Alien 3In the future, mankind has grown beyond the confines of Earth, spread out into the stars, and harvested the interstellar bounty. The powers that be include Weyland-Yutani--often referred to simply as "the company"; its influence spreads to all reaches, including a distant maximum security prison colony on the distant rock of Fiorina "Fury" 161, where the simultaneous convicts and custodians of the planet generally follow a self-imposed--almost monastic--practice of abstinence..."especially from women". This poses little issue to the male-only site, since there are no women, until Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and her escape shuttle crashes on the surface, with an unfortunate surprise as unexpected cargo.
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Alien 3 begins on an exceptionally dour note, and goes down from there. Ripley--it turns out--is once again a sole survivor, the others who accompanied her escape from LV-426 aboard the Sulaco--Hicks, Bishop, and most heartbreakingly, Newt--all perished in the fire and jettisoning of the shuttle from the marine ship. Unlike the Nostromo, Ripley had formed an emotional attachment with Newt at least, leaving her crushed from the news. The culprit of the chaos is established quickly--for us, in the opening montage, for Ripley after she sees the evidence of the face hugger's acidic blood on the outside of Newt's hypersleep pod; the creature emerged from an egg left as if out of spite by the queen alien Ripley disposed of in Aliens. In her bereavement, Ripley is offered comfort and insight by the medical officer of the colony, Clemens (Charles Dance), who knows that Ripley is hiding something from him based on her behavior and her unusual desire to have an autopsy performed on Newt, not to mention the out of place residue of the xenomorph's blood after an unfortunate accident with one of the prisoners. A good deal of attention is paid to Clemens, himself trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious events taking place on the colony after Ripley's arrival, even though she remains reluctant to disclose any of it to him; perhaps she'd like to have at least one person she can talk to without feeling like Chicken Little, warning against monsters falling from the sky. When Hicks and Newt are committed to the flames of the furnace of Fury 161--itself previously a smelting operation and metal refinery--a prayer (two prayers, actually) are said. As their souls are delivered up high, there is a sense that fire is a purifying force. It has proven to be anathema to the xenomorph, and the juxtaposition of the fire and the divine suggests that it is the only true salvation against the evil presence, an idea which gets reintroduced at the conclusion of the film.
As the only female resident of Fury 161, she is advised (ordered) by prison superintendent Harold Andrews (Brian Glover) to avoid contact with the other men. After shaving her head and dressing like them, she promptly ignores this command and joins the "double Y" chromosome inmates for breakfast. Is she instigating a fight with a gang of murderers and rapists, even if they claim to embrace religion? It's possible she's looking for some kind of confrontation, maybe even some retribution; but for what? Maybe she feels guilty over the loss of Hicks and Newt, and is trying to punish herself by exposing herself to danger out of grief. Or maybe it's simply that after having her nerves tempered against a threat as ferocious as the alien, the threat of breakfast with hardened criminals pales by comparison. It would not be much of an Alien movie without the eponymous alien wreaking havoc. In this film, it finds its host in a rottweiler, and after its bloody emergence, begins the process of picking off the inmates one by one. When the situation sufficiently deteriorates, Ripley finds herself effectively leading the prisoners in a defense against the alien stalking their corridors and tunnels. Their efforts to lure the beast into a trap are clumsy and awkward, but also reflect that this group is far from the well-armed band of colonial marines she had previously accompanied into the lion's den, making the prisoners' battle all the more tense and dangerous. The metal works--and new found lair of the alien--resembles a rusted out furnace, a dark, dank industrial basement, where everything and everyone is left to rot; Ripley makes a similar metaphorical observation to this effect when hope begins to trickle away from her entirely, and she actively decides to provoke the beast into action--that action being to kill her. The company has sent a high priority transmission to the planet--a first--indicating that they want Ripley quarantined until they show up to "rescue" her. Ripley rightly assumes that this rescue is a farce, and the company is really only interested in finally collecting the specimen they have sought for so long, and who knows what fate awaits the prisoners who now know just what this monster really is. What this means for Ripley and the inmates is that they are set in a race against time--and a mortal conflict--with not only the alien, but the looming threat of their supposed benefactors. Ripley and her new allies end up waging a battle of rebellion and even protest against these forces, and against powerlessness, against oppression, and most importantly, against death.
Recommended for: Fans of the terrors that are familiar to fans of the Alien films, that distinct grim and grimy future, and the killing machine lurking in the dark. It is a sorrowful science fiction film, one that leaves you with catharsis and a grim reminder of the dangers of not only evil corporations and immoral greed, but the more manifest monsters in the shadows.
As the only female resident of Fury 161, she is advised (ordered) by prison superintendent Harold Andrews (Brian Glover) to avoid contact with the other men. After shaving her head and dressing like them, she promptly ignores this command and joins the "double Y" chromosome inmates for breakfast. Is she instigating a fight with a gang of murderers and rapists, even if they claim to embrace religion? It's possible she's looking for some kind of confrontation, maybe even some retribution; but for what? Maybe she feels guilty over the loss of Hicks and Newt, and is trying to punish herself by exposing herself to danger out of grief. Or maybe it's simply that after having her nerves tempered against a threat as ferocious as the alien, the threat of breakfast with hardened criminals pales by comparison. It would not be much of an Alien movie without the eponymous alien wreaking havoc. In this film, it finds its host in a rottweiler, and after its bloody emergence, begins the process of picking off the inmates one by one. When the situation sufficiently deteriorates, Ripley finds herself effectively leading the prisoners in a defense against the alien stalking their corridors and tunnels. Their efforts to lure the beast into a trap are clumsy and awkward, but also reflect that this group is far from the well-armed band of colonial marines she had previously accompanied into the lion's den, making the prisoners' battle all the more tense and dangerous. The metal works--and new found lair of the alien--resembles a rusted out furnace, a dark, dank industrial basement, where everything and everyone is left to rot; Ripley makes a similar metaphorical observation to this effect when hope begins to trickle away from her entirely, and she actively decides to provoke the beast into action--that action being to kill her. The company has sent a high priority transmission to the planet--a first--indicating that they want Ripley quarantined until they show up to "rescue" her. Ripley rightly assumes that this rescue is a farce, and the company is really only interested in finally collecting the specimen they have sought for so long, and who knows what fate awaits the prisoners who now know just what this monster really is. What this means for Ripley and the inmates is that they are set in a race against time--and a mortal conflict--with not only the alien, but the looming threat of their supposed benefactors. Ripley and her new allies end up waging a battle of rebellion and even protest against these forces, and against powerlessness, against oppression, and most importantly, against death.
Recommended for: Fans of the terrors that are familiar to fans of the Alien films, that distinct grim and grimy future, and the killing machine lurking in the dark. It is a sorrowful science fiction film, one that leaves you with catharsis and a grim reminder of the dangers of not only evil corporations and immoral greed, but the more manifest monsters in the shadows.