Alien³ (1992)
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After a crash landing on a penal colony, a lone survivor must confront a deadly alien organism.
The story
Following the events of Aliens, the spaceship Sulaco is traveling toward Earth when an alien egg hatches, causing a catastrophic fire. An escape pod containing the sole survivor, Ellen Ripley, and a damaged android, Bishop, crash-lands on Fiorina "Fury" 161. This location is a high-security correctional facility housing violent inmates. Ripley must navigate the dangerous environment and the hostile population while dealing with the presence of a deadly alien organism that has also reached the facility. With the facility's resources limited and the threat growing, Ripley must find a way to contain the creature before it can claim more victims.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After the Sulaco is compromised by a facehugger, an escape pod containing Ellen Ripley and the damaged android Bishop crashes on the prison planet Fiorina 161. Ripley is the only survivor of the initial crew. The facility is populated by inmates with a genetic predisposition for antisocial behavior. A facehugger escapes and begins to terrorize the facility, eventually killing several inmates and the prison's medical officer. Ripley discovers that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is aware of the alien's presence and intends to use it as a biological weapon. She eventually discovers she is carrying an alien embryo. The film culminates in a desperate battle in the foundry where the inmates and Ripley attempt to destroy the alien. In the final confrontation, Ripley faces a Weyland-Yutani team and a man claiming to be the creator of Bishop. She ultimately sacrifices herself by throwing herself into a furnace to destroy the alien queen growing inside her, while the only remaining survivor, Robert Morse, is led away.
- First release year
- 1992
- Runtime (minutes)
- 114
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- David Fincher
- Writers
- David Giler · screenplay; Walter Hill · screenplay; Larry Ferguson · screenplay; Vincent Ward · story
- Cast and characters
- Sigourney Weaver · Ellen Ripley; Charles S. Dutton · Leonard Dillon; Charles Dance · Jonathan Clemens; Brian Glover · Harold Andrews; Ralph Brown · Francis Aaron; Paul McGann · Walter Golic; Danny Webb · Robert Morse; Lance Henriksen · Bishop
- Genres
- science fiction; horror
- Themes
- survival; corporate greed; isolation
- Tone and mood
- tense; bleak
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews and was regarded as inferior to previous installments. It was also noted for its troubled production and was disowned by director David Fincher.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 43% · scale: percentage · review count: 127; Metacritic · score: 59 · scale: 100 · review count: 20
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Visual Effects · nomination; Hugo Award · Best Dramatic Presentation · nomination; MTV Movie Award · Best Action Sequence · win
- Production trivia
- The character of the alien was designed by H.R. Giger.; An extended version called the Assembly Cut was released in 2003.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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