The Most Underrated Threequel Ever

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2018)

Alien 3 is arguable the most controversial entry in the Alien series. Attitudes towards it have softened with the release of the Assembly Cut in 2003, as well as further installments which many consider to be far worse than however bad Alien 3 was, but it is still generally considered to be the point where the series lost its way and that it's never quite recovered from. I will argue that this is wholly unjustified, even before the release of the Assembly Cut.
Granted, Alien 3 has a lot going against it - a troubled production history, a strong tonal shift from James Cameron's Aliens, and an overall nihilistic atmosphere that is quite unusual from a mainstream Hollywood film. I'll start with the last - yes, Alien 3 is a very dark, depressing film. Whereas Aliens had a very happy ending, with not just Ripley surviving but her (subtly hinted at) love interest, surrogate daughter and redeemed android friend living to tell the tale as well. They were the perfect nuclear family, typical of Cameron sentimentality (which isn't to but Cameron down - he is a great filmmaker and made a fantastic sequel to Alien). People wanted Aliens - Part II, and I can understand why - pretty much the whole of the Alien Expanded Universe, from comic books to novels to video games, is based on Aliens rather than Alien. In my review of Aliens I therefore argued that Aliens was a bigger creative influence on the course and tone of the series than perhaps even the original film.
Still, I think David Fincher did the right thing in making Alien 3 the way he did. Alien 3's dark tone and nihilism are more consistent with the original than Aliens's optimistic, all-American action-adventure. After all, Alien was the dark, gritty antithesis to Star Trek's optimistic vision of our future. It showed that, despite technological advances and the conquering of space, things had stayed relatively the same - working stiffs were still underpaid and exploited by greedy corporations, and profit still triumphed over morality as Weyland-Yutani thought nothing of sacrificing its personnel to acquire a dangerous organism that it had no realistic hope of controlling. Alien 3 returns to this tone, and also makes the struggle more personal again by not just killing off Ripley's friends, but also pitting her against a lone Alien again instead of a whole nest. Having Ripley impregnated with an Alien of her own tops it off. Elliot Goldenthal's haunting score - the best of the series, in my opinion - and the moody, religious undertone of the film further accentuate this. It's sad that, even with the Assembly Cut - which Fincher, who disowned the film, had nothing to do with - we will never see Fincher's true vision for Alien 3. Fox, which also wanted Aliens II, interfered too much to make it work.
Granted, the film has its weaknesses. Due to constant reshoots, some plot threads are just left hanging (prisoner Golic just disappears in the original release, an omission the Assembly Cut fixes), and while most supporting characters in previous films didn't have more depth than the bald-headed prisoners in this film, it is true many are far less distinctive personalities than Alien's space truckers or Aliens's battle-hardened Marines. A few do stand out - Pete Postlethwaithe as David, who is simply a delight in anything he appears in, Paul McGann's tormented, mentally unstable Golic (whose is deservedly elevated to greater prominence in the Assembly Cut) and of course Charles S. Dutton as Dillon, who - likely drawing from his own experience in prison - gives a very underrated, powerful performance as the prisoners' informal leader. Charles Dance and Brian Glover are sadly killed off too soon, robbing Ripley of both a strong human antagonist and her one sympathetic face (which, I suppose, accentuates the film's nihilism)
While the film attempts to return to the original's horror roots by featuring just one Alien, its other attempts at horror fall flat. The cinematography that creates a moody, dark atmosphere is less effective at conveying fear and suspense, and any jump scare is preceded by a rising musical score that immediately gives it away. SFX-wise, the film is an improvement over Aliens, and has stood the test of time better than its 'forever 80s' predecessor. While many will cite the film's poor CGI (which was actually a rod puppet rotoscoped into the scene, a quite rare technique - only one shot actually uses a fully CGI Alien), the animatronics look much more realistic than in Aliens, benefitting from the fact that there is only one Alien in the film. Alien 3 does start the trend of over-sliming its monster - the Alien is literally dripping with K-Y gelly in some scenes, which is a bit too much of a good thing.
These days, an Alien 3 review is incomplete without greater attention to the Assembly Cut. While not made by him or with his consent, the AC is definitely a step closer to what Fincher was trying to make. Supporting characters, especially Golic, are more fleshed out, and a whole new plot twist is introduced when the Alien is actually captured, but later freed. I would definitely consider the AC to be the 'official' version of the scene, although I do much prefer the harrowing 'dog-burster' from the original cut to the AC version where it emerges from a dead ox. Also, the CGI used to create the Alien in new scenes where the SFX had not yet been added in in 1992 really looks awful and really takes you out of the movie. Fortunately, this is only for a few shots in the film. If you want to watch Alien 3, definitely watch this version.