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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Bad Movies  |  Alien 3 (Assembly Cut). « previous next »
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Author Topic: Alien 3 (Assembly Cut).  (Read 7459 times)
Neville
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« on: December 08, 2005, 02:23:26 PM »

Guess what, no matter how maligned "Alien 3" was on 1993, I still found it quite enjoyable back then. Of course there's a number of reasons for that. I was on my teens, for instance. And you also have to count on the expectations factor. Teens these days have it easier, since "Alien Resurrection" and "Aliens vs. Predator" have prepared them to learn that a movie with the word "Alien" in its title can suck. But then, the "Alien" franchise was beyond good and evil.

You probably won't be much surprised to learn that when I re-watched "Alien 3" a few weeks ago I found it absolutely crappy. Back in 1993 you wouldn't see many of these, but time has prepared me to identify a quickly made movie in order to get big bucks from "franchified" viewers. With its rambling script, by-the-numbers filmmaking and sophomoric editing, "Alien 3" looks today like a direct-to-DVD sequel, and the fact that the the whole movie takes place in the same settings and with the same actors or that the FX are mostly saved for the final scenes do not help either.

I was astonished. How can an early Alien film suck so bad? A film, even worse, directed by David Fincher, the guy that later would make "Seven", "The Fight Club" or "The panic Room"? A quick visit to my archives of movie magazines helped a lot. Turns out that Fincher was having a particularly difficult time filming "Alien 3", specially after the producers threw any original ideas (not only Fincher's) to the dustbin and left him grounded in GB with an unfinished, a dozen times rewritten script and not enough time nor money to complete the film properly. Fincher didn't even participate in the final cut editing.

After learning that another cut of the film was avaible, a longer cut distributed with the "Alien Quadrilogy" DVD set, I begged a friend of mine if he could lend it to me. Aftyer some bargaining, I ended with a DVD containing the so called "Assembly cut", an unfinished cut (lacks final FX, don't ask me why) which runs roughly 30 minutes longer than the original theatrical cut. And it is a hell better, I might add.

Don't take me wrong, the badly botched concept is still there (send Ripley and an Alien creature to a very boring place where nothing interesting can happen), and the fact that the new cut adds 30 minutes to its running time doesn't help matters either, but at least many scenes are re-edited or extended in such a fashion that they make more sense or look more satisfying, like Ripley's crash-landing in Fiorine or the extended "fire storm" sequence. Gone is the stuttering editing in many major scenes, and some of the alternate scenes offer either more background or some better acting.

It would be even better if they had bothered to finish the FX, because the crappy CGI is almost laughable in its crudity, and it kills the suspense in the numerous added scenes where the Alien creature is matted on ceilings or corridors.    
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trekgeezer
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« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2005, 03:01:45 PM »

You know the deal with Aliens is that they take on traits of the host. Since it was incubated in a dog it naturally runs around on all fours. It was originally supposed to be incubated in an ox they used to pull the ship out of the water (a scene that was deleted), only they couldn't get the animatronic ox to work so they changed animals. Can you imagine what an ox alien would've been like.

Having been made in 1992 they wouldn't have had very good CG, if there actually is any. The shots of  the alien running around were done with a  puppet (actually sort of a marionette) suspended from a stick.

The big problem is that you just don't give a crap about any ot the characters. Weaver took the part to kill Ripley off, but I guess when the fourth came around they really backed up the money truck for her.
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ThadC
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« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2005, 04:03:25 PM »

Out of the whole series, 2 was the best in my opinion. 3 was just lame from start to end. 1 was good for it's time, and 4 was good for the FX, but I was not happy with the storyline. AvP was nothing but FX fest with no real storyline, but for some reason I still liked it.
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Neville
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« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2005, 04:03:42 PM »

When I mention the poor quality of CGI I'm speaking of the new cut, not the theatrical relase of 1993. I don't have any problem with the FX in the original, and as far as I know they all were created "on camera" so to speak, with prosthetics, animatronics and the like. In the 2003 cut, however, a CGI alien is inserted in many shots, and it pales in comparison with the "real" one, specially when the CGI images are edited together with shots from the original cut featuring the "real" alien.

And yes, it is difficult to care much about anybody in the film, Ripley apart. At least the new cut has more scenes with the rest of prisoners, so we get to know them a bit better.  
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Zapranoth
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« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2005, 10:20:06 PM »

Gah.  Alien 3 is one of my most hated nemeses.  I particularly, particularly hated the painfully cheesy crucifixion image as Ripley falls into the fire, cradling the alien to her chest.   "Bishop's" operatic "noooooo!"  as Ripley suicides.  The blaring metal rape scene broken up by the pipe-wielding brotha.  


Goddamn!  Hicks AND Newt being killed off in the opening credits! I watched that part ALONE and thought "f*** you to this WHOLE film!"

That movie had exactly one moment in it that did anything good for me, and that was the part where the alien came up to Ripley in the infirmary, reeeeeal close, sniffed her, and left.

Alien 4 just didn't work.  Whinnie Ryder just doesn't *go* with this storyline.  I kept thinking about her getting busted for that spate of kleptomania she went through... very distracting.   The film lacked believable pacing and movement (which is something "Aliens" had in roller-coaster abundance!)

But yeah, you guys hit the nail on the head, really, when you comment that what Aliens had going for it was that you cared about the characters.  My mom hates horror/sci fi movies, but she watched Aliens and loved it.  Why?  Because she could identify with Ripley.  She saw Ripley pick up her gun and go back in after Newt, and said, "That's what I would do.  If my child were in there, I'd rather die going back for her ," even though it was Ripley's worst nightmare.

I found AVP to be a sort of guilty pleasure, though a very mild one.
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ulthar
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« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2005, 10:45:22 PM »

I have to ask:  is the root of crudity CRUDE or CRUD?
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Neville
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« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2005, 04:00:40 AM »

I'd say it's CRUDE. Did I wrote CRUD elsewhere?
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ulthar
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« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2005, 09:51:20 AM »

Neville Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'd say it's CRUDE. Did I wrote CRUD elsewhere?
>

No.  I was just wondering.  I kinda like that word "crudity," but did not want to incorrectly use it.
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akiratubo
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« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2005, 11:59:55 PM »

I don't feel too harshly toward Alien 3.  It isn't a bad movie, really, just vastly different in tone and pace from Aliens -- an impossible act to follow.

It pretty much hits rock bottom at the beginning when Hicks and Newt are killed in the most offhand manner possible.  The movie is also just very -- British.  There's no getting around the all-American-gung-ho attitude of Aliens being completely incompatible with the downright dreary British outlook of Alien 3.

Aside from that and some extremely silly bits (Bishop speaking for the Sulaco's computer in a *British* voice), Alien 3 is ok.  The visuals are nice and the Alien is handled a bit differently than previous versions.

Anyway, it's past my bedtime, so I'll just say I kinda like Alien 3.
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« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2005, 12:09:31 AM »

I remember standing up and booing as the credits rolled when I initally saw this one in the theater. After a six year wait between films, I was extremely disappointed. I avoided it for years afterwards, even going as far as denying it's existence and waiting for someone to make the "real" Alien 3.

Now, I am less harsh. I can see the different approach taken with the film and agree that after the blockbuster "Aliens," nothing was bound to live up to my expectations. I still think this is the weakest of the Alien films, but seeing it doesn't cause me to fly into a fit of rage anymore.

Much.
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Shadow
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Paddy
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« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2010, 12:28:52 PM »

When I mention the poor quality of CGI I'm speaking of the new cut, not the theatrical relase of 1993. I don't have any problem with the FX in the original, and as far as I know they all were created "on camera" so to speak, with prosthetics, animatronics and the like. In the 2003 cut, however, a CGI alien is inserted in many shots, and it pales in comparison with the "real" one, specially when the CGI images are edited together with shots from the original cut featuring the "real" alien.

And yes, it is difficult to care much about anybody in the film, Ripley apart. At least the new cut has more scenes with the rest of prisoners, so we get to know them a bit better.  

Incorrect. The only CGI in any version of Alien 3 was used for shadows and the final scene of the Xenomorph's head splitting. All the "runner" sequences were done with a 1/3 size marionette on a blue screen using motion control cameras.
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Doggett
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« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2010, 12:48:36 PM »

I love Alien 3 (yes, I'm British).
I like the bleak tone that is captures. It reminds me of the Aliens comic books, I also love the ending. I don't understand why people don't like this but enjoy Alien Ressurection.

It sucks what happened to Hicks and Newt, but still, they're Ripley's films.

This movie was torn apart by 20th Century Fox and even Fincher disowns it. But I still think its a great character piece and I'm glad it didn't go down the same road as Aliens as it could never top it.

4/5
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Bmeansgood
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« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2010, 10:12:10 PM »

I don't mind it.  I eagerly anticipated its release but remember reading how the director was fighting with the studio about it....never a good sign.  I would still watch it over Resurrection anyday.
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Couchtr26
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« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2010, 10:46:27 PM »

I love Alien 3 (yes, I'm British).
I like the bleak tone that is captures. It reminds me of the Aliens comic books, I also love the ending. I don't understand why people don't like this but enjoy Alien Ressurection.

It sucks what happened to Hicks and Newt, but still, they're Ripley's films.

This movie was torn apart by 20th Century Fox and even Fincher disowns it. But I still think its a great character piece and I'm glad it didn't go down the same road as Aliens as it could never top it.

4/5

Although I'm not British (dull surprise), I agree with you Doggett.  I like the bleak tone of Alien 3.  Something about isolation also captivates me.  That is why I like Alien over Aliens.  No, I don't think Aliens is bad just prefer the first one as their is a bigger sense of isolation. 
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