Released: May 1992
Director: David Fincher
Rated R
Run Time: 115 Minutes(Theatrical Cut), 148 Minute(Assembly Cut)
Distributor: Fox Studios
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Thriller
Cast:
Sigourney Weaver: Ripley
Charles Dance: Clemens
Charles S. Dutton: Dillon
Paul McGann: Golic
Brian Glover: Superintendent Andrews
Ralph Brown: Aaron
Danny Webb: Morse
Pete Postlethwaite: David
This is not going to be one of my traditional reviews, because I’m going to be analyzing Alien 3, both the theatrical cut and the Assembly Cut which was put together for the DVD release back in 2003. In 1979, Ridley Scott created one of the most terrifying and thrilling science fiction movies ever: Alien. Featuring a creature that had acid for blood and a penchant for murder, Alien took the world by storm and ushered in a new sub-genre of science fiction: Sci-Fi Horror. It WAS a horror movie at its core, but it was set in space. Critics had called it “Texas Chainsaw Massacre In Space.“ That wasn’t too far off the mark. It had its fair share of controversy with one of the most horrific deaths anybody has ever seen in movies up to that point. The whole chestburster sequence with Kane was extraordinary. It was gory and people really had no idea what was going to happen. I think it’s safe to say it scared quite a few mothers-to-be. It became an international success, so a few years later, Fox commissioned James Cameron to helm the sequel, Aliens. Released in 1986, Aliens was a very different kind of movie than Scott’s film. Aliens was more of a sci-fi action flick that happened to have some horror elements. Like the first movie, Aliens was very well received by both audiences and critics alike. After the success of the first two movies, Fox decided to try for a third film: Alien 3. They hired then new-comer David Fincher to helm the project, but that’s where things really started going off the rails. This is my reaction to Alien 3.
In 1992, Alien 3 was released to some VERY mixed reactions. Some people absolutely loved, some people hated, and some people were genuinely confused about the whole thing. I think a lot of people were expecting Alien 3 to be an action movie akin to James Cameron’s movie. What they got instead was a Gothic and grimy prison film, with an Alien on the loose. The film-makers wanted to try to another film with just one creature, which was not a bad idea. Not only that, because the film was set in a prison, there was a complete lack of access to guns and fire-arms. They had to rely on the tools that they had. That certainly made for a more unique and interesting experience. A lot of people were up in arms about Fincher taking Newt and Hicks from the previous film and killing them off. It’s something that still burns people to this day. While I personally loved Alien 3, I can understand why people were genuinely upset. There’s that, and then you take Ripley and stick her in a backwater prison with male-only prisoners and not one of them is likable. Most of these guys are complete scum. I don’t think people really knew how to react to that. Actors like Lance Henriksen had no idea who to care for.
Among the other problems with the theatrical release is that some of the characters that show up, end up disappearing at some point not to be seen again. You have no idea of the monster got them or what. It wasn’t until 2003, that we learned that a lot of problems with Alien 3 were not just on screen, but behind-the-scenes as well. Story elements kept changing because Fox decided to get directly involved and told Fincher what THEY wanted to see, not what Fincher wanted to see. As a result, the script kept on changing, and the actors and Fincher had no idea what was coming next. A complete communications break-down almost tanked the movie. David Fincher had shot certain scenes that were cut out of the film because Fox felt that those scenes were different than what Fox had planned. Fox and Fincher kept butting heads throughout the entire project to the point where Fincher said, “Fuck it,” and left the project. He has since disowned the film and rightly blamed Fox for how it turned out.
In 2003, a 9-disc set of the entire Alien series was released. It was called the Alien Quadrilogy. Silly name, to be sure, but the contents of that set were beyond phenomenal. Each film had a second version, and very in-depth behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. It was a Holy Grail of DVD releases. I paid 99 bucks for that thing, and had no regrets. But when people heard that there was a second version of Alien 3 included with the set, people jumped all over it. The Assembly Cut, as it was called, contained over 30 minutes of additional footage. How is the Assembly Cut different from the Theatrical version? Quite a bit, actually. See, in the new version, the opening scene is almost entirely different. The EEV crashing into the planet was the same, but the new version showed Charles Dance’s character walking the shore when he see Ripley wash up on the beach. When the prisoners retrieve the EEV, they don’t use a crane, they use oxen to haul the wreckage away. There was a lot more character development and we got to see more of the relationships between these characters.
There was a subplot that severely truncated which made it make no sense whatsoever. See, in the theatrical release of the film, the plan to capture the Alien failed. In the Assembly Cut, they actually succeeded, because one of the prisoners sacrificed himself to save the others. Earlier, though, we see the prisoner Golic, who was covered in blood tied up in a straight-jacket. After Charles Dance’s character was killed, we never saw Golic again in the theatrical version. The Assembly Cut fixes that by having Morse, release Golic, who in turns setting the Alien loose again. That entire plot point was cut out of the theatrical release. Why? I don’t know.
In terms of narrative and story-telling, the Assembly Cut is a much better film than what moviegoers got 20 years ago, but it still doesn’t completely fix what is inherently an extremely flawed production. When you see the behind-the-scenes features for Alien 3, there were a lot of interesting things they could have done with this particular movie, but instead, it’s a mish-mash of those ideas and they never really gel. On top of that, you have characters that you really can’t root for, because they’re rapists and murders. It’s a very confusing production. What I really did love about it, though, was it’s aesthetic and atmosphere. This film has a very distinct look and feel. I actually like the fact that they set the film in a prison. The isolation and the not knowing where the creature is lends itself to a very intense film. The acting is absolutely top-notch, with Sigourney Weaver turning in one of the best performances of her career. The music by Elliot Goldenthal is beautiful and extremely haunting. The pace of the film is white-knuckle. It’s a roller-coaster ride.
There’s a great movie in here, somewhere, it’s just that Fox Studios didn’t trust David Fincher to get it done and as a result we have a film that while decent enough, was extremely problematic in terms of narrative and story. Because of the Assembly Cut, we got a film that’s actually much closer to what David Fincher had intended. While Fincher had decided against returning to supervise the “director’s cut” of the film, he did give the film his blessing. As a result, Alien 3 actually FEELS like a David Fincher movie. That’s a good thing. While the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 doesn’t actually fix a lot of the issues stemming from the studio’s interference, it is still a solid ending to Ripley’s story. The overall reaction to the Assembly Cut has been mostly positive by many accounts.
So…which version do I prefer? Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure. I love both versions for different reasons. I like the theatrical cut because it’s shorter with finished visual effects and moves at a breakneck pace. I like the Assembly Cut, because it really expands on the world and gives audiences a different look at how things worked on Fury 161. It fills in most of the plot holes that were present in the theatrical version and gave us a new angle on the prisoners and their particular religion. It’s extremely interesting. I still think Alien 3 is a decent film regardless of which version you watch. Overall, I would have to give the entire film a solid 8/10. I loved it when I was a kid, and I love it now.