Alien3 Assembly Cut (Spoilers)

Rating: 5/10 (9 March 2015)

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the Alien franchise lately due to news that Neill Blomkamp and Sigourney Weaver will be reviving the series. Apparently the new film will take place after the second movie and ignore Alien 3 and 4, to the delight of many Alien fans. I have fond memories of the goofy, fun and bizarre Alien Resurrection, but referencing the convoluting events of that film would be tedious. Alien 3 has many, many problems and would be hard to include in further canonical instalments, but is worth revisiting.
The messy plot begins with Ripley's ship, with a face hugger in tow, crash landing on an all male planet of murderers and rapists. Corporal Hicks and the 12 year old Newt, whom Ripley had spent all of the previous film struggling to save, are killed off screen in the first few minutes.
The production and script problems are famous and impossible to ignore. The worst part of the movie is the titular Xenomorph itself. The special effect of the creature superimposed into scenes are ugly and destroy the suspension of disbelief. It is also confusing how sometimes the creature looks like a small animal, and other times looks like the traditional Alien as seen in the previous films. The slasher horror scenes are tedious and often interrupt the few plot lines that actually have potential. There are at least two moments where a character gives a glimmer of a reason for viewers to care for or take interest in them only to be then cut off and killed. This is a common horror cliché that seems to be misunderstood by the filmmakers and is executed poorly.
The only positive aspects of the film are original ideas never explored before in the Alien franchise, but all of these thoughts are either abandoned or fall flat in execution. There are religious overtones throughout the film that sometimes hint at Ripley being the "saviour" to the den of sinners and the Xenomorph acting as the wrath of God. This subplot is actually pulled off well and begins to make sense until it is frustratingly set aside about halfway through.
There is also a subplot about Ripley hooking up with Clemens, the prison's medical officer, and the secrets they keep from each other. Ripley's secret is that there could possibly (or, most definitely) be an Alien inside the prison encampment. Clemens' secret is hinted at being something that would disturb Ripley and destroy the relationship between the two, but is eventually revealed to be something that she easily shrugs off. There is so much tension in this movie with no satisfying release for any of it.
Despite being an overwhelming mess, there are thematic and visual elements that make Alien 3 a movie that won't be easily forgotten, even after the future films make a point of disregarding it.