* * * * * * minor plot spoilers in review * * * * * * * * * * * * no major spoilers are in review * * * * * * the previous two " alien " films have each had their own unique styles to them . the ridley scott's alien was very much a stylistic suspense film . james cameron's aliens was much more of an action film . and i liked each film separately for which it was . now alien 3 is out . and it is it's own film in the same right that alien and aliens were . unlike aliens , alien 3 requires that you have seen aliens . this is very important as the story picks up exactly were aliens left off . the survivors of the expedition to lv-426 are returning home after battling and beating the aliens . the climactic fight scene between ripley and the mother alien on the sulaco in aliens left behind one item , an egg . in the opening sequence we see the egg hatch , find its quarry , which leads to a fire aboard the sulaco when the facehugger is injured , an leads the sulaco to jettison the hypersleep tubes in an escape vessel . this vessel crash lands on fury 109 . everyone in the vessel is killed , except ripley . the facehugger is jettisoned with them and survives the crash . fury 109 is an ex-mining/maximum security prison . when closed down , some of the lifer prisoners decided to stay and live out the remaining years on the planet . all the prisoners are men who have not seen a woman in many years . ripley's arrival sparks a problem with the inmates . as for the new haircut that ripley and the prisoner's sport , there is an infestation of lice on the planet . being an ex-prison means that there is no way off the planet and no weapons . so the prisoners and ripley are off to face the alien on their own . i will not go into detail , but you can guess what happens here . the alien is loose and no one believes ripley's outstanding story . she finds comfort in the arms of the colony's doctor . yes , after 57 years ripley has sex . it is not gratuitous , in fact , we don't even see them kiss , but it is just as well . a sweaty sex scene would not have worked in the context of the film . there is a lot more gore in alien 3 . in fact i would guess to say that there is more in alien 3 than either of the earlier two . it also sports a new alien with 4 legs ! i won't say how , but it leads us to believe a few new things about the alien and its cycle , which i am sure will be explored in alien 4 . sigourney weaver is back as ripley and provides another excellent performance of this character . her scene during the autopsy of newt is enough to garnish her another academy nomination . the rest of the cast is also quite good . notably , charles dance as the doctor with whom ripley finds momentary escape from fury 109 . alien 3 has a very distinct look . this is due largely to its director , david fincher . mr . fincher , who until now has only directed music videos and commercials , has done an incredible job here . his direction is excellent and makes this film come to life in ways no " alien " film has before . for mr . fincher , i see a long prosperous career ahead of him . the music was also done by a newcomer to the film industry . elliot goldenthal has created a deeply moving score which lends itself to the claustrophobic setting that the " alien " series been set in . this time the score is not so much a rip off of star trek ii ( james horner's aliens ) . this score has a choral back up at times and even lends itself to the old style of ennio morricone scoring . this is a great score . the ending to alien 3 is quite good . there were times i thought that hollywood would come in and screw it up , but it played very nicely . i will not ruin the ending for you . go see the film . i consider it to be a much more involved film than any of the other films released so far this season . alien 3 is a worthy successor to aliens and alien . and when they make alien 4 , perhaps they will be able to find yet another new direction to take it in .
