to it, but to use it to manifest his own visions. This is unfortunate because Alien-fans seem to be a narrow-minded bunch who didn't want to see a great movie, but rather a continuation of the story.
Instead of being just another Alien-franchise movie, Alien 3 stands on its own. A deep foreboding oppressive apocalyptic atmosphere combined with magnificent photography and excellent performances from the whole cast with well-written characters, much like in the first movie. But this is by no means a rip-off from Scott's version, even if the premise is somewhat similar, the difference lies in the content (=subtext). While Alien was Freudian, the theme here is human condition, much like in Fincher's Se7en and Fight Club. Their small closed community is like a miniature model of any place on Earth, and the convicts are representatives and manifestations of ordinary people (in the end, the movie shows them just as sympathetic as anyone else; there is no substantial difference between a criminal and an ordinary person).
This is one of the true under-rated masterpieces. Though the original theatrical version wasn't as impressive as this one, i find it was still almost on par with Ridley Scott's Alien, and way superior to Aliens. But in my opinion, this Director's Cut version even exceeds Scott's original. And this is certainly on a level that's not usual in sequels.
SACATECA