Movie Review: Alien 3 (1992)

The second sequel in the franchise, Alien 3 stumbles with a weak plot, poor execution, and uninteresting interchangeable supporting characters.

Picking up immediately after the events of Aliens, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor when her spaceship crash lands onto Fury 161. The remote planet is home to a derelict foundry facility and penal colony inhabited by 25 male inmates predisposed to extreme violence, and who have now turned to a form of religion. Ripley suspects that her fellow escapees, the young girl Newt, the Marine Hicks and the android Bishop (Lance Henriksen), were killed in their sleep by a stowaway alien. Medical officer Dr. Jonathan Clemens (Charles Dance) appears to be the one sympathetic person on Fury 161, and he tries to understand Ripley's story.

Also on the planet but less empathetic are the prison warden Andrews (Brian Glover) and inmate spiritual leader Dillon (Charles S. Dutton). When an alien spawns out of a dog and inmates start encountering horrible deaths, Ripley has to create a plan to kill the beast despite having no weapons or resources. With a rescue crew days away and inmates lusting after the only woman they have seen in decades, she realizes that her problems are actually much worse than just one alien on the loose.

The first feature film directed by David Fincher is also the first disappointment in the Alien franchise. A troubled production with a myriad of script ideas mushed together never gels. Citing studio interference, Fincher subsequently disowned the film. The script starts in the worst possible way, betraying all of Ripley's thrilling Aliens exploits by killing off Newt. In the annals of creative sequel ideas, this is one of the worst, and Alien 3 never really recovers.

Ripley is instead dropped into the uninteresting premise of a planet occupied by convicts, and neither the inmates' criminal background nor their new found religious zealotry are properly exploited. Instead a couple of supporting characters are built up to provide some level of interest, and then summarily bumped off halfway through the film, leaving Ripley with a collection of ill-defined, interchangeable co-stars. They are all sweaty, dirty and have shaved heads, and nothing else to offer.

Fincher does succeed in creating a bleak and depressing aesthetic. The film takes place entirely in a facility that should have been condemned and abandoned decades prior, providing ample opportunities for dank and dark hiding places.

While the battle between the sole alien loose on the planet and Ripley resembles more the original film than the first sequel, the conflict is almost totally devoid of tension. Fincher resorts to alien point-of-view shots, and promptly over-uses his gimmick, landing in bad video game land. The more interesting drama of Ripley struggling with what is within catches some passion, but it's too little and too late.

Alien 3 is neither tense nor thrilling, just dead on arrival.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Damien: Omen II (1978)

The first sequel in the devil-as-a-child franchise is better than it needed to be. Although Damien: Omen II does descend into a long series of gory deaths, there is enough acting talent and story progression to retain series momentum.

One week after the events of The Omen, the old man Carl Bugenhagen (an uncredited Leo McKern) is killed in Israel, buried in an archaeological dig collapse before he can warn others that the image of the devil's son has been uncovered on an ancient wall. Seven years later, Damien (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is about to turn 13 years old and living with his adopted parents, rich industrialist Richard Thorn (William Holden) and his second wife Ann (Lee Grant), along with their son Mark (Lucas Donat). Richard is the brother of diplomat Robert Thorn from the original story.

With Damien and Mark about to go to cadet school, the elderly aunt Marion (Sylvia Sidney) tries to warn Richard and Ann that Damien is evil; they dismiss her ramblings. The next morning the sudden appearance of a raven at the base of Marion's bed triggers a fatal heart attack. At the military school, Damien is protected by drill Sergeant Daniel Neff (Lance Henriksen) who encourages Damien to read the Bible's Book of Revelations. At Thorn Industries Damien also has an ally in high ranking executive Paul Buher (Robert Foxworth), who has a plan to control vast amounts of the world's food supply. The young boy starts to understand who he is, while gruesome death awaits anyone who tries to stand in his way.

Mechanically directed by Don Taylor, Damien: Omen II is a middling horror film. Without coming close to capturing the Gothic intensity of the original, the sequel finds enough of a plot to move Damien's story along despite an out-of-control death count. Taylor does not demonstrate much patience for establishing mood or creating build-up, so he compensates with some effective short sharp shocks and an increasing volume of gore.

The early deaths carry the bigger impact, as heralded by a spooky raven, and reach an early climax with a reporter meeting a quite messy end on a desolate rural road. Later there is a nightmare-inducing and well-executed trapped-under-ice death, only compromised because it is somewhat unnecessary. As the film progresses the untimely demises multiply, the film unfortunately defaulting to the low road where a kill-everyone mentality prevails. The gore quotient hits the redline with an elevator mishap that befalls a doctor misguidedly trying to understand Damien's strange blood cellular structure.

In amongst the horror, young actor Jonathan Scott-Taylor does a fine job guiding Damien on a journey of discovery. The film is an inflection from abstract horror to Damien understanding and accepting his destiny, and Scott-Taylor masters the cold stare of evil while also exposing the angst of a young man discovering the enormity of his fate. A befuddled William Holden, three years before his death, generally goes through the motions, while Lee Grant is more engaged and enjoys one late scene filled with steely determination.

With another Jerry Goldsmith score dripping with faux satanic chants, Damien: Omen II registers effective moments amidst the mayhem, a cheesy coming of age tale soaked in grisly malevolence.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Appaloosa (2008)

An  old-fashioned western, Appaloosa enjoys many good moments thanks to a strong partnership between the two lead actors, but otherwise overreaches and sprawls towards an unconvincing romance and unnecessary prolongation.

It's 1882 in New Mexico. The marshal of the town of Appaloosa and all his deputies are killed by ruthless rancher Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons). The town's elders recruit legendary gunman Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his gunshot-toting partner Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) to become the new law. Virgil quickly restores order and checks the aggressive behaviour of Bragg's men.

Widow Allie French (Renée Zellweger) arrives in town, and Virgil is immediately smitten. They start a romance and make plans to settle down together, although Everett notices that Allie's commitment to Virgil may be suspect. Meanwhile Virgil catches a big break when a ranch hand steps forward to testify against Bragg, allowing Virgil and Everett to arrest Bragg and hold him until a judge arrives to hold a trial. But Bragg has allies in unlikely places, and the arrival of gunman Ring Shelton (Lance Henriksen) and his brother Mackie signals the start of a new, violent chapter in Appaloosa.

The second feature film to be directed by Ed Harris (who also co-wrote the script), Appaloosa is a traditional western that treats the genre with the utmost respect. This is both a strength and a weakness. The measured tone and sturdy foundations of the film generate undeniable appeal and set the movie on a sound footing. But there is also little that is new here, and the film serves as a reminder that most of the stories of the west have been told before, and much more than once.

The main crisp element offered by Appaloosa is the relaxed, deep relationship between Virgil and Everett. This is a buddy movie in all the good, rich meanings of the world, and without the contrived tension that is so often added to the mix. Virgil and Everett are simply good together, creating a classic team, with Virgil more comfortable in a leadership role and Everett providing a natural support. Just a touch of humour is added by allowing Everett to carry not only the supportive shotgun but the stronger vocabulary. When Virgil stumbles on complex words, Everett invariably steps in to rescue his friend's sentences.

The film leans heavily on this core friendship, and never succumbs to the cheap thrill of testing it. The few times when Virgil and Everett have a reason to question each other, they quickly don't, emphasizing a bond of quiet trust forged over many years. Harris and Mortensen bring the two men to life with minimum fuss, and both are excellent.

Much less successful is Zellweger as Allie. A replacement for Diane Lane, Zellweger never clicks into a role that requires vulnerability, seduction and manipulation. Zellweger is not able to offer any of the required emotions, and is reduced to following the script along rather than leading with any conviction. Jeremy Irons is adequate as the villain, but he is hampered by the absence of any meaningful backstory to explain his motives.

The film also suffers from some prolongation that starts to get tiresome. A couple of the final chapters could have been shortened, as the mind games and confrontations between Virgil and Bragg drag on and the film meanders in search of a definitive climax. When it arrives, it is good, but the satisfying conclusion can't reverse the damage caused by all the detours to get there.

Neither a genre rejuvenation nor a waste, Appaloosa is a middling effort, a dependable riding partner who neither thrills nor disappoints.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Right Stuff (1983)

A grand celebration of the early days of the United States space exploration program, The Right Stuff is the finest level of ambitious drama. The story of men pushing against the farthest boundaries known to humanity is an exhilarating ride into new frontiers.

Soon after the end of World War Two, breaking the sound barrier is seen as the next major achievement in aviation. At Muroc Army Air Field in California, experimental aircraft are coming closer to the mythical threshold, and many pilots are dying as the equipment fails around them. Finally, war hero Captain Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) breaks the sound barrier in the rocket-powered Bell X-1, despite flying with broken ribs.

Chuck has the support of his wife Glennis (Barbara Hershey), who understands her man's desire to never settle for ordinary. Into the 1950s, Muroc is renamed Edwards Air Force Base, and the local watering hole becomes the preferred gathering place for some of the country best pilots who gather at Edwards set new speed records and test the newest, fastest and most dangerous planes. Yeager remains the spiritual guide for all the pilots, and he continues to re-set the speed record, including getting to Mach 2.0.

When the Soviet Union surprises the world by launching the Sputnik satellite, the US government scrambles to catch up, and the Mercury space program is born. After a series of rigorous fitness and stamina tests, seven military pilots are chosen to lead America into space, including John Glenn (Ed Harris), Alan Shepard (Scott Glenn), Gus Grissom (Fred Ward), Gordon Cooper (Dennis Quaid), and Walter Schirra (Lance Henriksen). The men form a tight bond and are anointed as the brave new explorers of the 20th Century, celebrated by the press as an excited nation gears up to confront new frontiers.

Shepard becomes the first American to launch into space, followed by Grissom, but the latter's flight is blemished by a mishap upon splashdown. Glenn is then selected to become the first American to orbit the earth, and his flight will feature an unexpected distraction. Back at Edwards, Yeager recognizes the changing times, but continues doing his thing: flying the most dangerous airplanes as fast and high as they can go.

Now recognized as a classic and one of the best films of the 1980s, The Right Stuff was remarkably a commercial failure upon its release. In 1982 space movies meant Return Of The Jedi and E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. Audiences enamoured with light sabres, laser guns, warp speed and cute aliens were not ready for a reality-based ensemble piece about the seemingly mundane business of figuring out how to take the first tentative steps into space.

Clocking in at a remarkable 192 minutes, The Right Stuff flies by at the speed of the sound. Director Philip Kaufman adapted Tom Wolfe's bestseller into an almost mythical story of modern knights daring to confront the monsters that live in the unexplored world of space travel, riding at the pointy ends of rockets launched with rudimentary, still-evolving technology. Except that this is all based on true events, and the bravery demonstrated by men like Yeager and the first astronauts laid the groundwork for humans to walk in the moon, a mere 10 years after the Mercury 7 were selected.

Kaufman's masterstroke is in weaving Yeager's story in with the space program. The Right Stuff blends the Greatest Generation that won the war with their younger and cockier brothers, men who reaped the rewards of victory and were then ready to take on the world - and space. Yeager represents the inspirational warriors of war, while men like Glenn and Shepard are the warriors of space exploration, who would not exist without the security and confidence that came with victory.

The Right Stuff includes plenty of colour, character, and surrounding personalities to humanize the story. The link between celebrity, money and success is made early, as the pilots and the politicians realize that secrecy does not pay-off; handsome men and their incredible flying machines will make headlines, and the money to sustain the program and allow it to flourish will follow.

The wives of the pilots suffer in silence, but suffer they do. Betty Grissom (Veronica Cartwright) is humiliated by the ignominious treatment handed to her husband after his spacecraft sinks. Trudy Cooper (Pamela Reed) suffers through her husband Gordon's absolute belief in his abilities. And Annie Glenn (Mary Jo Deschanel) suffers from a severe stutter, a condition that will result in a painfully funny non-encounter with Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (Donald Moffat).

For the most part, government types (including Jeff Goldblum as a pilot recruiter), bureaucrats (particularly John P. Ryan as the Head of the NASA Manned Space Program) and rocket scientists (mostly Germans who switched sides after the war) are given short thrift and treated either as incompetent or clueless. The humour is appreciated, but it is left to other movies to recount the role played by the politicians and engineers to enable space flight.

A film without any dominant performances, each of the main actors gets a few scenes to shine. Shepard casts the longest shadow, while among the astronauts Ed Harris finds the charisma that propelled John Glenn first into orbit and then onto a successful political career. Fred Ward, Scott Glenn and Dennis Quaid sparkle when called upon. Barbara Hershey enjoys the unusual role of the cool pilot's wife who threatens her husband to never change his death defying ways.

Kaufman and his cinematographer Caleb Deschanel create a wide-open and blazing look for The Right Stuff, with stunning recreations of test flights, rocket launches and travel through space. Even the Earth-bound scenes at Edwards Air Base are characterized by flat terrain and open skies, an invitation for a brash nation to come forth and explore. The film is a wondrous visual experience, capturing a bright-eyed can-do spirit riding on not much more than bravado and a political imperative to keep up with and then overtake the Soviets, costs and risks be damned.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

The Movies Of Lance Henriksen

All movies starring Lance Henriksen and reviewed on the Ace Black Blog are linked below:


Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Network (1976, uncredited)

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)

Damien: Omen II (1978)

The Right Stuff (1982)

The Terminator (1984)

Jagged Edge (1985)

Aliens (1986)

Alien 3 (1992)

Color Of Night (1994)

The Quick And The Dead (1995)

Appaloosa (2008)

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.
The Index of Movie Stars is here.

Movie Review: The Terminator (1984)

A high octane science fiction thriller, The Terminator launched a franchise and boosted the careers of star Arnold Schwarzenegger and director James Cameron into a high orbit. The film introduces an outstanding premise rich with possibilities, and executes with joyful aplomb.

In the year 2029 and after an apocalyptic war, evil machines have taken over the world, and are attempting to crush a human rebellion. John Connor is the rebel leader, inspiring a small band of humans to increasing success. To retaliate and alter the destiny of the rebellion, the machines send a nearly indestructible cyborg "terminator" unit (Schwarzenegger) back in time to the Los Angeles of 1984, with a mission to find and kill John's mother Sarah (Linda Hamilton), a lowly waitress, before she can even conceive him.

The rebels try to protect Sarah by sending back in time a soldier of their own: Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) finds Sarah just as the Terminator is moving in for the kill, and as he helps her dodge death he explains the incredible events of the future and Sarah's role in humanity's destiny. With the Terminator in relentless pursuit, Kyle and Sarah begin to run out of places to hide but nevertheless fall in love.

It does not take long for Cameron to rev up The Terminator into an all-action monster, and once the chase is on, it maintains a brilliantly incessant pace. Cars, motorcycles, trucks, building, bums and bystanders are destroyed with pizzazz the Terminator programmed for wanton destruction of anything that gets in the way of the mission, Reese and Sarah equally determined to avoid death by cyborg.

The highlight is the Terminator assaulting a police station. The "I will be back" promise, delivered to the desk sergeant with monotonal determination, is followed by a sequence of wanton annihilation and mayhem, one human-shaped machine decimating a precinct that dared protect a cowering Sarah.

Cameron gives The Terminator an intimidating metallic dark blue and black tint throughout, most of the action taking place at night or in the darker corners of Los Angeles, the Terminator adding to the always-night aesthetic by wearing stylish shades at all times due to damaged flesh around his red electronic eye.

Schwarzenegger perfectly embodies the Terminator, his outrageous physique believable as an over-armoured cyborg, and his limited vocabulary and thick accent suitable for robot-speak. Linda Hamilton grows into the role, from a clueless waitress to a woman on the run and finally a warrior willing to fight for her life. She is the only character to evolve during the movie, and Sarah Connor becomes the heart of the story, just as she represents humanity's central hope for salvation.

Michael Biehn, near the start of a career that would not head in any stellar direction, is adequate but not necessarily memorable as Kyle Reese. Lance Henriksen appears as a police detective and Bill Paxton has a small role as a punk, among a group who are first to experience the Terminator's murderous tendencies.

Hectic, brutal, funny, tense and smart, The Terminator delivers death, destruction, and unconstrained entertainment.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.