a very underrated and misunderstood movie

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2005)

Alien 3 is a very underrated and misunderstood movie, as my title suggests. The problem with this movie was editing and studio involvement. From commentaries seen in the DVD, the director (Fincher) has disowned the movie and would not help with the Quadrilogy. The original cut of the movie was considerably shorter than the assembly cut, which was far superior. It tells the story of Ellen Riply, hero of the series, as she crashes on a prison planet inhabited by a group of "double y" males, all convicted for brutal crimes. But oh no, this does not stop Ripley from creating her own style of havoc and unrest between the prisoners, not to mention the alien showing up. The assembly cut, being much longer, and having changed many scenes entirely, goes deeper into characters, includes an entire side plot that is quite interesting, and makes the movie loads better. Sure, some of the effects are poorly done, but what it lacks in certain computer generated imagery, it gains by telling the story of a lone woman trying to cope with the dangers of this creature, and more importantly, trying to cope with being alone in this struggle, for the aliens have taken her life from her. First by taking her friends and co-workers in alien, then as a result of blowing up her ship, cryo-sleeping through her life, then when we think all is well, the aliens take away Dwane Hicks and Newt when her EEV crashes on the planet. Yet she lives on. The underlying theme is loneliness and perseverance, which was missed by most audiences. It is very well done even if it is not the scariest movie ever, and i think alien 3 is definitely better than most gave it credit for.