vallesio

Let's just get to the point, as the sequel to Alien and Aliens, two films that changed cinemas and pop culture forever, Alien 3 falls short of the previous films and becomes lost in their shadows. Alien in 1979 was a surprise hit with its mysterious atmosphere and use of claustrophobic spaces. Being on a ship in space created a masterpiece in survival horror that has stood the test of time. Aliens 1986 was a total departure from the '79 film but in all the right ways, expanding the world of the Alien universe along with introducing the now iconic Colonial Marines.

The more Sci-fi action focus was a culture shock to the horror genre that many films try to, yet have failed to recreate or achieve. If Alien 3 was not a sequel to these films, it would be remembered as a semi solid survival horror film. The film has become a semi cult classic in some circles of fans. Its faults would be forgiven and brushed aside, but sadly we have to put everything under a microscope with it being the third movie of one of the most recognizable franchises of all time. Along with it being the ending of the trilogy. I hope this sets the stage for what you are about to read from me, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Now Alien 3 (2003) is not Alien Covenant (2017) which caused 20th century Fox to take away the franchise from its original creator Ridley Scott who they felt was damaging the material. And it's also not Alien vs Predator 2 (2007) which was one of the worst films of 2007 and caused The Brothers Strause to have only directed one other film in the last 18 years. These two films took the title of worst Alien movie away from Alien 3 and the kitchen sink. But Alien 3 still has its problems today and even with time they are still jarring and worth discussing. Parts of Alien 3 show brilliance with cinematography and the building of the atmosphere, along with good storytelling at times, but you can only put so much sugar on top of something to make it seem good. At least there was respect given to the material and setting that later sequels will throw out into the trash. Enough talking about the film; as Sgt. Apone would say "let's start getting into the shit, Marines".

Aliens 3 picks up where Aliens '86 left off with the Sulaco and those who survived LV-426 from the last film. The film begins with a bit of a stop and go start with credits. It will be a bit hard for some viewers to watch but it doesn't go on too long. Events start to happen quickly that make the survivors crash on a planet that used to be a labor prison for our good old friend The Weyland-Yutani corporation. The corporation played a big role in the first two films causing all of the chaos and death because of profit margins. In this film they will still play a part but much smaller involvement compared to the first two films. Furthermore, despite a harsh and dramatic opening of the film that many fans have a problem with, I urge you to stick it out and give the Assembly cut a shot.

Getting back to the planet the surviving crew members now find themselves on, it is introduced as a former labor prison with a small population and with little to no sun. Its elements are masterfully presented as dark, gritty, and devoid of color. There is a great difference here compared to the 92 cut but scenes are extended that make the world more alive and, I think, it pulls you in more. You actually see the outside and how dead it is and devoid of life, additionally you actually get to see the crash and how the prisoners handle it unlike the 92 cut. Though a problem here is some scenes lack proper sound effects and you can't hear people when they talk. This seems to be because the Assembly cut teams do not have the recordings from when the movie was being made or they just were never properly recorded so I can't really fault them for that. We also quickly are introduced to the characters and the story. The film again does a good job at setting up some characters' personalities. But here is where we run into one of the bigger problems of the film due to the attire of the former prisoners and them all being bald. On your first watch it is hard to tell who is who. I think you will have a hard time getting connected to these characters if you don't know which ones are which. With the 92 cut, only having watched the film for the 10th time, I was able to tell them apart. But in the case of the 03 cut characters were much more flushed out and have personalities that the viewers can notice and latch onto and remember. I felt more of a connection to the characters and cared when things started going to hell. The 03 cut also does a better job at making viewers hate certain characters more than the 92 cut and with the new version coming out 11 years later. I have to say that it's impressive that these feelings can come with just adding scenes with no major adjustments to the plot. The one thing both films have in common is that it is pretty easy to tell who is in charge. You can tell a few characters from each other due to how much screen time they get compared to other characters. There are standout performances like Charles Dance, Charles S. Dutton, and Danny Webb. Another thing either by incompetence or bad editing at least two former prisoners go missing in the middle of the film and straight up vanish. I cannot find them! Even the Assembly team could not fix this plot hole. But back to the film the gradual rise in the impending doom to befall our new characters is terrifying and done with great effect. We can only watch as the evil finds its way to be reborn. Before we get into that we have events to get through.

The prisoners have adopted a weird religion with it being taboo to even speak to a woman and Ripley being a woman of course means there is going to be problems down the line because of this fact. But the higher ups in the prisons have not adopted this faith and conflict does arise from this divide. We learn through dialog that the prisoners and some guards chose to remain on site after the prison was closed and have little to no contact with the outside universe. Once Ripley discovers the danger about to unfold in the prison, she is laughed off and to some extent seen as crazy. We also find out that there are NO weapons in the facility. So good luck with that. Which has been found out to have been a decision made by a set member due to being against guns. This is not too harmful to the film but it depends on the viewer especially after the last film's heavy use of firearms so take it as you will.

David Fincher's team and those who have worked on this Assembly cut when designing/fixing the new Xeno (the Alien) seemed to go with a mix using old CGI and new CGI or computer animation on the Xeno for some parts of the film and practical effects in others. There are some scenes where it looks believable and times where it looks like it was photoshopped into the scene. Even by 90s standards this still looks bad in scenes and by comparison Jurassic Park's Dinosaurs looks better and came out one year later. The first two films made great use of practical effects like in the '79 film with Bolaji Badejo's famous suit. Then the second film showed us that you can have multiple Xenos on screen and make it look great. There is no excuse when the film had the biggest budget out of the trilogy. Alien had a $10 million budget, Aliens had $18.5 million budget and finally Alien 3 comes in with a bloated budget of $55 million. At times it shows its budget and gets good use of it and there are times where it doesn't. The Xeno is terrifying as always when it is presented in practical means which is what I feel they should have gone with for the whole movie. Now another thing is unlike the first two films even with the new cut Alien 3 uses a lot of first-person views towards the end that goes on way too long and it could give viewers a headache. The colors used in those scenes made it difficult to see what's happening and only add to the headache. Those sequences do not add to the film and hurts it a great deal in my book. Though I applaud the Assembly cut team for fixing many of the film's flaws, you can only fix so much of a film made 11 years ago. The soundtrack is one of the few bright spots for the film, nothing to complain about there. The two films being 11 years apart has some drawbacks, and in some it just makes both sad and angry.

In conclusion you can tell that the Assembly cut team cared about their work and wanted to make this film better even without David Fincher's involvement. Then you have vice-versa with the original 92 team, though with the stories that have come out about the way things were handled during the making of the movie, you can feel it was at points competently made but was not given the time to put it all together. Ultimately, I would give Aliens 3 Assembly cut (2003) a 6 out of 10 compared to the 92 cut's 4 out of 10. It's not a completely bad film but could have been better done if given the proper time and effort on the production side. At least it's not Alien Resurrection which took the series on a nosedive that would last for the next two decades.