The consensus I'm reading is that the theatrical release of Alien 3 is the "best of the bad Alien movies".. whereas the 2003 Special Edition (Assembly Cut) of Alien 3 flips it to being the "worst of the good Alien movies"

Would you agree with this assessment?

maroon barchetta said:

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So you have the order of best sequels as:

T2
Aliens
Empire Strikes Back

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TESB
Aliens
The Dark Knight
T2

Bruce Almighty said:

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I like Alien 3.

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Me too. I always liked it.

I was incredibly disappointed seeing it in the theater. But I was like 15 and walked in expecting Aliens. I've grown to think it's OK...some of that might be out of respect for Fincher.

I haven't watched this since it came out in theaters. Don't remember much of it, but I recall that thought it sucked.

James Cameron sequels always slap.

The Kraken said:

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I haven't watched this since it came out in theaters. Don't remember much of it, but I recall that thought it sucked.

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If you're into the Alien franchise I'd recommend giving A3 Assembly Cut a chance, if you ever have time.

You're going to notice more character development which makes the film less patchworky, more refined.

Every time I watch the warden(?) from Alien 3 (Alien cubed!) I have to switch over to American Werewolf for his Remember the Alamo joke.

Bruce Almighty said:

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I like Alien 3.

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It's very underrated. Solid casting, great score, well done environments.

LETTUCE PRAY said:

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Bruce Almighty said:

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I like Alien 3.

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It's very underrated. Solid casting, great score, well done environments.

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Yes, it looked and felt like an Alien movie. The design was in line with what we'd seen previously. Most of the characters were forgettable, so whoever played those characters were also forgettable. Aside from the doctor, 88, and the prisoner leader. The warden was an irritating moron. I mean, maybe the warden was actually 88? I did like seeing another Bishop android. The score was meh.

The movie deserves the criticism it gets. There is a pretty good movie in the underlying idea of this story, but it was butchered to the cutting room floor or flat-out removed/altered by meddling 20th Century Fox bean counters. They should have let Fincher put the movie together as he saw fit. But that has been a constant with many of these movies, although Scott and Cameron were largely able to push back on that meddling.

Alien 4 was so dumb Alien 3 is a comparative masterpiece

I've always liked Alien 3 and thought people would love it if Aliens didn't exist. It captures the same horror/paranoia from Alien and puts it in a new location with new characters.
If it was viewed more of a sequel to Alien instead of a continuation of Aliens I think it would be better received.

Going through a well needed rewatch and finished Aliens 3 (Theatrical) last night. The 1992 CGI was pretty painful. I did see the Assembly cut was an option after I finished it and read up on the details of the differences. Sounds like they fleshed out a lot of the characters in Assembly. I absolutely hated the piston hallway POV running sequences. That whole scene felt like 25 minutes of the movie. woof

Quote:

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James Cameron sequels always slap.

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No slapping in those Avatar sequels.

Andrew Dufresne said:

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The consensus I'm reading is that the theatrical release of Alien 3 is the "best of the bad Alien movies".. whereas the 2003 Special Edition (Assembly Cut) of Alien 3 flips it to being the "worst of the good Alien movies"

Would you agree with this assessment?

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Yes, because regardless of which way you look at it, it occupies the same spot in the ranking. If it's at the bottom of the good list then, by default, it's the top of the bad list because in either direction it would be the movie that sits between the good list and the bad list.

Trick question.

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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Quad Dog said:

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I've always liked Alien 3 and thought people would love it if Aliens didn't exist. It captures the same horror/paranoia from Alien and puts it in a new location with new characters.
If it was viewed more of a sequel to Alien instead of a continuation of Aliens I think it would be better received.

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This is probably true. Problem is, two characters that we came to love during Aliens were dead before the opening credits even rolled for Alien 3.

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What ultimately became Alien 3 was the product of years of script issues written and rewritten by a number of different authors. There was what could have been a pretty cool story where the ship that Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop are on is secured by a colony in space populated by socialists/communists. Weyland Yutani shows up as well so there's a bit of a cold war situation going on between the capitalists and the communists with both trying to figure out a way to weaponize the alien. The issue with that one is the story is mostly from the viewpoint of Hicks and Bishop. Ripley is alive but never comes out of hypersleep and Newt is sent away on a ship back to Earth...so a similar sin to what was made, getting rid of more than one significant character from the previous film including the protagonist of the entire series. The one that was turned into Alien 3 was where the ship crash landed on a wooden planet without any weapons but populated solely by monks. I think there were around 4 completely different stories that were considered for the movie. Fincher famously doesn't claim this one, it was his first movie.

Yeah, I've read all about the development of what became Alien 3. They did go through a number of writers with differing takes on the movie. Fincher's outlook on what was his first movie is also well documented - he is the only director who has never participated in any Directors Cut interviews in this series.

Didn't see a thread (rightfully so) for Alien Resurrection, but it might be one of the comically worst movies I've seen in several years.

The forced sexualization of Sigourney Weaver has to be studied....

cr0wbar said:

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Didn't see a thread (rightfully so) for Alien Resurrection, but it might be one of the comically worst movies I've seen in several years.

The forced sexualization of Sigourney Weaver has to be studied....

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There is only one Alien movie that is worse, that being the second Alien versus Predator crapfest.

Josh Whedon wrote A:R. The sequence with clone #8 identifying objects on cards, with one being a fork, and she said ****, was based on, junior high humor. I have long associated that with Whedon. The Avengers surprised me, but then he was right back at it with some of the dialogue in Age of Ultron and then Justice League. I consider him to be a child.