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In Alien 3, The Sulaco (The vessel that Ripley, Newt, Hicks, and Bishop escaped on at the end of Aliens) crashes into the ocean of a planet when a rogue facehugger, that had managed to stow away on-board the vessel, wrecks havoc. Ripley, tragically, is the sole survivor of the crash. Rescued by Dr. Jonathan Clemens, Ripley discovers the planet is home to a Weyland-Yutani mining/prison facility occupied by religious zealot prisoners/workers.
Unfortunately for Ripley and the prisoners, the horrors she has fought so hard to escape or defeat have followed her. With little means to defend themselves or fight back against the looming threat, the battle is on to survive and hopefully finally end the intergalactic menace once and for all.
The Assembly Cut gets 3.5 stars. It's dark, morose, sad, tragic, and thrilling near the end. This third outing brings the Alien series back to its darker roots. The Alien franchise has always been bleak, cynical, and borderline nihilistic, so the tone found here feels fitting and appropriate for the conclusion of the franchise.
That said, This version is still not a perfect film. The biggest issues for me are the film runs at 1 hour 24 minutes and feels too long, most of the Alien VFX don't impress (same goes for most of the VFX), and there isn't much Xenomorph action. The film also tends to cut away from quite a few of the Xeno attacks (STOP IT!!!). Every time a suit is used, it's scary, effective and impressive. The puppet used for the Ox chest-burster is pretty cool too.
Alien 3: The Assembly Cut moves at a pretty slow pace. This edit re-inserts scenes fleshing out minor characters. Unfortunately, most every minor character still ends up feeling one-note and forgettable despite this version's efforts (except for Danny Webb's Robert Morse, who is really only memorable because he winds up being the sole survivor).
Charles Dance as Dr. Jonathan Clemens (a medical doctor who resides on the planet), Charles S. Dutton as Leonard Dillon (a former "murderer and rapist of women" who has found religion. He delivers some elegant speeches and almost resembles a preacher at times. Charles S. Dutton is honestly the MVP here), and Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley are all fantastic and memorable. Ralph Brown as Francis Aaron (one of the lower-ranking heads of the facility) gets enough screen-time that he is one of the more memorable side-characters.
I understand why many fans don't like Alien 3. There are character decisions regarding Newt, Hicks, Bishop, and Ripley that angered many. The only part that bothered me was the desecrating of Newt's corpse (at Ripley's behest). The funeral for Hicks and Newt is honestly very touching and sad, and had me tearing up hard. It's such a strong scene, that it makes me wish it wasn't juxtaposed with the Ox chest-burster. I get why they chose to do this (Death/birth), but having it framed in this way takes away from much of the emotion of the funeral. The decision to have Ripley die off at the end was a demand made by Sigourney Weaver herself, who had grown upset after 20th Century Fox had cut scenes from Aliens that would have fleshed out Ripley's backstory. Having Ripley die was the only way she would sign on to the film.
Alien 3 was plagued by many BTS troubles. These include numerous scripts being written then tossed out. The film's original director (Vincent Ward, who essentially came up the story for the film) left the production after 20th Century Fox demanded changes be made to the story. David Fincher would end up replacing him. The film's original cinematographer (Jordan Cronenweth) shooting for two weeks before having to stop due to Parkinsons. He would be replaced with Alex Thomson. Despite all these troubles, the film (or at least the Assembly Cut) doesn’t feel all that troubled.
The Assembly Cut was born out of a desire to make a Director's Cut. When David Fincher (who had basically disowned the film) refused to assist, 20th Century Fox looked to Fincher's editing room notes to help create a final product that might resemble something closer to what Fincher had envisioned. This is how The Assembly Cut was born.
When all is said and done, despite fans decrying Alien 3 as the worst of the franchise, Alien 3: The Assembly Cut is far from a bad film. It is flawed in some ways, and it makes many bold and decisive choices… but that doesn’t make it a bad movie. While it doesn’t explore its existential ideas quite as fully as it could, Alien 3: The Assembly Cut still attempts to right some of the ills of the Theatrical Version and is mostly successful.
Alien 3: The Assembly Cut ends the franchise on a dark, dour note. That’s appropriate considering the Alien films have never been particularly happy or hopeful. It’s been thirty-two years since Alien 3 was released, and twenty-one years since The Assembly Cut was released. I say it’s time Alien 3 have a proper re-examination. It’s aged pretty well. Alien 3 is a flawed but fitting ending for Ellen Ripley, Weyland-Yutani, and those nasty Xenomorphs.
