After her last encounter, Ellen Ripley crash-lands on Fiorina 161, a maximum security prison. When a series of strange and deadly events occur shortly after her arrival, Ripley realizes that she has brought along an unwelcome visitor.
Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor when she crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by former inmates of the planet's maximum security prison. Once again, Ripley must face skepticism and the alien as it hunts down the prisoners and guards. Without weapons or modern technology of any kind, Ripley leads the men into battle against the terrifying creature.
One of the main causes of the movie's troubled production (including script re-writes, crew replacements, excessive re-shoots and a budget that increased from 45 million to 65 million dollar) was the fact that 20th Century Fox was in need of a commercial success. Alien³ was green-lit by the studio because it was considered to be a sure hit, but a release date had already been set before a screenplay or even a story outline was written. Director David Fincher later said that this lack of direction in the story was the source of much creative disagreements and productional difficulties, while he was trying to deliver the best possible film in time; however, the studio didn't seem particularly concerned with quality, as long as the movie was released and made money. Fincher also commented that his inexperience made things worse, since this was his directorial debut and he did not have a successful film to back up his opinion, giving the studio and producers ample reason to ignore his input. Alien³ was eventually released to negative reviews from critics and fans and a disappointing domestic box office, but did much better financially in Europe and Asia, making this an early example of a Hollywood movie that made most of its revenue outside of the United States. It was later critically re-evaluated for its style and dark atmosphere, and the extended Assembly Cut gained a significant cult following. See more »
Goofs
Early in the film the interior of the EEV is a mess, having been smashed up by the crash. However, as the movie progresses, it seems to be in a better and better condition and at the end it seems to be almost intact. It is not a plausible explanation that the interior of the wreckage was cleared up by the inmates on Fury 161 when they were removing the bodies of the rest of the crew and possibly looking for salvage because there is no point that they restore the neuroscanner and the related equipment since (as it is mentioned several times throughout the movie) they have neither the technology nor the knowledge required for any sophisticated equipment. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Computer Voice:
Stasis interrupted. Fire in cryogenic compartment. Repeat, fire in cryogenic compartment. All personnel report to emergency escape vehicle launch pod. Deep-space flight will commence in T-minus twenty seconds.
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Crazy Credits
The 20th Century Fox fanfare that plays during the opening studio logo segues ominously into the score of the film. See more »
Alternate Versions
The Assembly Cut from the 'Alien Quadrilogy' DVD Set does not include all of the footage from the work print. There are at least 5-10 minutes from that version that weren't re-edited for the new DVD box set:
In the scene where prisoner Murphy becomes the alien's first victim in the vent shaft, he is singing a different tune than that heard in the theatrical version and there is no mention of the dog. He simply peers into the tunnel.
A few more scenes of 85 and Ripley arguing about what the company will do with the alien.
Shots of Dillon walking through corridors and finding bodies (Troy) as well as Ripley finding bodies (Eric) and verbally identifying them.
Jude slips, falls and cuts himself with the scissors he was holding.
85 silently meditating with his head bowed down as he awaits the company people.
When the company reps arrive, it is extended as the Asian rep asks 85 if he's seen the beast, and 85 says yes and that Ripley has one inside her. Bishop II replies, "We know that." When 85 sees the cage he tells them "You're gonna need a bigger cage."
When Ripley is trying to lure the alien back into the piston, she keeps telling it to kill her.
Right before activating the sprinklers and killing the alien, Ripley says "For the last time..." (this shot is seen in several of the film's trailers).
When Ripley tells Morse to help her and he asks "What do you want me to do?", she replies "You'll know..."
After Ripley falls, Morse crawls over to look out into the molten pit.
The last scenes are arranged a little different, with the video screen facility closed shot coming before the shot of the empty cryotubes and Ripley's transmission being heard.
I actually wasted money seeing this movie on pay-per-view. The movie was soooooooooo boring that my brother decided to fall asleep and told me to wake him up when something exciting happened.
After seeing this movie, I read in an issue of US magazine, that Sigourney Weaver was responsible for the way the movie was scripted. She demanded that the script not contain any firearms (hence the boring and dank prison environment which unusually had no weapons-go figure). She really messed this Alien pic up big time!!! Aliens success (in my opinion) was that action provided by the weaponary. Also, Alien 3 was more a sorry excuse to end the Alien saga on a wishy-washy sentimental note. For me, the movie failed miserably.
The attack scenes are unbelievably predictable. I felt like like I knew 15 minutes in advance of who was going to get killed by the alien. The alien creature itself is rather dull and unimpressive. The plot is geered more towards a soap opera audience than a sci-fi movie. This movie failed to provide anything exciting or rewarding. I remember the printed advertisements for this movie were saying stuff like: "3 times the terror". GIVE ME A BREAK! This movie was more like 3,000 times the disappointment.
My advice, stick to Alien and Aliens for true satisfaction and don't even bother to watch Alien 3!
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I actually wasted money seeing this movie on pay-per-view. The movie was soooooooooo boring that my brother decided to fall asleep and told me to wake him up when something exciting happened.
After seeing this movie, I read in an issue of US magazine, that Sigourney Weaver was responsible for the way the movie was scripted. She demanded that the script not contain any firearms (hence the boring and dank prison environment which unusually had no weapons-go figure). She really messed this Alien pic up big time!!! Aliens success (in my opinion) was that action provided by the weaponary. Also, Alien 3 was more a sorry excuse to end the Alien saga on a wishy-washy sentimental note. For me, the movie failed miserably.
The attack scenes are unbelievably predictable. I felt like like I knew 15 minutes in advance of who was going to get killed by the alien. The alien creature itself is rather dull and unimpressive. The plot is geered more towards a soap opera audience than a sci-fi movie. This movie failed to provide anything exciting or rewarding. I remember the printed advertisements for this movie were saying stuff like: "3 times the terror". GIVE ME A BREAK! This movie was more like 3,000 times the disappointment.
My advice, stick to Alien and Aliens for true satisfaction and don't even bother to watch Alien 3!