Alien³ - What are your thoughts?

L1ght · 27 Feb 2015 at 18:47

I thought alien 3 was a good film. Also came to appreciate it much more as I got older and saw the directors cut.

James J · 27 Feb 2015 at 21:23

cm1179 said:
the directors cut takes it to a new level. very good film imo.

This. The directors cut is one of my favourite films. Superb!

McBain · 27 Feb 2015 at 21:38

Watchable, but not much more than that.

Was always going to be hard to follow the best film of the franchise.

Flibster · 27 Feb 2015 at 22:54

I do like the assembly cut. It's a much more complete film that the theatrical release.

But, it's no Alien.

Pestilence · 28 Feb 2015 at 02:54

It's a film that I find actually gets richer with age and multiple viewings. Wasn't too big a fan when I initially saw it as a young 'un... it was just so different.

Gradually grew to like it more after some adjustment, and now after having had the assembly cut on Blu-ray for a few years, I think it's a great film. Incredibly tense, impeccably acted and incredibly brutal. The only thing that annoys me is the awful CGI.

deltalinx · 28 Feb 2015 at 14:48

Alien and Aliens were outstanding movies.

Alien³ was abysmal.

ianh · 28 Feb 2015 at 16:09

When it was released I think it was probably a bit too gritty/dirty for the times as the mid 90's was about bright and flashy films (Batman Forever etc) but it fits better now in these post Nolan Batman times where we appreciate this style of film.

4 was pap though, definitely!

atpbx · 1 Mar 2015 at 14:11

randal said:
As a standalone film it's great, it's got tremendous atmosphere and the cast is excellent as mentioned above. But, for me it just doesn't fit into the story arc.

On a side point, "forgetting" films as Blomkamp intends to do with 3 and Resurrection - anyone else struggle with this? Even if a film is bad, it still happened. The story has been told, and I for one have trouble moving past it. Be interesting to see how the new Alien film works out.

I have no problem with him forgetting 3 and 4.

I have even said on here, as far as I am concerned there are no alien films after "Aliens" as it stands.
Its good to see someone else in agreement and trying to salvage the franchise from the CGI garbage fests they have become.

You can look back on some films and say, yes, this film was harshly done by at the time and actually, is quite good.

Alien 3 is not one of those films, it took a steaming great dump on the first two films and is just as bad today as it was when it was released.

vintage-x · 2 Mar 2015 at 16:09

This was the first alien film I ever watched.

I enjoyed it and even after seeing the others I still enjoy it.

If There's anyone to blame for it not being a action follow up to aliens that everyone wanted then its Vincent ward and his whole idea of a wooden planet (how do people come up with this crap)

Oh and yes the special effects are crap but its not CGI as such. Its a model filmed badly in front of a green screen rather than a CGI alien

Guerrilla · 2 Mar 2015 at 16:21

It had a lot to live up to and had a lot of problems but simply put to follow on from Alien and Aliens it is just poor.

The extended version is better but it still doesn't put it anywhere close to the first 2.

Secret_Window · 2 Mar 2015 at 16:55

I actually feel that alien 3 is quite underrated. The first half of them film was quite good, but it takes a bit of a nose dive thereafter. I actually think if Fincher was allowed to make it the way he wanted without a meddling studio, then it would have been more consistent, and probably regarded as good or better than the first two movies.

Curio · 2 Mar 2015 at 17:02

As others have said, it's a good film in its own right. The problem for me is that they tried to get the creepy feeling of the first one back, but it doesn't work when you've been so over-exposed to the creatures at that point. They may as well be being chased by a dog.

Still, a pretty good effort considering it had to follow two classics.

redline · 2 Mar 2015 at 20:19

A³ had no (or very little) tension or fear, which the first two has in spades, but it does have unique atmosphere, and an interesting setting... It was memorable, something #4 was not, but it was not a great follow-up to Aliens.

If what I read is true, and 3 & 4 are struck from Blomcamp's Alien vision I'll not be disappointed... just (please-please-please) make it scary... atmospheric and scary.

Curio said:
....but it doesn't work when you've been so over-exposed to the creatures at that point. They may as well be being chased by a dog.

This does not bother me... I have watched the Alien films countless times, and know every inch of the creature, but I still get that fear and tension each time I watch the original... its the skill in which the film maker manipulates us that makes it work, and believe that can be re-captured , despite knowing the adversary so well.

cu3ed · 2 Mar 2015 at 20:22

3 and 4 are not struck, his follows a different thing happening whilst Alien 3 etc is happening.

Might be a film about what happened after the marines went missing etc or a few years after,.

ic1male · 2 Mar 2015 at 20:32

I'm glad that the new film is supposedly disregarding Alien 3 and Resurrection but I'm wondering how they plan to continue it now that Weaver, Biehn and Henn have all aged 30 years.

redline · 2 Mar 2015 at 20:36

cu3ed said:
3 and 4 are not struck, his follows a different thing happening whilst Alien 3 etc is happening.

I'm really not up to date on the latest TBH... I don't care where its placed as long as it captures something of the first two, rather than the second two.

Fear and mystery where the main points of the original... something 3/4... & Scott has diminished with Prometheus.

Robosapien · 2 Mar 2015 at 21:40

ic1male said:
I'm glad that the new film is supposedly disregarding Alien 3 and Resurrection but I'm wondering how they plan to continue it now that Weaver, Biehn and Henn have all aged 30 years.

Most likely just add an addendum to the preservational properties of hypersleep over increasingly long time i.e. merely slows ageing, doesn't pause it.

I must say I thought that Alien 4 had at least a hint of ingenuity about it when they introduced the Jurassic Park fix though.

ic1male · 2 Mar 2015 at 22:31

Robosapien said:
Most likely just add an addendum to the preservational properties of hypersleep over increasingly long time i.e. merely slows ageing, doesn't pause it.

So if 57 years hyper sleep = approx. 5 Earth years then will they have them on the Sulaco for 300+ years?

Guerrilla · 3 Mar 2015 at 10:18

Or could always say there was a fault with the hyper sleep and they just kept on aging?

mid_gen · 3 Mar 2015 at 13:54

Pestilence said:
Gradually grew to like it more after some adjustment, and now after having had the assembly cut on Blu-ray for a few years, I think it's a great film. Incredibly tense, impeccably acted and incredibly brutal. The only thing that annoys me is the awful CGI.

CGI? It was stop-motion IIRC.

It's a very good scifi film in it's own right, great cast and performances, it's just not AS good as the previous two.