Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!

7/25/2013

Alien 3 (1992) or, The Monsters Go to Jail!

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An effective, icky still make up the majority of this dark poster for David Fincher's Alien 3. Don't miss the foolishly long tagline under the title. - Pretty silly stuff, hu?

Ripley, girl Newt, Hicks and android Bishop escape a fire on their space vessel and land in a penal colony on a strange planet, where bloody deaths later lead Ripley to believe that they may have brought an unwelcome life form along with them.

Coloradoan master filmmaker David Fincher (Se7en (1995)) debuted with Alien 3 after years of music video works. - Imagine the pressure after the first two distinctive worldwide smash hits and genre innovators by Ridley Scott and James Cameron, who both by the 1990s were established masters of cinema. Entering a creative plane full of strife, disagreements, egos and big money as a young, unproven agent assuming the directing responsibilities, I think Fincher actually did really well with Alien 3, all things considered.
Alien 3 manages straight away to take a big step away from the previous films by relying on a minimum of guns and electronics and changing the scenery dramatically to that of a prison planet. The visual side has evolved as well. And so although many of Fincher's later films are better, it is clear already here that he is himself a highly capable and visionary filmmaker.
All the prisoner-related stuff in the movie works so-so, and at times Alien 3 seems both a bit predictable and a bit overlong. SPOILER But the ending with Ripley and the iron alien is pretty darn cool. It is written by Larry Ferguson (The Presidio (1988)), Walter Hill (Streets of Fire (1984)) and David Giler (The Parallax View (1974)), with Vincent Ward (Vigil (1984)) contributing story elements.

Related posts:

David Fincher: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant

The Social Network (2010) - Fincher's a-hole biopic leaves me cold (and more anti-Facebook than ever)

The Alien franchise: AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) or, Everyone Loses (spin-off)
Alien: Resurrection (1997) or, Queen of the Goo Massacre!
Aliens (1986) or, Alien War
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

Watch a teaser trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 - 55 mil. $ (different reports)
Box office: 159.8 mil. $
= Box office success (returned at least 2.90 times its cost)
[Alien 3 was released 22 May and runs 114 minutes. The film had a long development process with reportedly 7 mil. $ spent before production could begin. Filming took place in England and California from January - May 1991. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Lethal Weapon 3, to 23.1 mil. $ in North America, where is spent another week in the top 5 (#3), only ran for 6 weeks and grossed 55.4 mil. $ (34.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 28.8 mil. $ (18%) and the UK with 12.7 mil. $ (7.9 %). The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Visual Effects, lost to Death Becomes Her, and for the corresponding BAFTA. In 2003, a 145 minute 'Assembly Cut' of the film was released without the involvement of Fincher, who isn't too fond of the film. Fincher returned with 9 commercials and music videos, before he dared to go back to a feature with thriller masterpiece Se7en (1995). Weaver returned in 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). Alien 3 is rotten at 44 % with a 5.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Alien 3?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

7/25/2013