ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

In view of all the things which worked against this movie, it's amazing that it didn't end up being worse than it is!

In other words, instead of being really, really bad, the movie is just really bad.

Consider some of the IMDB trivia items which explain why this movie is such a miserable failure. For example:

$7 million had been spent on sets that were never used thanks to the ever-changing script before filming had even started.

That "ever-changing script" became the nightmare that ending up causing screenwriters and directors to come and go like sailors in a San Diego brothel. In 1987 producers David Giler and Walter Hill asked William Gibson to write the script for a third Alien film. He based his treatment heavily on concepts proposed by Giler and Hill.

From what I read in the Wikipedia article, Gibson had a bang-up idea which involved Corporal Hicks and repaired android Bishop fighting aliens in a space-station shopping mall (I kid you not). But Fox didn't like the idea that Ripley was kept in a coma — and out of the story!

After William Gibson's story was tossed out, screenwriter Eric Red took a shot at it — and was shot down, too. That's okay, though, because even he stated later on that his script sucked because of studio interference and "suggestions".

Writer David Twohy was given the job next, and he was told to fix William Gibson's script. When Fox president Joe Roth saw his work, he put his foot down and demanded they get Ripley back where she belonged — battling Aliens, instead of lying around in a coma!

The producers invited director Vincent Ward to man the helm, with John Fasano assisting with the script. Ward agreed . . . but he hated David Twohy's script, which was a variation on William Gibson's script, based on concepts provided by producers David Giler and Walter Hill.

Too many chefs spoil the soup.

Besides, Vincent Ward thought he had a much better idea.

According to Wikipedia, Ward wanted the story to take place on a "planet whose interior was both wooden and archaic in design, where Luddite-like monks would take refuge."

The rest of the description for this wacky "wooden planet" concept sounds about as interesting as the gum on bottom of theater seats. However, the trade papers who were told about the concept praised it, and Sigorney Weaver said it was "very original and arresting."

But the Fox executives didn't like it, and they gave Ward a long list of changes they wanted. Ward said no. Fox said hit the road, Jack.

So, producers Walter Hill and David Giler took control of the screenplay themselves — which actually pleased Sigourney Weaver because she had a contract clause which stated that only these guys (and James Cameron) could really do justice to the Ripley character.

Fox then hirer Peter Finch to direct the film, and he made major modifications in the script — which by this time had more authors than the "uncles" of kids with slutty single moms.

Peter Fincher did more work on the screenplay (naturally) with the help of writer Rex Pickett, who eventually got fired (naturally), so producers Hill and Giler ended up writing the final draft (no surprise there either).

After learning all that from Wikipedia, I was startled by this IMDB item.

The production effectively shut down for three months while the script was undergoing rewrites.

Good God, they STILL didn't have the script finished, after years of work and more screenwriters than all the chocolate chips in a bag of Chips Ahoy!

Another big flaw in this very flawed project was the excessive gore. And yet the film was original going to be even worse than what we finally saw! The IMDB item below does not pose a pleasant thought.

Much more of the autopsy scene was filmed than ended up in the final film. A rough cut of the scene originally contained so much gore that it even made crew members who had worked on it sick to their stomach.

Add to this the fact that the story treated the beloved characters which James Cameron gave us — Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop — in a cruel manner. Everyone but Ripley died in a horrible manner before the story even started!

So, all in all, this just isn't my kind of movie. About the only good thing I can say is that it actually made Alien Resurrection enjoyable by comparison.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bogmeister]

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Boy, did someone screw the pooch with this 3rd one in the Alien film series (after Aliens in 1986. The director, David Fincher, did as well as he could with the script and concept, but they just took the whole franchise into the absolutely wrong direction.

Instead of expanding on the grander scale of Aliens, they went backwards. The characters of Hicks and Newt, the only survivors besides Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) from Aliens, are disposed of as the film begins. Ripley herself is stuck on a prison asteroid with a bunch of bald inmates.

WTF?

The key inmates are played by Charles S. Dutton — the one who aims for redemption — Charles Dance as the fallen physician, Brian Glover as the shortsighted warden, and Pete Postlethwaite just before he became well known.



I may as well throw this out there — what was the thinking also behind the title style, Alien3? A single alien to the 3rd power just equals one. Oh, wait . . . yeah, there is only one in this film.

Fincher would later direct more dark material in films like Se7en — one of my favorites, so his style is definitely strong. But I just look at this one as a bad dream that Ripley is having while asleep in the drifting ship. I really didn't much care if any of the characters survived in this one. I cared more that Newt and Hicks were gone, and that's not good.

Lance Henriksen also shows up in two roles — briefly as the android Bishop (so he does return from the 2nd film) and, in the final act, as the human engineer who developed the android line.

BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10

________________ Alien 3: Why It Didn't Work


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Krel.]

I didn't like this movie, but I have read about some big problems the director was saddled with. Alien 3 went through a lot of different concepts, including one set on earth, which was considered WAY, WAYYY too expensive. The one they settled on was about some Monks on a space station constructed out of wood! It got far enough before collapsing that they built the space station sets. That ate up A LOT of the budget, and the studio forced David Fincher to use those sets, and he had to disguise them as well as he could. Mostly that seemed to involve VERY dimly lit sets.

They say that the director's cut is better, but I refuse to take the chance.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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Good lord, what a shocking story about the stupidity of clueless studio executives who don't have any idea how to make an intelligent movie.

It's another example of how artist don't understand business, and businessmen don't understand art. Occasional a team will form who know enough about both to work together, but it's very rare.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[ralfy]

_________________ William Gibson on Alien 3


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[The Spike]

Don't feck with The Baldies!

Special Edition.

I love it, I really do. OK! So it's basically a monster on the loose piece, but the setting at a sci-fi prison colony - complete with nutty religious shards - makes for a thrillingly atmospheric ride. Of course if this was merely a stand alone film, where there was no Alien and Aliens previously, I feel sure the special edition cut would be thought of differently.

A roll call of Brit thesps line up for some tension filled entertainment as director David Fincher and cinematographer Alex Thomson provide a look that is both beautiful and scary. The metallic nightmare of chambers and cold concrete fused together for some hellish stalk and paranoia. Industrial Punk? Steam Punk? Cyber Punk? Fincher Punk? Hey man, we gotta give it a name! And of course there's Siggy Weaver front and center, the reassuring presence among the murderers, rapists and child molesters.

I could live without the attempt at a transcendent finale, but in extended form this has much to light your fires. It also showed that Fincher would be a director to watch - imagine if had he been left alone to craft his own vision? His subsequent career and standing makes a mockery of the studio execs involved in the making of Alien³. 8/10
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The quality of mercy is not strnen.