Alien 3 (Special Edition)

1992 • 144 minutes

About this movie

Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) crash-lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak planet inhabited by former inmates of a maximum-security prison, but an Alien was also aboard her craft...and the body count begins to mount. With no advanced technology or weapons of any kind, Ripley must lead the ex-cons into battle against the deadly creature, even as she discovers a horrifying link between herself and the Alien!

Ratings and reviews

The Special Edition still did not make this installment very special. Definitely my least favorite of the original three films. Still gave it three out of five stars because it wasn't a complete disaster. Gave it three stars. Docked it a star for killing Hicks off screen but gave it the star back for doing away with Newt. Although killing her off at the start of the film really made the struggle to save her at the end of part 2 kinda pointless. Oh well! 3/5 R.I.P. Hicks ✊️

Spoiler: Ripley surviving the first to find out her daughter is dead in the second, only to redeem that death with Newt as the daughter she never had is all gone to waste. That human element and arc drives and anchors these films. It's Newt that drove Ripley into the hive and out. Those relatable, "don't you touch my kid" motivations are great. People will go to hell and back for that. This, on the other hand, almost seems like a lacking fanfilm. Still, seeing the Alien on screen is always great

I genuinely enjoyed this addition to the Alien series, when it was originally released; but I did realize the issues many people had with it were valid. Bits of the story didn't make coherent sense, the cgi (while daring for the time) was not great, and several favorite characters were sadly missing. But, if you are able to accept every Alien film as its director's unique take on the universe Ripley lives in, and can get past the limited ability of the effects of the time, this edition fixes the story.