Alien 3 (1992)
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Ripley is back but this time has been marooned on a prison colony, called Fury 161. Seems an alien on board the ship with her, Hicks & Newt, destroyed much of the ship and killed her 2 companions off, forcing Ripley down to a nearby planet all alone. Once she wakes up, she tries to make sure the alien didn’t infect the bodies but soon enough she realizes the alien has entered her own body. Now she must find a way to stop the aliens running though the prison and figure out if she wants to get it out of her or commit suicide. Either way, a lot of people are gonna die. Can Ripley save anyone?
Overall: I enjoyed this film – I liked the story and thought they got an awesome cast to compliment everything else. However I definitely can understand why most people disliked this film. The film kills of Hicks & Newt whom most fans wanted alive for a possible 3rd film. They also shaved Ripley’s hair, a definite staple and love in the first 2 films. Some people complain that the prisoners all look the same, most have Brit accents and you can’t really tell one person from another. Also, there is no true idea of what this film hoped to accomplish. Part 1 was discovering the alien species & part 2 was trying to annihilate them. This film does neither and just takes the same aliens and moves them to a different location. I liked that but many people did not. I thought what was most interesting was the other way the writers/directors could have gone. The film underwent many changes in personnel as firings were rampant. So possible ideas such as a “Planet of the Aliens” or the 3 survivors living on Earth as a family were never fully fleshed-out. Also, it is clear the studio wanted one thing, the directors/writers another and the studio won by firing enough people to get the story they wanted. The special edition has a new opening including 10 minutes of footage on how Ripley gets to the prison planet as well as a new ending changing Ripley’s descent into the liquid metal. One producer suggested that this film was really a patchwork of scenes in that the final release was what the studio wanted, but not necessarily what made sense. The special edition does make more sense but not enough to make this the great film everyone expected. If you do catch this film, watch the special edition. Comparison: Reform School Girls meets Alien |
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