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According to Drew Dietsch
| Published
Alien 3 he always had to climb a steep hill. A stunning success Foreignand Aliens loomed over David Fincher’s theatrical debut. Also had to deal with “the third movie curse” and be the end of a perceived trilogy.
Unfortunately, income for Alien 3 from audiences and critics in 1992 was undoubtedly chilling. And over the years it has remained one of the most controversial records in the whole Foreign franchise.
But thanks to time and an unexpected new version of the film, Alien 3 has become one of the most fascinating and unfairly overlooked sci-fi/horror films of recent decades.
How the sci-fi sequel faltered at first
So much worked against Alien 3 before the audience saw a single frame of the film. Conceptualizing the film was a chaotic nightmare. Several versions of the film never got off the ground, including one that would have set the film on the wooden planet of the monks. The film’s original director was fired shortly before production began, and first-time director David Fincher was under constant pressure due to extensive rewrites by the producers, rewrites that occurred during the making of the film. And that’s just a tip Alien 3an iceberg of sorrows.
Even without knowledge of the film’s behind-the-scenes issues, audiences were primed to be critical. Alien 3. The first film was a cultural blockbuster, and the sequel managed to deliver an experience that satisfied both fans of the original and newcomers. This third entry will be scrutinized no matter what he did.
What made it doubly difficult is that Alien 3 decided to be a stripped-down film. Kicking off the film by killing off the two surviving characters from the previous film pulled out of the audience in a really cruel way. And the film continued to be antagonistic by being a gritty, doom-laden story that culminated in the death of series protagonist Ellen Ripley.
Add to that other factors such as a cast of mostly unrecognizable white British men, a compromise final cut that removed entire plots, and a grimy prison atmosphere that only served to heighten the film’s oppressive tone. So many factors made the audience unable to click Alien 3 at each surface level.
Although the film was a financial success, it paled in comparison to the gargantuan achievements of the previous films. In conjunction with primarily negative reactions Alien 3 he was always considered a failure in the grand scheme of the franchise.
Until one day it started to change.
Why Alien 3 was finally accepted
Alien 3 he certainly had his defenders, but they were objectively in the minority. That started to change when Alien 3 received a brand new release in 2003 as part of Alien quadrilogy DVD box set. Each of the first four films came with their own theatrical cuts and alternate cuts. This new version is called “Assembly Cut”. Alien 3 restored nearly 40 minutes of unused or alternate footage not present in the original release.
This led many fans to reconsider Alien 3 as this new version—the only alternate cut in the set not overseen by its director—offered a somewhat less compromising view of the intent of this third entry. And by offering fans a new version of the movie to watch, they ended up again with a movie they might have written off after just one viewing.
With this new version, fans began to see just how technically impressive the production is Alien 3 was. And as David Fincher became an heralded talent in the world of filmmaking, it was also a look back at how his approach and style evolved. Even the film’s detractors are willing to admit that Alien 3 maintains the series’ legacy of impressive filmmaking.
The Assembly Cut also helped flesh out the relationships between Ripley and some of the other characters. The romance that develops between Ripley and the character of the doctor, played by Charles Dance, is solidly executed and his eventual death is actually tragic. And Charles S. Dutton almost gets away with the whole movie as the prisoners’ religious leader.
There’s also a better sense of mood in the Assembly Cut because you let the scenes sit for longer periods of time. If a gloomy tone Alien 3 it turns you off, you can’t get over it. But if you can buy into what the film is trying to achieve, the Assembly Cut offers a more cohesive and fully realized version of that vision.
Alien 3 always manages to be a divisive film in a franchise. However, the release of the Assembly Cut – itself re-edited in subsequent home video releases – managed to showcase just how misunderstood the film was upon release. I personally consider the original theatrical version of the film to be valuable as well. Yes, it’s an inevitable mess, but that’s its goal, and it delivers on that ethos with strong performances and even stronger filmmaking.
Alien 3 he deserves the cult following he’s managed to cultivate over the last decade. It’s a completely different experience than any other film in the series, and that alone makes it a unique project worth celebrating.
