Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Alien 3’

Written by Scott Edwards

Sigourney Weaver as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley in David Fincher’s ALIEN 3. (Photo Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.)

​Losing something or someone that you have always had by your side for many years can be devastating to people and cause them not to care about anything afterwards. It is the people that can find a way to cope with the loss and come back stronger that are the ones we should all aspire to be. So many people have lost something or someone that has made their life go round and if they are able to come back, they have a different perspective on life that we will never truly understand, until it happens to us.

Ellen Ripley’s escape shuttle has caught fire and crashed into Fiorina 'Fury' 161, a foundry facility and penal colony that only houses male inhabitants. Since she was in a cryogenic slumber for her attempted journey home, Ripley is basically unharmed in the wreck, but all of her fellow survivors from the last expedition have passed on. Wanting to know, needing to know that the Xenomorph threat has not followed her once again, Ripley insists on having an autopsy performed on Newt to make sure she was never infected. Once satisfied, Ripley has her new friend Clemens threaten the warden with the possibility of an outbreak in the facility and insists that the bodies be burned.

Unbeknownst to Ripley, her escape shuttle had a stowaway aboard that has no intention of dying and managed to escape the crash without being noticed. The facehugger has found another host on the planet that will cause little concern to the population. As it matures inside of one of the planet's dogs, the beast comes out larger and stronger than before and cannot be stopped in a civilization without weapons. Staying to the shadows until it fully matures, no one in the facility knows what they are in for, except for Ripley who starts to notice the strange disappearances of some of the reformed convicts. 

Alien 3 takes place in a penal colony that only houses the worst of the worst inmates. Finding their own form of Christianity and becoming reformed in their own eyes, they are not accustomed to visitors, especially women. Being afraid that the presence of a woman will throw the current happiness off and send the prisoners into a frenzy, a wire for assistance is sent to their jailers. With promise of help to arrive by the end of the week, the men can sit at ease and unless Ellen Ripley does something to provoke the men, they will all survive in harmony. When a couple of inmates go missing however, it is now known that there is something else that will invoke havoc and the peaceful population will have little defenses against its greatness. As more and more men die, Ripley devises a plan to incinerate the creature, but has to find a way to get help from the inmates that are only fearing for their own lives and awaiting help that may or may not come.

The third installment of the Alien franchise might not be the best of the series, but it did carry much more emotions than the first and second. Since the film went through several directors and screenwriters before making it to production, this film did focus more on its characters and their development than anyone could have ever expected. Making a great film where everything falls into place is one thing, but a movie that is doomed from the get go is something else and that is what happened here and they were still able to turn out a decent flick that did not leave us with any unanswered questions. This film also features great performances by Sigourney Weaver and Charles Dance, but a stellar showing by Charles S. Dutton, who played the spiritual leader to the inmates, stands out over everyone else. Dutton was more than believable in his role and every time he speaks in the movie, regardless if you are enjoying it or not, you listen. This is another great science fiction/horror hybrid film that will keep you waiting for something else to pop out of the corner. Stay Scared.

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