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Alien 3 (Collector's Edition)

Alien 3 (Collector's Edition)

List Price: $26.98
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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not the best in the series, but definitely not the worst
Review: Nope. Alien: Resurrection holds the title as thje worst Alien movie. This film simply should have been the END of the Alien series, or at least for Ripley. As far as I am concerned, this IS the last movie, because Resurrection is not a part of the Alien series, it is more of a 'wacky spin-off adventure'.

In this violent, but sometimes poignant film, we see the survivors of the Sulaco, Ripley, Hicks, Newt and Bishop peacefully in hypersleep, drifting home. Unfortunately, they had failed to realize something very important. When the Queen managed to get on the dropship, she had also laid an egg where she hid on the ship. While drifting back to earth, the egg hatched. The facehugger tried to get into Newt's capsule, and the shattering glass pierced the creatures, its acidic blood eating through the floor causing a fire. Then the terror begins yet again...

The Sulaco's emergency prep drops the cryo tubes into an EEV(Emergency Escape Vehicle) and ejects it out into space, with the facehugger still on board. IT plummeted into the gravitational pull of Fiorina 'Fury' 161, a double-Y chromo prison facility. The EEV plummets into the ocean with disastrous results.

Be prepared to break any emotional attachments you made to the surviving characters. The landing was quite grisly. The inmates lift the tattered EEV out of the ocean and into the junk pile, bringing RIpley, the only survivor, to the medical facility. However, as the EEV is placed in the garbage heap, one of the in-mate's Rottweiler is aroused by movement in the EEV...it is the facehugger.

Shortly thereafter, we see a brand new breed of alien. With the replicated genes of a dog, this alien runs on all fours, is incredibly fast, and is by far the meanest Alien we have ever seen in this movie series yet! When the Warden does not beleive Ripley's story, even after some of the inmates are turning up murdered, it is up to her and her new found friend, Dr. Clemens, to try and convince them all what they are dealing with, but it may already be too late, as Ripley herself is carrying with her a horrible secret, that not even she knows about yet...

Although this movie got bad reviews, and is my least favorite among the trilogy(I do not consider Resurrection a part of the series), I definitely think that the Runner, or Dog Alien, is probably the best alien in all the movies. Unbeleivably vicious and just, to quote Superintendant Andrews, 'Generally Unpleasant', the beast has a mean streak and often toys with the prisoners, making this the darkest and most violent of the trilogy.

The bad parts about the movie are obvious. After seeing the Colonial marines in action, it is tough to see the events of this movie. You will miss the marines. Another very troubling aspect is the deahts of Hicks and Newt, whom Ripley had strived so very hard to rescue in the last movie, only to have their lives sorrowfully taken from them. Seeing Hicks die, as my favorite character from Aliens, was upsetting. The acting isn't exactly top notch, but you will grow to like a few of the prisoners, namely Morse and Dillon. Not the best in the trilogy, but it definitely brings a good closure to the series. Unfortunately, Alien: Resurrection ruined this closure by bringing us a rather poor plot and extremely poor acting, not to mention a whole new take on the Aliens, which i felt was stupid and unnecessary. Keep Alien 3 as the final movie. Watch Alien: Resurrection if you are in the mood for a 'wacky spin-off', because that is all it is.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Worthy sequel
Review: (3 1/2 stars). I have to admit that of all the Hollywood franchises, 'Alien' has been the most successful and consistent in terms of quality. (Perhaps this is why the 4-DVD series box set released in 1999 is now being re-released as an 8-DVD box set with the original version AND director's versions for each film at the end of 2003.)

One of the reason for the success is change. In the epic sequel, 'Aliens', director James Cameron left his mark by shifting from the original horror formula to the action genre, culminating in a triumphant ending where the planet with the aliens has been nuked and the queen is dead.

In this controversial third installment, upstart director David Fincher (who would later direct the brilliant 'Se7en') returns to the original vision - the horror of helplessness and isolation - one alien, an inhospitable environment, and no weapons. For good measure, everybody Ripley cared about from the previous film are killed and she is infected by a queen alien. For many fans, this represented too many nihilistic plot twists to swallow. However, even amidst the controversy surrounding the production, the very dark vision for this film was there from the beginning and embraced by Sigorney Weaver. Overall, the atmosphere of the set is great, the cast is superb, and the script is refreshingly bleak in its wholehearted attempt to not only end, but put a punctuation point, on the franchise - an attempt that would ultimately fail.

The weak part of the film is the rendering of the alien creature itself. Originally, Giber envisioned a large four-legged bull-sized alien, quite different from the creatures previous incarnations. However, at the last minute in production, the alien was begotten-by-dog. In any case, the CGI (circa 1992) does not blend very well with the environment and the size and movement of the alien is inconsistent (e.g., does the alien run on two legs or four?)

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not very good
Review: I don`t know why they made a third one. The first and second were masterpieces. This, is just plain wierd. This one is to violent and the violence takes away the chilling side of the movie. If they didn`t have all the violent scenes, this would be another alien masterpiece.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Bad.
Review: The Alien Series started getting very bad and silly starting with this thrid film. These filmmakers just want to make a profit from foolish fans who don't know any better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Alien 3 Best Ever!
Review: Alien 3 is one of my favorite movies! A lot of Alien fans hate it. Why? It's a heck of a lot better then the other three. Aliens is probably the overall favorite, but it's too long and not that scarry considering there are hundereds of aliens. It all stars out when Ripley, Bishop, Hicks, and Newt crash land on Furry 161. It is a security prison planet full of inmates. It may sound bad, but it's really good. A dog gets impreagnanted and there is a new bigger alien that can crawl on walls and the ceiling. The inmates , except for one, don't know about the alien before Brian Glover's character gets killed in front of everyone. Ripley's plan to destroy the alien by trapping the alien backFIRES when the fire is accidently lit early which kills off about 10 prisoners. Dillon, who is played by Chareles S. Dutton, has the idea by drowning the alien in lead. The plan woked..... for a while.
The survivor of the movie may not be your faveorite, but it was great and my favorite guy died too.
Alien 3- Overall grade: 104% A+
Begining: 17/20 Alien action early
Plot: 18/20 Any other ideas?
Alien: 20/20 A job well done!
Acting: 19/20 Weaver, Dutton, and Dance were great!
Ending: 20/20 Can it get any get any better!?!
Bonus: +10 For great alien FX and scenes!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Very Flawed Sequel
Review: Alien 3 is certainly the most controversal film in the Alien series. Prior to the film's release in 1992 I had read about the films problematic story and braced myself for what would be a unique but very unappealing film that picks up right after Aliens.

I was very dissapointed in the decision of killing off the other survivors. I did and still do think that was a cop out. It virtually wipes out anything that Aliens had achieved. That being, David Fincher manged to take a muddled script and make a decent film with a overwhelmingly doomladen atmosphere.

Ripley once again the sole survivor, is stranded at a all male prison colony and is in a race against time. The collection of seedy prisoners all have shaven heads (lice problems) and have managned to find some inner peace until Ripley's unexpected arrival. Soon enough Ripley and an uninvited guest starts off a chain reaction that has a most dramatic conclusion.

The film's biggest problem: The opening montage clearly shows an alien egg in a inaccurate part of the Sulaco (the Marines vessel from Aliens) and the questionable capabilities of it's facehugger to occupy two victims. The overall look of the film is impressive in its gloomy and monochromatic colors. The special effects are hit & miss. The actual design of this Alien with canine features is unique but poorly executed. The full size has a sloppy look to it and the models used in chase sequences doesn't quite mesh.

The film score by Elliot Goldenthal is impressive and creates a strange and creepy atmosphere. Sigurney Weaver gives a haunting performace as Ripley who knows that the end is at hand for her. The supporting cast including Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Pete Posthlewaite, Paul McGann is solid and Lance Henrikson is rather creepy and ambiguous as Bishop's creator. The filmmakers managed to create a rather stark and dramatic looking film, but the storyline is quite alienating and shows little respect for what Ridley Scott and James Cameron achieved. Only reserved recommended viewing here.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This Alien had no teeth so it just sucked
Review: Awful, awful, awful, awful. It was rumoured prior to the making of Alien 3 that Ms. Weaver was unwilling to grind out more Alien sequels. Perhaps this is why she helped co-produce this abomination - to kill the series! Amazingly Ms. Weaver was honored with an Oscar nomination for her Ripley role in "Aliens", who becomes a juggernaut of a protective mother when pushed (either to protect the marines lost in the maze of Aliens at the plant or protecting Newt. Obviously the "Alien 3" filmmakers decided the mother daughter plot in that film didn't warrant further exploration and instead turned Ripley into a weakling. This was a major psychological mistake since people who jump into the fray are generally very strong characters internally, so it's unlikely Ripley would have ever retreated in the scared bunny routine that begins this tale of so much woe. Pity, there was a lot more potential in the mother daughter relationship than this mess.

Furthermore, no matter what anyone suggests about this DVD version with additional footage, there is NO satisfactory EXPLANATION given for a supposedly laid egg by the Alien Queen to GET INSIDE the ship when she was located in a crevice OUTSIDE the SHIP piloted by Lance Henriksen. Not to mention Ripley DESTROYING the Queen's EGG SACK that the QUEEN actually SEPARATED HERSELF FROM before chasing after Ripley carrying Newt in the exploding air manufacturing plant. You see it works like this, NO egg sack, NO eggs. Sad, just sad. Next, how the hell did the Face hugger from this egg that couldn't have existed get inside Ripley's hybernation chamber? Remember that in "Alien" it dissolved through John Hurt's helmet to get to his face, yet Ripley's chamber cover had not been melted or damaged in any way, so how? HOW? HOW? Regardless what you think of the acting ability of Dutton or Weaver, if a film begins on a screwed up premise (remember Highlander II and the orginal Highlander?) nothing the actors can do will save it. Don't even get me started on Alien 4 -- a parasitic host zenomorph that combines at DNA level? To quote another sci-fi great "Don't insult my intelligence!"

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The extended version elevates the franchise
Review: Sure, I never liked the theatrical version of Alien 3 very much. Not because they radically changed the feel or killed of Hicks and Newt. More because it seemed quite disjointed and you never felt too connected with the convicts and they just became a buch of running, screaming bald Englishmen.

Well after watching the extended version I think this movie absolutely shines. You get so much more charcter development in the convicts and a lot more of a sense of what kind of a little society they have made for themselves and it makes their attempts at dealing with the Alien much more poignant and meaningful. Their are parts that are radically different which I can't believe they cut out.

This is well worth owning to get the extended version but at least rent it, as for all Alien fans who felt let down by this movie, this is a great showing of redemption for an unfulfilled chapter in a faltering franchise.

....I wish Alien Ressurection could have been saved the same way but that patient was flatline straight from the field.......

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Old School Special Effects
Review: "Alien 3" has its share of problems, but one of them is not "bad CGI effects" as some reviewers have mistakenly noted. At the time this film was made, CGI was not where it is today (at least not ouside studios like PDI or ILM). In every shot, the Alien was either a rod puppet shot against bluescreen manned by several puppeteers or a man-in-a-suit by ADI. The shadows of the puppet Alien were created digtially, but optically comped (a choice that created many headaches).

The ONLY CG shot in the film was when the Alien's head cracks. The crack was drawn & animated by an animator on traditional paper and digitally composited. Jim Rygiel (VFX on LOTR) was the CG supervisor at Boss Film during that era, and created the single digital composite in the film--which, at the time, was a pretty cool accomplishment.

Not having the luxury of CG, the problem of how to make a quadruped Alien move & look real was a difficult one. The rod puppet crew was headed by the very talented Laine Liska (who has since passed on), but the speed and agility needed for the movement of the creature went beyond what could convincingly be portrayed through puppetry. A tough show for the VFX crew and for Fincher, who could not convince Fox to let him just do his job.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Should have stopped with Aliens
Review: One of the worst ways to ruin a sequal, in my opinion, is to kill off the survivors of the previous in the very begging. (What's the point in having them survive, then?) Not only does it hurt the sequal, but deminishes the previous as well.

Then there is the whoel problem of how the eggs got there in the first place.

If you want a good sequal to "Aliens", find the Dark Horse comics versions. They are "Aliens: Book 1", "Aliens: Book2", and "Aliens: Earthwar".


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