Alien³
Tags: dark, boring, neo noir, gothic, murder, allegory, cult, violence, suspenseful

Plot synopsis:
Scenes that were cut from the theatrical version of the film but restored for the 2003 DVD "Assembly Cut" appear in red. Scenes that appear only in the Theatrical Version and no longer in the Assembly Cut appear in blue.In the opening credits of the film, the Sulaco, the large military ship carrying the survivors from the mission to LV-426 (as seen in the movie Aliens), is en route to Earth. Newt, Hicks, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), and the remains of the android Bishop (Lance Henriksen) are all safely in hypersleep. However, a stowaway Alien egg on the ship has released a facehugger. It breaks the glass of one of the tubes, wounding itself. Acid dripping from the facehugger starts an electrical fire, and the ship responds automatically. The medical scanner shows the facehugger as it is attached to one of the sleeping figures. Unable to contain the fire, the automated systems of the Sulaco eject all the cryotubes into an escape pod and eject the pod into outer space. The navigation systems lead the escape vehicle to the nearest planet, which happens to be Fiorina "Fury" 161, home to a penal colony populated by life-sentence XYY-chromosome prisoners, all of whom are multiple murderers and rapists. Unsurprisingly, it is owned and operated by Weyland-Yutani, the omnipresent company that employed Ripley. The EEV crash lands in the water near the shore.A man, Dr. Clemens (Charles Dance), wanders alone along the shoreline when he sees a strange figure lying on the beach. It is Ripley, covered in mud and barely alive. Clemens takes her inside and warns the prisoners that an EEV has crash-landed, and that they need to extract it from the water quickly. He performs CPR on Ripley, who starts breathing again. In the meanwhile, the prisoners use oxen to pull the remains of the EEV from the water. Superintendent Andrews (Brian Glover) prepares a message to the Company: Message screens read that the EEV has been salvaged, but the young female (Newt) has drowned, Corporal Hicks is dead, and Bishop is damaged beyond repair. Ripley is the only survivor as she receives immediate care at the infirmary. The prisoners tow the wreckage back to the prison by crane. Spike, the Rottweiler belonging to one of the inmates, barks fiercely at a facehugger that is still inside the EEV that goes unnoticed by the prison crew..Mr Aaron (Ralph Brown), Andrews' assistant, assembles the inmates as they go into prayer. In an attempt to prevent rumours from spreading, director Andrews (Brian Glover) announces the news to the prison population, making note that the only survivor of the EEV crash is a woman. Two prisoners, Morse (Danny Webb) and Dillon (Charles S. Dutton), the spiritual leader of the prisoners, view the presence of a woman to be disruptive in the all-male population, out of concern for the spiritual well-being of their brothers, many of whom have adopted a fundamentalist, millenarian denomination of Christianity and have vowed celibacy. Andrews assures them that he has requested a Company rescue team to pick her up. He leaves Ripley in the care of doctor Clemens (Charles Dance), under orders that she's not to leave the infirmary until the rescue ship arrives for her.Ripley awakens from hypersleep and is disoriented, but Clemens stabilizes her with an injection. She is distraught to learn of her circumstances, especially the news that her companions are dead. She demands that Clemens take her to the wreckage of the EEV. He takes her through the blast furnace to the EEV and explains that the prison once accommodated 5000 inmates, but has since been reduced to a custodial staff of 25, to keep the furnace functioning. She hears that Hicks got hit by a support beam upon impact, and was instantly killed. Bishop was lying around in pieces; what was left of him was dumped on the trash heap. The news that Newt drowned in her cryotube after the ship crashed makes her break down in tears, despite Clemens' assurance that Newt probably wasn't conscious when it happened. Before she can process the information, she sees some acid scorching from the facehugger on the side of the cryotube, and immediately suspects the presence of an Alien. Ripley asks to see Newt's body. Clemens takes her to the morgue. He asks her if Newt was her daughter; she denies it. She asks to be alone with Newt for a while. As Clemens leaves, she looks for signs that Newt was impregnated by a facehugger. As there is none, she eventually insists on an autopsy, under the guise of a communicable infection, cholera. Clemens is suspicious, but gives in to her emotional request. The autopsy is gruesome for Ripley to watch, but Clemens finds nothing but the usual signs that the child drowned. Superintendent Andrews and Mr Aaron (Ralph Brown) enter, dismayed that Clemens started an autopsy without their approval. Clemens claims there was risk of infectious disease, and did not want to take any risks. Andrews explains that he wants Ripley confined to the infirmary, as he doesn't wish to upset the religious male population. Ripley insists that the bodies be cremated, to which Andrews protests, until Clemens assures him that the risk of a cholera outbreak is still present. Andrews allows Clemens and the prisoners to prepare a funeral for her friends.Inmates Murphy (Christopher Fairbank) and Frank (Carl Chase) drag a lifeless ox inside the kitchen and hang her upside down to be slaughtered later. They discuss Ripley and seem to forget about their celibacy vows for a moment. Apparently, the ox dropped dead for no apparent reason. As they leave, Murphy finds a dead facehugger. Inmate Murphy (Christopher Fairbank) is looking for Spike, his Rottweiler. He finds the animal, apprehensive and with wounds in its face, but otherwise healthy. He wonders who could do such a thing to a dog.Since the prison was used as a lead works at one time, the prisoners will use the blast furnace to cremate the bodies. Andrews reads a short ceremonial text for the deceased, followed by a chilling and powerful eulogy by Dillon. Unseen by anyone, a new Alien is born: Spike, the Rottweiler, goes into convulsions, and explodes with a chestburster that moves on all fours emerging, running off to some distant location inside the maze-like prison complex. The dead ox in the kitchen starts to twitch, and a chestburster that moves on all fours emerges, running off to some distant location inside the maze-like prison complex.Ripley, whose head is now shaved due to the lice problem on the planet, bathes herself. She has now said goodbye to her new surrogate family, and is once again starting over. In the mess hall, Dillon confronts prisoners Boggs (Leon Herbert) and Rains (Christopher John Fields), who complain about fellow inmate Golic (Paul McGann). They refuse to work with him as they think that he is crazy and smells bad. Dillon reproaches them for this and demands that they treat Golic like an equal. The two reluctantly grumble their agreement. Ripley enters the mess hall and attempts to thank Dillon for his eulogy. Despite his disturbing warning (he informs her that he is a murderer and rapist of women) she sits down at his table. He asks her about her faith, assuring her that although strictly talking, there is no place for women in their adopted religion, they will nevertheless tolerate her.In a private moment, Clemens informs Ripley about the history of the prisoners and the penal colony; how they stayed after the Company closed the prison, their adopted religion and his tense relation with Andrews. She tries to find out how he got his current position as medical officer on such a barren place. Clemens eludes the answer by asking about the real reason for the autopsy, but Ripley evades the question by seducing him. The two of them become attracted to one another and share a sexual encounter.Meanwhile, prisoner Murphy is working in an isolated tunnel when he finds a shed skin. Hearing movement, he thinks it is his dog Spike. He finds the embryonic Alien finishing its metamorphosis into an adult. It attacks him, spitting acid in his face. Blinded and howling with pain, he falls backwards into a gigantic fan and is immediately shredded to bits.Clemens again tries to get information from Ripley, but she wants to know about a barcode she noticed on the back of his head. He says he will tell her some other time. Clemens is called away to investigate Murphy's remains. Andrews is quick to conclude that Murphy was too distracted by the presence of Ripley, and came to close to the sucking fan; Clemens, however, concludes that the fan was blowing in Murphy's direction. He also finds a burn mark, similar to the one Ripley discovered on Newt's tube. When he leaves, Andrews requests a private conversation later.Clemens finds Ripley rummaging inside the EEV wreckage, retrieving its flight recorder. He tells her about Murphy's death and the burn he found. She begins to realize that maybe an Alien did survive after all. Clemens wants to help her, but insists that Ripley trust him, and tell him the whole story. She replies that in order for her to share that information with him, she needs to recover Bishop's remains so she can access information from the EEV's flight recorder. Clemens points her the way to the garbage dump, but he cannot escort her there, as he has a meeting with Andrews.Meanwhile, Boggs, Rains and Golic are prepped to go on a survey assignment. Dillon asks them to light a candle for Murphy on the way. Clemens enters Andrews' office. At first, Andrews is pleasant, but suddenly he turns verbally aggressive. Andrews berates Clemens for letting Ripley wander on alone. He also shares that the installation has received an unprecedented high-level communication from Weyland-Yutani regarding Ripley. The automated communications with the Sulaco have informed them of Ripley's whereabouts, and they have dispatched a rescue team to come pick her up. Andrews understands that Ripley must be very important to them, but can't imagine why. After a hostile exchange with Clemens, where the warden threatens to share Clemens' dark history with Ripley, Andrews grills him about what he might know about Ripley. He can only confirm that she was part of a combat team that was wiped out. Andrews dismisses him.Ripley finds Bishop's remains in the garbage dump. As she tries to leave, she is cornered by three prisoners. They attack her and bend her brutally over a nearby railing, intending to rape her. Dillon rescues her and properly 'reeducates' his brothers, beating them with a piece of steel. As she leaves, Ripley violently punches one of her attackers in the face.Golic finds an old cigarette machine and grabs as much cigarettes as he can, much to the annoyance of Boggs and Rains. Boggs (Leon Herbert), Rains (Christopher John Fields) and Golic (Paul McGann) arrive in a large room and start placing candles to measure the area. However, somewhere in the distance, some candles are being blown out. Assuming one of the inmates is pulling a prank, Rains goes in to investigate. He finds the fully grown Alien, which grabs him and begins biting him. Boggs and Golic come to investigate the screaming, and upon seeing the monster, they run away back to the entrance, only to find Rains' dead body lying there. Boggs is suddenly snatched and attacked from above by the Alien. It rips out Boggs' throat and the blood sprays on Golic, who is momentarily frozen to the spot, seemingly in awe and then flees the area in blind panic.Elsewhere, Ripley reconnects what is left of Bishop to a power supply in the infirmary and reactivates him. He immediately notices Ripley's new hairstyle. Meanwhile, Golic has returned to the mess hall, where an inmate finds him eating, smiling manically while covered in blood. The inmate returns with Dillon and some others, who restrain Golic. Using Bishop to access the flight recorder from the EEV, Ripley finds out that a fire caused their ejection from the Sulaco, and Bishop confirms that an Alien traveled with them to Fiorina 161. This information has been shared with the network, so the Company knows about this as well. As he is beyond decent repair, Ripley grants his last wish, and permanently disconnects him.Golic is dragged into the infirmary, ranting on about a "dragon" that attacked his friends. Andrews and the others dismiss him as insane, but Dillon defends him, stating that Golic may be a fool, but he has never been a liar. Andrews even refuses to believe Ripley after she confirms the story. She requests a meeting with him later that evening, which he grants her after his duties. Ripley tells him all about the Alien, but Andrews is not impressed. She learns that, aside from some knives and fire axes, there are no weapons on the colony. Andrews also doesn't believe her story and confines her to the infirmary until the rescue team arrives.Ripley refuses to recount her story to Clemens, out of fear of being written off as crazy herself. Golic seems to be raving mad, quoting that "in an insane world, a sane man must appear insane", much to Clemens' derision. Ripley asks Clemens about the barcode on the back of his head. Clemens admits that he was a former prisoner on Fiorina, sentenced there after a morphine addiction and a bad medical decision caused several deaths. When the prison was turned into a lead shielding factory and the population reduced, he decided to stay with the inmates, knowing no one else would hire him as a doctor ever again. Pleased with his sincerity, Ripley gives her trust to Clemens, but the Alien suddenly appears in the infirmary, emerging from a ventilation shaft. It immediately grabs and kills Clemens and advances on Ripley, cornering her against a wall. For one terrifying moment, it seems to examine her, pressing itself right up against her cheek, but instead it retreats and takes the body of Clemens with it. Golic gazes in awe and admiration of the creature. Ripley bolts and rushes to the others, who are all congregated in the mess hall. Dillon once again initiates a prayer, in which he vents his anger about the recent deaths, and reprimands his brothers for the near-rape of Ripley. Andrews tries to prevent rumours by presenting his facts. He tells the inmates that Murphy got killed by his own carelessness, and that Boggs and Rains are missing, presumably killed by a deranged Golic; Dillon begrudgingly hears the story. Andrews requests several volunteers to organise a search party for the missing inmates. Suddenly, Ripley dashes in, warning that the Alien is here. Andrews tries to silence her and orders for her to be dragged back to the infirmary, but is suddenly snatched through a vent above him by the Alien, right in front of all the prisoners; the vent drips with blood afterwards.As one of the inmates wipes the floor, the rest of the group congregates in the Assembly area. Dillon again leads a prayer, convinced that the group is now being tested by God for their sins. Now that there can be no question about whether or not they are in danger, the prisoners attempt to deal with their situation. Aaron feels he is Andrews' most logical successor, but the prisoners seem to hold him in low regard by calling him '85', and nobody takes him seriously as leader. Ripley informs the prisoners what she knows about the Alien, although this one is definitely different from the others she has seen. She remembers that the others were only afraid of fire. However, the absence of anything close to weapons or a surveillance system in the prison creates considerable tension amongst the prisoners; Morse even blames Ripley for bringing the Alien with her, suggesting they should kill her; unafraid of Morse's threats, Ripley says she's okay with that. Finally, Dillon restores the peace with his natural leadership, even though he doesn't want to be a leader.An inspection of the floor plan shows that the basement houses a large system of tunnels and a toxic waste containment unit that can be completely sealed off. There are also barrels of highly combustible material left behind in the colony. Eventually they come up with a plan; they will use this material to burn the Alien out of the tunnels, at which point they will force it into the containment unit and trap it indefinitely. Ripley makes an inspection with an inmate, where she learns that Aaron's nickname '85' came from his file, which stated it is his IQ. The inmates start making preparations by mopping the tunnel with the fuel. Some of them start searching for working batteries for the flashlight, while others start working in the narrow tunnels. Dillon notices that Ripley is unwell, seemingly missing doctor Clemens. Unfortunately, the plan backfires when the Alien attacks one of the inmates before they can finish: he drops a flare which ignites the fuel. Many prisoners get trapped in the burning tunnels and their numbers are drastically reduced. Dillon asks one of the prisoners to activate the sprinkler system, while Ripley helps two of the injured people: they appear to be two of the men from the rape attempt. Unexpectedly, the plan to flush out the Alien works: the creature suddenly emerges in the tunnel, blocked at one end by a large group including Ripley and Dillon, and on the other end by prisoner Junior (Holt McCallany). He runs to the chamber, taunting the Alien to follow him. The door is shut and Junior can be heard screaming inside as the creature kills him. After the creature is contained, Dillon activates the sprinkler system, extinguishing the fires. They then move through the tunnels, collecting their dead comrades.Dillon holds a sermon commemorating the dead inmates, as Ripley and Aaron discuss what will happen next. Aaron mentions that the Company will come and kill the Alien. He also mentions that the Company has designated Ripley as top priority. In the meanwhile, Golic is guarded by Morse in the infirmary. He succeeds in convincing Morse to let him out of his straight jacket, since he was innocent of killing Boggs and Rains anyway. Golic briefly states his intention to free the Alien before knocking out Morse, and leaves.Ripley and Aaron send a communication to the Weyland-Yutani network, informing them that they have trapped the Alien and request permission to kill it. A message returns immediately, stating that a rescue team is on its way, and their request for termination is denied. Golic arrives at the containment chamber and tells Arthur (Deobia Oparei), who is standing guard, that he needs to see the beast. Arthur refuses, as the Alien would certainly kill him and escape. Golic suddenly lashes out with a razor, and slashes Arthur's throat, while frantically lamenting what he did. He enters the chamber, and asks the creature what to do next. A shadow closes in on him, and moments later, the Alien is seen running out into the tunnel system.Ripley confronts Dillon with her suspicion that the Company will not kill the Alien, but intends to take the creature with them. Although she is not concerned with what happens to the Company people, she fears the creature will escape and spread to other worlds. Dillon says that he and his friends are outcasts, and can no longer be concerned what happens to the rest of humanity. They are interrupted by Morse, coming in with bad news. They go to the containment chamber and find it empty, with both Arthur and Golic dead. After the fire dies out, a tour through the tunnel identifies 10 dead inmates. Aaron scolds Morse for his ill-fated decision to release Golic. With options seemingly running out, Aaron and Morse argue about what to do, until Dillon ceases their unproductive bickering. Ripley suffers pains in her chest and suspects internal bleeding. Aaron helps her with the biomedical scanner in the wrecked EEV, where they discover something worse: it was Ripley who was impregnated by the facehugger in the Sulaco, and she is carrying an Alien embryo. Even worse, the embryo is a Queen, and therefore capable of replicating the entire Alien colony.Dillon has gathered the inmates in the Assembly area again, updating them on the current state of affairs. He suggests staying in the Assembly area, as it has no ducts, so the Alien could only come through the door. The prisoners argue that since they have no weapons of relevance, they would be trapped there with no way to defend themselves. Morse lights a match for his cigarette; this sparks a sudden realization that the Alien's only fear is fire. Immediately, the group moves towards the much safer furnace area, where they heat will hopefully keep the Alien out.Ripley suspects that Weyland-Yutani knows about the Alien embryo already. She asks Aaron to send a message to the Company, stating that the whole base has gone toxic and they should stay away. Aaron asks why, as he is still under the impression that the Company will come to kill off the creature. Ripley warns him that if the Company arrives, they will take the Alien for their own purposes just like they've always wanted to do. Even worse, they could get hold of the Queen she is carrying, and the whole of humanity will be in grave danger. However, Aaron doesn't believe her story. He wants the Company to come, as his job on the colony is done, so they can take him home to his wife and child. Despite stating that he likes Ripley and it is nothing personal, Aaron refuses to send the message.Knowing that she herself is doomed, Ripley seeks out the Alien in the basement of the complex, hoping it will kill her. She locates the beast and attacks it with a rod, but she finds out that she mistook a rusty pipe for the Alien's head. Immediately, the Alien appears behind her from an overhead space, and lands in front of her.Dillon is in the cell complex, when he is startled by Ripley's sudden appearance. Ripley tells him that she sought out the Alien, but it refused to harm her; it can somehow sense that she is carrying the Queen, which is why it did not kill her in the infirmary earlier. Since she does not want the Queen to fall into Company hands, and knowing that she can never survive the Queen's 'birthing', she asks Dillon to kill her. He agrees to do it, and prepares to give Ripley a fatal blow with a fire axe; however, he has a last-second chance of heart. He refuses to kill Ripley over her objections, stating that it would be a defeat to kill her now with the adult Alien still running around killing people. Instead, the fact that the Alien will not kill Ripley may be used to the group's advantage. Dillon promises to give Ripley a quick and painless death, as soon as the creature is dead.The group congregates in the furnace: Dillon and Ripley's plan is to fire up the blast furnace, lure the Alien into the lead mold and drown it in the hot metal. The prisoners will act as bait, rushing down the corridors of the lead works, closing off all the entrances until the Alien is forced into the mold. Initially, the plan is not met with much enthusiasm; some prisoners, and Aaron, still believe that the Company plans to rescue them by killing the Alien for them. Ripley tells them about the two previous encounters with the Alien, and how the Company relentlessly sacrificed its crew to obtain the creature. Dillon finally convinces the others that it is better to go down fighting than die begging on one's knees, and it may be their first step toward heaven. Aaron still dismisses the plan as foolish, and returns to the top floor to wait for the Company crew.Ripley and Dillon inspect the piston of the leadworks. Since it has not been used for 5 years, it is not certain whether it will work. Ripley will pull the lever to activate the piston that will trap the Alien in the mold, but there will only be one chance to do this as the machinery cannot be reset in time. A few of the inmates discuss Dillon's promise of a place in heaven, and decide that they should try anyway. Prisoner David (Pete Postlethwaite) starts to have second thoughts about running around in the leadworks while being chased by an Alien. Morse yells that the door he is supposed to close is no longer working. A distant scream signals the beginning of the chase. Several inmates successfully lure the Alien through the corridors towards the mold. However, the maze-like design of the leadworks causes a lot of confusion. Several inmates find the remains of their friends, and some get so lost that they end up back at the piston; One prisoner unexpectedly runs into the Alien and gets killed.In the meanwhile, a Company ship is nearing the planet. The prisoners try to stick to the plan, but in the confusion, some unexpectedly bump into each other; David (Pete Postlethwaite) successfully traps the Alien, but it backtracks, corners and kills him. When the beast finally crosses the mold, Ripley hastily prevents Eric (Niall Buggy) from activating the piston in a panic. Dillon enters the tunnels, and finds Kevin (Phil Davis) in the clutches of the Alien. He pulls him away, luring the Alien with them back towards the mold. Kevin dies, but the Alien does not take the bait: it does not enter the mold, but instead grabs Kevin's body and pulls it back into the tunnel. Eric again panics and activates the piston, meaning they have only five minutes to get the Alien back into the mold before the piston shuts it off. Prisoner Jude (Vincenzo Nicoli) makes an attempt, but the Alien grabs him before they can enter the mold. Meanwhile, the Company ship has arrived and several people enter the complex. Aaron receives them; one man immediately asks about Ripley. Aaron explains she is in the furnace. A man with sunglasses enters, followed by a group of people with a steel cage for the beast.Morse runs through a tunnel, bumping into Gregor (Peter Guinness). They joke about the scare it gave them, but the Alien uses their lapse in attention to grab and kill Gregor. Ripley, having found two more dead inmates, enters the tunnel, sends Morse away and taunts the Alien to follow her. Together with Dillon, she finally lures the Alien into the piston. Morse closes the last door, finally trapping the beast in the mold, and runs back up to man the lead platform. Ripley intends to stay in the mold, as she wants to die anyway, but Dillon pulls her with him, stating her promise that the Alien should die before Ripley. They both climb up, but notice the Alien is following them up as well. Dillon decides to stay in the mold to keep the Alien there, comforting Ripley that God will take care of her now. Dillon sacrifices himself by wrestling with the Alien in the mold. Ripley climbs out, and as Dillon's final cry echoes, Morse dumps the hot lead on Ripley's command, completely submerging the creature. Morse cheers, but the lead fails to kill the Alien as it bursts out of the mold, now enraged. It makes for Ripley, who climbs a series of chains to get away from it, but it begins to scramble up after her. Suddenly, Morse shouts to Ripley and reminds her of the sprinkler system hanging above her. Ripley triggers it and dumps cold water over the Alien. The sudden cooling immediately causes cracks and breaks to appear over the Alien, until it finally explodes.Ripley climbs up onto Morse's platform, which hovers above the furnace. When she looks up, she is confronted by Aaron who brought the Company medics and soldiers. The man with the sunglasses moves to the front, and Ripley recognizes him as Bishop (Lance Henriksen). He speaks soothingly to her and tells her that he is not the Bishop android, but rather its human designer, sent by the Company to ensure Ripley's safe return. He tells her that the medic team is there to remove the embryo from her in a simple surgical procedure that will save her life. Ripley asks him what they intend to do with the Alien embryo once it is removed, and Bishop II promises her that they will destroy it, as its cannot be allowed to live. Ripley, however, will be unconscious so she will have to trust them. Ripley gives it some thought, but she knows that the Company really can't be trusted. She closes the fence that separates Morse and herself from the rest of them. Morse moves the platform away from the others and one of the soldiers immediately shoots him in the leg. In response, Aaron hits Bishop II in the back with a lead pipe; the soldiers lethally shoot Aaron. Bishop II, wounded and dazed, yells that he is not a droid, and, as red blood gushes from his wound, begs Ripley not to ruin his chances for studying the alien: "It's a magnificent specimen! You must let me have it!" he shouts at her. Ripley asks Morse to help her one more time, and he moves the platform out over the boiling blast furnace. Walking to the edge, she summons up her strength and drops herself backwards into the furnace, taking her own life. On the way down, the Queen Alien erupts from her chest, but Ripley holds tightly onto it, dragging it with her into the furnace. Ripley's body is finally immersed in the flames.Empty-handed, the Company medics bandage Morse's wound and take him along with them when they leave, abandoning the penal colony on Fiorina 161. During a final pass by the crashed EEV, we hear the radio picking up Ripley's final transmission from the end of the first movie, decades before: "This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off." A final Company message screen shows that the Fury 161 colony is to be closed, and its equipment sold as scrap.End credits.

Review: But even though Weaver is there, the movie just doesn't have the same power as the first two films.Ripley (Weaver) crash lands on a prison planet and is taken in by a doctor (Charles Dance).
Once again its up to Ripley to destroy the monster.The acting in this film was pretty good, and the visuals are amazing, but this movie, as directed by David Fincher, is way too dark and depressing when compared to the first and second films.
Too bad that the director took it down this despairing road with a horrible ending that I never could accept.When compared to the first two movies, this film is second rate.
After all this is I think the truth about this movie: like it is, you can't see it the way it is intended.I just can't believe that someone who directed such a solid and compact movie as Se7en, could make such a horrible mistake: there is no story, there is no center, the whole thing just falls apart in pieces when you watch it.
There were also moments when I thought the music was kicking in way too early or too late, making it some kind of a mere commentary instead of accompanying and enforcing the action (like it is so well done in Star Wars or The X-files just to name a few).I think a better editing could make this movie a whole new experience, getting things at the right moments and making it one whole again, like it proved possible with "Blade Runner".
I for one wouldn't mind to see it one more time, but only the way it was probably intended, so I hope they will give the director a chance to remake this movie and to prove that it is a good one after all..
While "Alien" (1979) was the first film of the saga to make me fall in love with the Horror/Sci-Fi genre, people told me about the first sequel "Aliens" (1986) and how amazing it was from the action and special effects.
Sigourney Weaver plays the lone hero where she thinks that despite being a prisoner, all of her problems are gone where maybe none of the creatures would return...Yet...A face-hugger manages to hijack on the ship where Ripley is sleeping before going after its first victim and later creating the famous monster creature.
The alien goes after the prisoners and guards in the detention center where Ripley must find a way for her and the survivors to take on the single beast.Alien 3 doesn't have the same thrills and drama as the first movie nor the horror and action of the first sequel where fans would go back and take a look at these marvelous scenes.
The uninteresting premise of the film, the uninteresting setting, uninteresting characters, uninteresting story in the end just kill the film.More effort seemed to go into shaving Weaver's head than making the script good.
After how good the first and second movies were I was looking for a great ending to the Ripley saga, BUT NOOOOOOOOO Whoever made Alien 3 must not have ever seen the first two, Alien 3 made no sense it had very little story and some of the worst acting ever.
I would like to begin by pointing out the most glaring error of this movie--the Queen Alien simply could not have brought eggs on board.
Either she laid them (which could not have happened since we saw her after she exited the drop-ship, and she probably needed her reproductive apparatus), or she carried them on board (another impossibility, she wasn't holding them, and even if she was and simply tossed them out while the camera wasn't looking, why would the blasted face-huggers wait for the 30 min - 1 hr period it would take for Ripley to shower, change, fix Hicks up, clean poor Bishop up, and enter the cryo-tube before they {or it} jumped out to latch on.
However, about Alien³, I found the experience very deceiving, cause there's very less action and horror comparing to the 2 first movies, not to mention that on the planet, there's no weapons or modern technology, which makes the film too obscure and fade for the genre.When Newt and Hicks died in the beginning of the film, I felt sorry for them, but we didn't need a so bad conclusion about all the survivors of the Sulaco.
This makes nonsense, and the whole experience shocked me a little when watching it.Oh yes, I saw the special edition of Alien³, and it's far beyond worse than the original film.
What a waste of time it was this bunch of acid that falls on your face...Also, I had the SNES game years ago, and it was very good: we had many Aliens, a new one (the Mother Alien), the same weapons that we saw in previous films and all the stuff that can please you in an action/sci-fi/horror movie.
In the opening, a strong ensemble cast faced a vague sense of menace; over the course of the film, this gradually transformed into a fight to the death between just one of the characters (Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver) and the eponymous beast.
Riply, meanwhile, has transformed into someone almost unimaginably macho; the prisoners are supposedly men with two Y chromosomes, but a desexualised Ripley appears to possess more testosterone than all of them together.The real problem with the film, however, is principally that as the third movie in a franchise, there's not really anywhere new for it to go.
However, if you liked the first Alien the best out of all the movies, you will probably enjoy this film more than I did.
I've seen Alien and Aliens countless time, but have only seen Alien 3 once and that was pretty much enough for the last 15 years.This movie is really just a waste of time, because the few good ideas and interesting things that happen are completely overshadowed by the illogical plot, worthless characters and slasher feel (you could replace the alien with any other movie monster, no problem).I don't think this has anything to do with David Fincher, though.He did not write the story or the script, and those areas are where the major problems lie.Think of all the other movies he has directed since then:Seven, Fight Club, The GameThose are three of my all-time favorite movies, and the ones I didn't list above, like panic room, are still good movies.I just can't believe that it was Fincher causing the problems here, but I can believe that he could be easily pushed around by a studio during his directorial debut (maybe even their fall-guy?).
That's a very inconsistent, half-assed and frankly shitty way to present a movie to devoted audiences.However, I did watch Alien 3 several times up through the last 12 years, and seemed to like it better and better each time.
It completely ruins its predecessor, "Aliens," and was clearly only made to make a quick buck.Fun to watch, but this movie is not a sequel.
Actually, the only real problem with Alien3 is that everyone involved in it, with the exception of David Fincher, Sigourney Weaver, H.R.Giger, and maybe Charles Dance seems to be completely useless.
Where the first two films had darkness and dinginess, or just sheer scale to impress you with, Alien3 just has a rust coloured prison planet that looks like something from Dune.
I recommend this to those who want to watch every movie in this series, and/or all of David Fincher's films.
Fincher tries to mix the dark feeling in the first movie with the 100 % action of ''Aliens''.
But the real crime is that, by answering the question of what happened to the android and little girl Ripley saved in Alien 2, and given what happens to Ripley in this movie, you feel like your investment in the series and in the characters was a complete waste of time and emotion.
One major beef I had with Alien3 was the condescension on Ellen Ripley's part, namely the scene where she is chastising the warden for not having weapons of any sort (it is a prison planet after all, and given its circumstances, hardly not understandable.) Overall, I found the movie bothersome and annoying, an unnecessary sequel that offered little to the mythology or to the moviegoer..
Also, because of the way the scene was shot, I believe the director (David Fincher "Se7en", and "Fight Club") tried to cover up these cheezy effects by only giving very brief glimpses of the alien.
After re-watching the film a second time, I now have come to realize that is not awful like I once thought, it's horrendous beyond belief.
There are those who will say I am being unfair to Fincher since he walked off the project before editing even began and the production was an extremely troubled one, but regardless of how much studio interference comes into play, he ultimately was the man behind the camera and its his directing that makes ALIEN 3 the worst in the series.
Yes, it's true that in a way "Alien" wasn't much different, only difference was that in 1979 this approach was still new and original but not by 1992 standards anymore.Problem is that this movie is fairly standard and mostly predictable.
The aliens proved to be kickass creatures in the first 2 films, and in this one, they should've been dispatched in the same manner as in the 2nd one.Simply killing off Newt & Hicks was a bad idea too.
In the previous two installments of the series, you could have almost called the films "Human" and "Humans" respectively, because the alien was often incidental to the way the human characters related to one another.
It highlights the fact that the characters are not fleshed out enough for anyone to care.Another problem that becomes apparent when watching making-ofs is that the film was rushed into production without even a script to work from.
Alien 3 ruined all of the characters and atmosphere created by the first two movies.I remember walking out of the theatre wanting my money back..
And it is perhaps because of the weighty themes of this film that many fans of the franchise quickly turned their nose up at it.Directly following the events of Aliens, the film's surviving character's escape pod crash lands on a prison planet filled with Double Y Chromosome convicts who have now found religion.
Unfortunately one surviving alien came with the pod and it is not long before it starts feeding off the prison population.A stark contrast to director James Cameron's flashy sci-fi action romp 'Aliens', Alien³ is more of a grim psychological horror where the optimism of the first two films are crushed under a near nihilistic tone persistent in this one.
This makes the rescue of Newt (the last 20 minutes of the fantastic and infinitely superior Aliens) totally redundant.The sets and music are on the whole good but lack the imagination and variety of the previous two films.
On a sort of high from just seeing the first two movies, I was expecting big things from the second "Alien" sequel, and the trailer promised exactly that: "In space, no one can hear you scream...
We must suffer through uninteresting characters that are indistinguishable from each other, dull "turn around and there's the alien" shocks, poor camera work during the action sequences (some would call it style, I call it confusing and obnoxious), and finally the ending that gels perfectly with this bottomless abyss of a movie.
Where Fincher is an original artiste this also quickly becomes annoying when any real suspense is missing (there is a lone alien running around again), the story is a no-story and when no characters (other than Ripley) are even vaguely interesting.
Such as:Why are so many interesting characters introduced (namely Dance), then dropped so arbitrarily?Why does Fincher's direction seem so shaky and unsure (in great contrast to his work in "Se7en")?How could the same writers (mainly Hill and Giler) write a story that has little or no emotional impact and next to no development as far as plot, motivation or even (in the alien's instance) shock value?And you'll notice, once you've seen this film, that it hasn't got the same sensibilities the first film had.
Lots of exasperated sighs at different points, some non-amused laughter and at least one person commented aloud "Aw, jeez!".My feelings, exactly.Three stars for the effort but as far as sequels go, this probably wasn't as "Alien" a product as they wanted to get to the audience..
Sigourney Weaver does her best this time around and she is quite good but David Fincher, who did well after this with 'Se7en', 'The Game', and 'Fight Club', seems like the wrong guy to direct a movie like this as his vision is full of potential but low on actual execution as he looks confused at times in the story he is trying to complete.
Personally I love films which don't have happy ending as they are too clichéd, there is realism to be had, which the series isn't afraid to justify.Despite the lack of originality and the predictability, Sigourney Weaver still maintains that opinionated persona of Ripley and is one of two bright points about this third part.Alien³ was the definitive turn in the series, the time when the Alien was no longer scary and original horror and suspense was thrown out for action convention and special effects..
His movie is ruined by an awfully unimaginative script that essentially repeats the story of the first movie on a remote planet, but it does so without fleshing out the characters, without giving the movie an underlying meaning except for some vague notions of religion (which were apparently taken over from an abandoned script about a religious cult inhabiting the planet).Weaver returns as Ripley, strangely promoted to the rank of Lieutenant since Aliens (impossible really, since there is no time gap between the second and third movie to allow this to happen).
It also has some style by director David Fincher, I liked his point of view shots of the Alien.
I mean the film literally throws out everything that made the other two films great: Horror thats actually decent, suspense, setting, good alien design, STORY, acting, soundtrack, giving the audience what it wants etc.
But once again little bit of emotional scene between him and Ripley alien comes up behind him middle of the film I might add and dead, just as quickly as he kills off the two surviving characters earlier on.
Oh and I forgot to mention for some stupid unexplained reason Ripley happens to have an alien queen inside of her so she has to kill herself then end of film.
A few hints if Fincher can read this on how to have improved YOUR film: Firstly characterise characters you actually want to survive it is very confusing for the audience to portray someone as good and great then kill them with no one left characterised to hope to survive the ordeal.
why kill off the best characters from the previous film within the first five minutes for no reason whatsoever?, why use a script that is utterly poor and the most basic of storys?, why does David Fincher expect sympathies or an emotive reaction from characters he didn't even characterise?
It seems David Fincher wanted to combine the elements of the first two films to create a dark, foreboding action movie.Something just didn't work.
Now instead of continuing their story, as seems logical, Alien 3 simply kills all these lovable characters, with the exception of Ellen Ripley, within the first five minutes.
I only realised after watching it that I'd seen the Special Edition that restores extra scenes that David Fincher wanted in there - I must recommend the Special Edition, without these scenes ( http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alien+3+scenes&aq=f ) I can imagine the film would feel shallower and rushed.**spoiler**I also liked the idea that the Alien wouldn't touch Ripley because it knew she was breeding the Queen.
Another factor that contributed to the failure of the film in the U.S. was that the film was very depressing and dark that ended up taking the audience by surprise that he expected a direct sequence of aliens, which did not happen, Fincher went further and kill the most charismatic characters of the james cameron movie(well done)This movie is a classic and one day will get the recognition it deserves.
Yet it wasn't enough for David Fincher to make a mound of garbage such as this, in the process he felt it necessary to completely obliterate the Alien movies by totally disregarding everything that had come before his film.
I'm not saying he had to make the same kind of movie as the previous two films, but to kill two main characters in the first five minutes of a sequel, two characters that we had invested so much time in in Aliens, and to do it without blinking an eye is not only inexcusable, but makes Alien 3 so downbeat from the start, it's hard to care one iota about what comes afterward.
but with Alien3, i think the story of Lt. Ripley finally comes onto its own.unlike most of its detractors, i actually believe the third installment does NOT disregard the second movie.
in fact, i believe it used Mr Cameron's Aliens as the perfect set-up for Ripley's final descent and eventual transcendance from the Alien.this installment is definitely more thoughtful, a lot slower and more of a character study than the first two films.
Alien 3 seems more personal than the other films, perhaps because it centers entirely on Ripley's character.
Without the sympathy for Ripley from the previous ALIEN movies and only minor flashes of humanity from the prisoners themselves, the film is without sympathetic characters worthy of redemption.
I think this movie is a much better sequel to the original than ALIENS.
It shows us the alien as a creature superior to the human being (like in the first movie).