This is rumour control...

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2004)

After a fire on the Sulaco an escape pod crash-lands on a refinery/prison planet killing everyone aboard except Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. As Ripley recovers she realises that fire was no accident and an Alien begins a killing spree that she must stop.
The idea of coming away from Cameron's Aliens (a fantastic mix of action, suspense and special effects) and go back to the gritty atmosphere basics of the first film was debatably a good idea. Moving the setting from space and jarring the audience by killing off Hicks and Newt it emotionally puts the viewer at unease from the outset into uncharted territory. Producers, though misunderstood what director David Fincher was trying to achieve back in 1992 and it was plagued with creative differences, production issues, script problems and the film released seemed very disjointed.
After watching the new assembled version of Alien 3 I was pleasantly surprised. With the new version what you get is expanded and alternative scenes, more character development and a new subplot making it a more enjoyable Alien movie.
Like the previous version the Alien effects are still the same and not very well executed. That said, this version without a doubt is an improvement on the 1992 version coupled with a nice score, great performances, especially from Charles Dance and the sadly missed Brian Glover. Sigourney Weaver plays a very troubled shaven head Ellen Ripley convincingly. This time around with expanded scenes the supporting cast get to show off their acting skills within the fantastic sets. Explained in the new cut is where and why some of the characters disappeared.
Overall with these adjustments the film finally sits nicely in the series. It's dark, eerie and atmospheric.