Hugely Underrated

Rating: 10/10 (21 August 2008)

David Fincher: "a lot of people hated Alien 3, but no one hated it more than I did."
Don't listen to him. I've just finally got around to the 145min special edition of this film, and it's fantastic to see what a misunderstood gem it really is. OK, so it's not a 10/10, but I felt it deserved that for the trashing it gets here otherwise. Still by no means perfect - it essentially follows the same course as the original film - but with the guts put back into the special ed, what you get is a wonderfully twisted attempt to bring the alien series to a close. What's brave, and almost unique for a sequel, is its ceremonious trashing of any continuity fostered in the previous films, and its aversion to any kind of easy, sentimental notion of hope or optimism (no, she's not going to have children. Or get married...) With the alien itself desperate to protect its own survival, the story hones in on the irrational, pessimistic body horror at the centre of the series, and, well... doesn't wimp out.
The original theatrical version was fatally cut to pieces by executives, but frankly I'm amazed this got filmed in the first place. It's fantastic that this exists as even a work-in-progress - after the action-fest of Aliens it seems like blatant commercial suicide. So anyhow, all this guff aside, seek out the special ed of this film and take a look.