Around last year I looked into Alien3 a little and after doing the homework and rewatching the assembly cut I fell in love with it, a great movie which has more in common with the 79 classic than Aliens. It ends the trilogy beautifully and I'll add it has an amazing score.
As someone who was just barely in my teens when Alien 3 arrived and therefore heard all about the film's story and spoilers before ever getting close to watching it, I cannot even remotely imagine what it would have been like to have gone into that movie cold after enjoying Aliens. For young adult fans of the first two films it must have been horrific, the sort of shark-jump that the internet would have torn to shreds if it happened now. For me, Alien 3 fails as a continuation of the story but is PERFECT as a continuation of the deeper reading of the Alien as simply the personification of death itself. In Alien, the crew are a metaphor for newborn children and the Xeno is the cruel harsh reality that will kill you at the slightest opportunity. Ripley ends that film by effectively cheating death. She then sadly learns at the beginning of Aliens what the consequences of cheating death are. She's outlived her child, is a stranger to the world around her and doomed to a lonely mundane existence. Then the Marines appear, representing older and more seasoned versions of the 'children' crew of Alien. They're what happens when people manage to overcome the perils of nature and tame the world via technology. As a survivor with direct knowledge of how dangerous life can really get, Riply tries and fails to steer the Marines away from hubris and being brought down by what's effectively a natural disaster, but she again manages to cheat death and this time even cobble together some sort of happy family. But then Alien 3 comes along and points out that no one is immortal. You simply can't keep doing what Ripley is doing, cheating inevitable death over and over. First, there are enormous consequences (losing Hicks and Newt, aka outliving your loved ones) and second that's just not how the human condition works. You can rail against death as much as you want, but eventually the only 'happy' conclusion to life is to meet death head-on and own your mortality, whilst also trying to shield others from danger and leave something behind of value. Alien 3's ending, along with the amazing music of those final scenes, is really just the movie teaching its audience a harsh lesson about life and death. No, you can't keep living in this fantasy world where the good guys win and live happily ever after - ALL people eventually die and the world moves on just fine without them. It doesn't matter how much you cry and rage about that reality, the absolute best that Ripley can ultimately achieve is embracing death on her own terms and taking as much of its immediate threat and power out with her. It's a great way to book-end the opening scene of Alien, when the crew all awaken from cryosleep. It also contrasts perfectly with the stark horror of Kane being chucked into space after his death. Ripley has to end, but she gets the empowered and mastered ending that poor Kane was never permitted. Then Alien Resurrection TRIES to do something interesting with continuing the same themes, by depicting what happens if you really do violate the human condition using mad science and cloning tech. The result is that life stops being sacred, collapsing into the profane. All the edges get blurred, with Ripley now being part Xeno, horrible clone RIpleys and hybrid aliens being produced - the human condition goes haywire and life and deatth get muddled together in a meaningless mess. People who 'transcend' mortality also sacrifice their human soul.
I think Alien 3 makes for a perfect ending to the Ripley story. It really shows the tragedy of encountering the Xenomorphs and why they are such a threat. I also love the nihilistic tone and gorgeous score.
This one is the best episode yet. I could talk about this film all day, but I have nobody in my life that would entertain such a conversation 😢 Thank you comrades 👏
Yeah, nice to see Alien 3 getting some love. It's a very underrated movie, often dismissed because it's not an Aliens-type film and doesn't match the quality of the original. That Fincher even got something as watchable as he did out of that production really speaks to the man's talent. Everyone was fighting him - the execs, the English crew didn't really respect him - and it's a real shame that he wants nothing to do with the film any more. I've always liked the theatrical cut, but the Assembly Cut really is a drastic improvement. It IS depressing, but it's very satisfying at the same time. They scaled back from Aliens successfully and really made the Xenomorph something intimidating and scary again. Newt and Hicks' deaths are sad, it's a shame they were killed offscreen, but it really does serve the movie well in terms of the story and Ripley's arc. The ending is bittersweet as hell, but it ultimately really works because Ripley is finally able to find some peace knowing that she wiped this fucking species out and stopped Weyland getting their hands on it...at least until the cloning debacle in Resurrection. Alien 3 is a great capper to the original trilogy and sends the Xenomorph off on a high as well. Then the other shit came after that and ruined it.
The soundtrack and visuals are great. Some nice moments. But as a story and continuation its like somebody just drove off a cliff. Total mess they have been trying to correct for over 20 years and failing.
I liked the theatrical and love the assembly cut. There are more light hearted moments in it like the Golic piss taking scene in the canteen and the banter when the guys are moving the dead ox into I presume is an abbatoir. Compared with shit nowadays it's a masterpiece.
Always love that Fincher cast so many Brits in this. The first two films were also filmed in the UK, but kept a mainly American cast. Alien 3 however gives you the unique situation of a Hollywood budget space effects movie, but with people like Brian Glover with his magnificent Yorkshire accent in it. Its seems closer to the world of Red Dwarf (or a gritty reboot of that) than Aliens. Bonus round: Fincher is such a fan of Withnail And I that he cast Paul McGann and Ralph Brown from there, and tried to get Richard E Grant to play the Charles Dance part. Also: All hail the return of Risky Quizness!
As much as I love Charles Dance it would of been cool to get Withnail & I & Danny all in an Alien film. When I saw Richard E Grant testing for the role I had a huge grin.
I remember getting this on VHS for my 11th birthday upon release and watching it on the day with my friends (parents seemed way more blase with what films kids were allowed to watch back then). We huddled on the floor with the snacks expecting another Aliens style shoot em' up and got a bleak prison movie with no guns, an attempted rape scene and a suicide ending which went down like a shit sandwich at my little party. I also grew to appreciate it as I got older though, could have been a third classic with a few changes.
I’m glad Risky Quizness is coming back. I used to listen to those a lot and I nearly cried when I saw all 3 vanish. You remember when the first episode went live? July 21, 2016. I need to get a life. Great video guys.
Alien 3 is among the most nihilistic, hopeless, coldest, disorienting, and brutal movies I've ever seen. And I absolutely adore it! I've loved it from the day of its '92 release, and always defended it. People don't dislike it for its qualities - they dislike the subjects, tones, and themes it so strongly summons and references. Alien 3 is truly brilliant, and I'd happily yell that into David Fincher's punk face. Alien 3 is absolutely phenomenal! Not only is it 'about' despair, terror, nihilism, disease, death, and revoltion - it is, in fact, a throbbing incarceration OF those exact horrid things... it IS what it's ABOUT! If you're a sane, decent person - you're not supposed to like it. That is exactly why it's so powerful. It's a true symphony of destruction, killing, decay, and obliteration of everything we loved about Aliens - so we may witness the next logical step of the xenomorph's wrath, beyond the mere physical: corruption and evisceration of all hope and purpose itself. It's truly a black and broken and cynical work of art. Everybody dies, there is no hope, we're all prisoners, nobody cares, we're all infected, death is inevitable, and optimism is futile - the message of Alien 3 is what's so deeply abhorrent and frightening to us. Not the objective reality and truth of its critical appraisal. And when it comes to fictional "horror", I couldn't be happier. There are no happy endings in horror. Only death and terror and chaos exist, and there's no way out. Ever! Dark? Yes. Depressing? Yes. But bad? Absolutely not. Quite the contrary. It's truly excellent. I'll stand by Alien 3 forever, for it is indeed among the most unjustly underrated films ever made. Even by David Fincher himself.
Ha ha, I love the randomness of the whole "Mr Black" Camp Krusty episode of The Simpsons reference. That joke was used in only one episode over 25 years ago and it is still alive to this day and age. My favourite part of that episode was when Kent Brockman went there to interview the "Ring Leader" of it all and it turns out to be Bart. "Ladies and gentlemen, I've been to Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and I can say without hyperbole that this is a million times worse than all of them put together." LOL
Should have called it Alien Sadness. I love it!!! And while it does have a nihilistic tone, I do think it ends on a hopeful, though bittersweet, note. Ripley and the prisoners have Martyred themselves for the good of mankind, despite nobody ever knowing. For a non-religious fellow like myself, I find films like this and Logan scratch that itch 🤔
Alien 3 is not that bad at all. It is however a massive disappointment to see all the effort that was put into Aliens by Ripley, Hicks and Newt all added up to nothing. That is when I lose interest in a sequel, this to me happens often when you see the "Final girl" from a horror movie franchise get killed off in the sequel (Friday the 13th part 2 and Final Destination 2 for example) Its like what Nigel Powers tells people and what they should just do at the beginning of a movie "Look at you, you don't even have a name tag on, you got no chance. Just lie down." That is basically what it all means when you kill off a character in the sequel, the might as well have done jack shit in the previous film, the outcome was the same.
Yeah I've never had a problem with this film. I enjoyed it with my only issue being that of the death of Newt and Hicks. I hate it when characters survive a film to then be killed off at the beginning of a sequel. Brian Glover was my favourite character but it was a missed opportunity to not have him wrestle a xenomorph. Loving the channel you two.
Apparently Fincher wanted Richard E Grant to play Clemens. The reason being because he was a massive Withnail & I fan and wanted to reunite the original cast. He got Paul McGann and Ralph Brown.
Two things. This channel is brilliant. I love the name. Isn't Val Verde the fictional country that's featured in Commando, Predator, and has a link to a load of other movies? The other thing, is that Alien 3 is a beautiful film. The fact that it's watchable at all in its theatrical version is nothing short of amazing, considering all the problems during shooting. The Assembly Edit is fantastic, and totally redeems an unfairly malaigned film. I've always felt it was closer in tone to the original movie. Aliens is great, but a lot of vocal fans think that Fox should have kept that set up, and taken the series into an Earth War type scenario. I've always thought that would be hard to tell on film, as the four movies are Ellen Ripley's story, and it's very much about her, and how she has to deal with this creature. Once you've done Aliens, it's a bit reductive to just do it again in an even bigger scale. Whereas Alien 3 is much more personal and about her, how the Alien has destroyed her life, she'd quite like to just stop, but can't, because she knows what's at stake if the company get their hands on a Queen.
Alien 3 is my fave of the series, it’s so bleak and dystopian and very much in finchers style, wet rusted tones, nihilistic etc. It requires he most thought to enjoy (not exactly the best idea I admit) but to me it’s great. The score and sound design are second to none
Alien 3 is a very good film. The tone is purely an alien film. All characters are brilliant,but deep down Ripley never gets any peace from this nightmare. As she says you been in my life for so long,I can't remember anything else. The whole movie is so down in tone, it matches perfectly for Ripleys situation on this prison planet. Overall a very sad movie for all the characters,which made it real. An excellent film for me.
ALIEN 3 is a special kind of AWESOME... if you think about it , the melancholic doom of it all is the perfect end to this franchise. Alot would have wanted the Starship troopers type 3rd wich was originally planed. But I and many see it better THIS WAY. The ALIEN is DOOM ,,, and this unfortunate yet Perfectly Believable outcome is far beyond any actions they could or would have sufficed. ALIEN 3 is AWESOME!
I love the amount of Brit TV actors in Alien 3. It makes me see it as an expensive episode of Red Dwarf! Actually Project Shadowchaser, a film Richard has mentioned before, was filmed at Pinewood on leftover sets from Alien 3! Imagine if Red Dwarf had done that. Or Split Second, another great genre riffing, charmingly low budget production.
Did you watch the DVD or Blu-Ray version? The DVD has really shitty audio, with lots of level changes, but the Blu-Ray is great. The actors came back to re-record dialogue and generally the balance is much improved.
You SHALL go to the ball! By which I mean you will, I think this is the last bit of such content. I'm planning an Italian horror season, I have more Romero stuff coming and we're working on more experimental content. We're a bit sick of those series ourselves and are looking forward to covering new stuff, we just played it safe to begin with (this episode was shot back in the Summer). Hope you enjoy the new stuff when it comes! -R
"Fuck !!!!" Having said that, I get why people hate the film but I'm one of the few that is a fan of the film. Having no idea about what happened behind the scenes at the time, seeing the documentary and the Assembly Cut makes me appreciate on what they were trying to do and I always believe if we had had known what Fincher would have become, the studio would have left him alone. Even Michael Biehn admits had he known that that he wouldn't have minded what happened to Hicks as long as he appeared in a future film.
Alien 3 does have it's merits-Fincher shows his talent despite the hellish production, Dylan is a memorable character, it uses the formula of the original Alien in a new way, Sigourney is fantastic- but I can't say I have too much love for it. 1. All the prisoners are more or less 'Unlikeable Bald Thug' and that's it. 2. The film really seems to be hell bent on demolishing everything set up previously [we lose Newt and Hickes immediately, Bishop asks to be turned off, Ripley's gone] and even within the film [Charles Dance is killed the minute he becomes interesting] which is very off putting [oddly like the new star wars]. Alien 3 did not need to be exactly like aliens, but it could have treated the characters with a little more respect.
Hey Richard, would you and Duncan at all be interested in doing a It Ain’t Broke on Superman III? I love that film and would love to hear your thoughts on the film at length, great work as always guys!
Val Verde Broadcasting If you are going to do Superman 3, can you do 4 as well? If only to show Superman using his vision power to reassemble part of The Great Wall of China, fucking hilariously stupid! Superman 4 : Electric Boogaloo.
Alien3 assembly cut is a better 'Alien' film then Aliens. Alien is a tense, claustrophobic, paranoid, sexually suggestive horror film. A lone creature with no emotions hunting down a group of people who are weaponless (relatively) and are more out to just survive then kill it. Aliens turns the scary Xeno that by itself is almost unstoppable and just turns it into cannon fodder for a bunch of for me largely unlikeable Space Cowboys. The xenos are literally mowed down in their hundreds. Their lose all their scariness & power. Alien3 return to that first formula, you have a group of people trapped with a lone Xeno with this crushing sense of claustrophobia & tension. Some may say the tone is depressing but I love it and think it's far more faithful to the original. It gives power back to the Xeno. Shows just how hard it is to kill just one of these things not simple cannon fodder Ripley beautifully finishes her character arc Call me a fucking idiot I couldn't care less, just my opinion
The problem for me regarding the alien in 3 is that is dont really act like the alien. Its more like a generic monster that kills people randomly and seemingly without any finesse or cunning. The toy with it like some dummy in the tunnel chase.
I have always liked this movie, even when I was 8 years old and probably shouldn't have been watching it. Would I say it is as good as the first two films? No, but in my opinion it was the last good film in the franchise. Resurrection is some kind of weird nightmare rehash of a film, and the two vs predator movies were just pure trash. I know people who actually feel that this one was the worst in franchise. Those people probably need some glasses when watching the later films.
First I've hear of this, great stuff. So where exactly is Val Verde on the Planet? =P Richard, with that shirt on you definitely look like Max Payne from the 3rd game, all you need is the glasses hahaa. It's great to see both of you doing videos together again. Alien 3 was never broke, it just had so much shit being made, so much that David Fincher didn't want anything to do with it. Proper gem and I love Elliot Goldenthal's score, dark as fuck.
I like to imagine all of the Patreon money goes on Richards drink. This channel is in its infancy so it's cheap 10 for £5 (it was when I used to drink) Beck's shite but as the channel goes it eventually gets to JW King George Blue Label.
I watched Alien 3 for the first time in over a decade (when the quadrilogy DVD came out) yesterday. It was even worse than I remember. Completely miserable and tedious. Two hours of shitting on what came before. Charles Dance was the only halfway interesting character in the film and he dies after 30 minutes. The second half of the film is interminably boring. Just endless, meaningless, uninspired deaths of characters you don’t know.
crazymanner2003 I couldn't agree more. I saw it when it came out and it was only worsted as a cinema experience by The Phantom Menace. A boring, disjointed mess masquerading as something portentous. Never went back to the franchise although I understand they are still making the same mistake.
I don't really have a problem with the way Alien 3 is directed, apart from the dodgy effects. I just find it unnecessarily bleak and nihilistic. All the humanity from Aliens was gone.
It's a film that sacrifices story for artsy. It looks great and has some nice moments but it killed the series. I don't know a single movie that has been a bigger disappointment than Alien 3. It could have been so much more. It could have built upon aliens instead of taring everything down. It's probably a mix of not wanting to pay returning actors and Sigourney having an ego trip and wanting creative control and no rivalry for the lead.
Love what you guys are doing but to build the audience base now Oliver has cast you out is to play to the base and hit the generic noise releases. Star Wars, Marvel, DC etc even though they may bore you senseless, will get the views on Val Verde to monetize yourselves and then start hitting the broader beats. Want you boys in profit so you can keep on keeping on. 👍🏻
I don't get all the hate this film recieved. It seems like everyone wanted to see a happy family (а man, а woman, а girl and а f'n robot) fighting evil aliens from outta space in Alien 3. Well I'm glad Alien 3 is what it is.
Nothing in ALIEN3 is as numbskull ridiculous as the alien queen stowing away on the dropship in ALIENS. But somehow no one cares how illogical that this.
The Alien Quadrilogy dvd set with the extended cut of Alien 3 came out in 2003. 15 years ago. And numerous fans have been praising that since it came out. Pretty patronising of you to tell people they aren't allowed to like a film because you think their minds are being controlled by a 'trend'. It's possible to like and respect both Aliens and Alien 3.
Charles S. Dutton's eulogy during Newt and Hicks' funeral is beautiful.
How Cameron got the studio to change the title from Alien 2 to Aliens. He took the script crossed out "Alien 2" and wrote 'ALIEN$ "
Around last year I looked into Alien3 a little and after doing the homework and rewatching the assembly cut I fell in love with it, a great movie which has more in common with the 79 classic than Aliens. It ends the trilogy beautifully and I'll add it has an amazing score.
I always figured the queen dropped her last couple eggs inside the landing gear well during the ride up. To lighten up for the fight.
I think the bad sound mix issue on the extended cut was corrected on the blu ray they even got some of the actor's back to do ADR on it
As someone who was just barely in my teens when Alien 3 arrived and therefore heard all about the film's story and spoilers before ever getting close to watching it, I cannot even remotely imagine what it would have been like to have gone into that movie cold after enjoying Aliens. For young adult fans of the first two films it must have been horrific, the sort of shark-jump that the internet would have torn to shreds if it happened now.
For me, Alien 3 fails as a continuation of the story but is PERFECT as a continuation of the deeper reading of the Alien as simply the personification of death itself. In Alien, the crew are a metaphor for newborn children and the Xeno is the cruel harsh reality that will kill you at the slightest opportunity. Ripley ends that film by effectively cheating death. She then sadly learns at the beginning of Aliens what the consequences of cheating death are. She's outlived her child, is a stranger to the world around her and doomed to a lonely mundane existence. Then the Marines appear, representing older and more seasoned versions of the 'children' crew of Alien. They're what happens when people manage to overcome the perils of nature and tame the world via technology. As a survivor with direct knowledge of how dangerous life can really get, Riply tries and fails to steer the Marines away from hubris and being brought down by what's effectively a natural disaster, but she again manages to cheat death and this time even cobble together some sort of happy family.
But then Alien 3 comes along and points out that no one is immortal. You simply can't keep doing what Ripley is doing, cheating inevitable death over and over. First, there are enormous consequences (losing Hicks and Newt, aka outliving your loved ones) and second that's just not how the human condition works. You can rail against death as much as you want, but eventually the only 'happy' conclusion to life is to meet death head-on and own your mortality, whilst also trying to shield others from danger and leave something behind of value.
Alien 3's ending, along with the amazing music of those final scenes, is really just the movie teaching its audience a harsh lesson about life and death. No, you can't keep living in this fantasy world where the good guys win and live happily ever after - ALL people eventually die and the world moves on just fine without them. It doesn't matter how much you cry and rage about that reality, the absolute best that Ripley can ultimately achieve is embracing death on her own terms and taking as much of its immediate threat and power out with her.
It's a great way to book-end the opening scene of Alien, when the crew all awaken from cryosleep. It also contrasts perfectly with the stark horror of Kane being chucked into space after his death. Ripley has to end, but she gets the empowered and mastered ending that poor Kane was never permitted.
Then Alien Resurrection TRIES to do something interesting with continuing the same themes, by depicting what happens if you really do violate the human condition using mad science and cloning tech. The result is that life stops being sacred, collapsing into the profane. All the edges get blurred, with Ripley now being part Xeno, horrible clone RIpleys and hybrid aliens being produced - the human condition goes haywire and life and deatth get muddled together in a meaningless mess. People who 'transcend' mortality also sacrifice their human soul.
I think Alien 3 makes for a perfect ending to the Ripley story. It really shows the tragedy of encountering the Xenomorphs and why they are such a threat. I also love the nihilistic tone and gorgeous score.
This one is the best episode yet. I could talk about this film all day, but I have nobody in my life that would entertain such a conversation 😢 Thank you comrades 👏
Yeah, nice to see Alien 3 getting some love. It's a very underrated movie, often dismissed because it's not an Aliens-type film and doesn't match the quality of the original. That Fincher even got something as watchable as he did out of that production really speaks to the man's talent. Everyone was fighting him - the execs, the English crew didn't really respect him - and it's a real shame that he wants nothing to do with the film any more. I've always liked the theatrical cut, but the Assembly Cut really is a drastic improvement. It IS depressing, but it's very satisfying at the same time. They scaled back from Aliens successfully and really made the Xenomorph something intimidating and scary again. Newt and Hicks' deaths are sad, it's a shame they were killed offscreen, but it really does serve the movie well in terms of the story and Ripley's arc. The ending is bittersweet as hell, but it ultimately really works because Ripley is finally able to find some peace knowing that she wiped this fucking species out and stopped Weyland getting their hands on it...at least until the cloning debacle in Resurrection. Alien 3 is a great capper to the original trilogy and sends the Xenomorph off on a high as well. Then the other shit came after that and ruined it.
The one thing it has that makes it worth watching is the soundtrack, which is amazing.
Zig Bingham whenever i watch it i can't help but think what it could have been if the studio hadn't fucked it up so much.
The soundtrack and visuals are great. Some nice moments. But as a story and continuation its like somebody just drove off a cliff. Total mess they have been trying to correct for over 20 years and failing.
I liked the theatrical and love the assembly cut. There are more light hearted moments in it like the Golic piss taking scene in the canteen and the banter when the guys are moving the dead ox into I presume is an abbatoir. Compared with shit nowadays it's a masterpiece.
Always love that Fincher cast so many Brits in this. The first two films were also filmed in the UK, but kept a mainly American cast. Alien 3 however gives you the unique situation of a Hollywood budget space effects
movie, but with people like Brian Glover with his magnificent Yorkshire accent in it. Its seems closer to the
world of Red Dwarf (or a gritty reboot of that) than Aliens. Bonus round: Fincher is such a fan of Withnail
And I that he cast Paul McGann and Ralph Brown from there, and tried to get Richard E Grant to play the
Charles Dance part. Also: All hail the return of Risky Quizness!
As much as I love Charles Dance it would of been cool to get Withnail & I & Danny all in an Alien film. When I saw Richard E Grant testing for the role I had a huge grin.
colin the dog from SPACED Perhaps they could have gone the whole hog and cast Uncle Monty - Richard Griffiths (RIP).
Perfect. In the Charles S Dutton role !!
@@colinthedogfromspaced9365 Had him say "I'm a rapist of men"
I remember getting this on VHS for my 11th birthday upon release and watching it on the day with my friends (parents seemed way more blase with what films kids were allowed to watch back then). We huddled on the floor with the snacks expecting another Aliens style shoot em' up and got a bleak prison movie with no guns, an attempted rape scene and a suicide ending which went down like a shit sandwich at my little party. I also grew to appreciate it as I got older though, could have been a third classic with a few changes.
I’m glad Risky Quizness is coming back. I used to listen to those a lot and I nearly cried when I saw all 3 vanish. You remember when the first episode went live? July 21, 2016. I need to get a life. Great video guys.
The original director of photography was Jordan Cronenweth. He shot Blade Runner.
If I can just add, Alex Thompson shot Ridley Scott's Legend. So two super talented DP's.
Alien 3 is among the most nihilistic, hopeless, coldest, disorienting, and brutal movies I've ever seen. And I absolutely adore it! I've loved it from the day of its '92 release, and always defended it. People don't dislike it for its qualities - they dislike the subjects, tones, and themes it so strongly summons and references. Alien 3 is truly brilliant, and I'd happily yell that into David Fincher's punk face. Alien 3 is absolutely phenomenal! Not only is it 'about' despair, terror, nihilism, disease, death, and revoltion - it is, in fact, a throbbing incarceration OF those exact horrid things... it IS what it's ABOUT! If you're a sane, decent person - you're not supposed to like it. That is exactly why it's so powerful. It's a true symphony of destruction, killing, decay, and obliteration of everything we loved about Aliens - so we may witness the next logical step of the xenomorph's wrath, beyond the mere physical: corruption and evisceration of all hope and purpose itself. It's truly a black and broken and cynical work of art. Everybody dies, there is no hope, we're all prisoners, nobody cares, we're all infected, death is inevitable, and optimism is futile - the message of Alien 3 is what's so deeply abhorrent and frightening to us. Not the objective reality and truth of its critical appraisal. And when it comes to fictional "horror", I couldn't be happier. There are no happy endings in horror. Only death and terror and chaos exist, and there's no way out. Ever! Dark? Yes. Depressing? Yes. But bad? Absolutely not. Quite the contrary. It's truly excellent. I'll stand by Alien 3 forever, for it is indeed among the most unjustly underrated films ever made. Even by David Fincher himself.
I was going to be really bummed if there wasn't a mental synchronization in this episode but it finally happened at 26:27.
Would love to hear you guys talk about Passengers - I thought it was a really under-appreciated movie that deserves more discussion
I always hated it when I was younger, but older now and have watched the directors cut which is a great film.
4:36 - lol 24:40 - lol Alien³ The Assembly Cut is lovely. The scenes between Chuck D and Weaver are great.
Ha ha, I love the randomness of the whole "Mr Black" Camp Krusty episode of The Simpsons reference. That joke was used in only one episode over 25 years ago and it is still alive to this day and age. My favourite part of that episode was when Kent Brockman went there to interview the "Ring Leader" of it all and it turns out to be Bart.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I've been to Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and I can say without hyperbole that this is a million times worse than all of them put together." LOL
gutz1981 hi kids, this is my good buddy (voiceover) “mr. black”
Gentlemen to evil.
Should have called it Alien Sadness. I love it!!!
And while it does have a nihilistic tone, I do think it ends on a hopeful, though bittersweet, note. Ripley and the prisoners have Martyred themselves for the good of mankind, despite nobody ever knowing.
For a non-religious fellow like myself, I find films like this and Logan scratch that itch 🤔
Alien 3 is not that bad at all. It is however a massive disappointment to see all the effort that was put into Aliens by Ripley, Hicks and Newt all added up to nothing. That is when I lose interest in a sequel, this to me happens often when you see the "Final girl" from a horror movie franchise get killed off in the sequel (Friday the 13th part 2 and Final Destination 2 for example) Its like what Nigel Powers tells people and what they should just do at the beginning of a movie "Look at you, you don't even have a name tag on, you got no chance. Just lie down." That is basically what it all means when you kill off a character in the sequel, the might as well have done jack shit in the previous film, the outcome was the same.
The event we've been waiting for- Charles Dance is Chuck D in the Public Enemy Story.
Yeah I've never had a problem with this film. I enjoyed it with my only issue being that of the death of Newt and Hicks. I hate it when characters survive a film to then be killed off at the beginning of a sequel. Brian Glover was my favourite character but it was a missed opportunity to not have him wrestle a xenomorph. Loving the channel you two.
Or play football against it
@@davidjames579 When the xenomorph missed the goal he should have thrown the football right back in its face.
@@johncody6404 I think he would have cheated by playing for both teams [Alan Partridge voice: not in a sexual way]
Apparently Fincher wanted Richard E Grant to play Clemens. The reason being because he was a massive Withnail & I fan and wanted to reunite the original cast. He got Paul McGann and Ralph Brown.
"We've come to Fury 161 by mistake"
"I think there's something alive in there". "A Xenomorph?" "It's possible". "Fork it!"
His screen test is included in the Alien 3 Documentary on the DVD would have brought a different feel to the character.
Should of put a bar code on Richard's head for the thumbnail. "Unexpected item in bagging area. Remove this item before continuing."
I prefer Morrisons: "Surprising item in bagging area" It would be.
Knew I missed something!
Two things. This channel is brilliant. I love the name. Isn't Val Verde the fictional country that's featured in Commando, Predator, and has a link to a load of other movies?
The other thing, is that Alien 3 is a beautiful film. The fact that it's watchable at all in its theatrical version is nothing short of amazing, considering all the problems during shooting. The Assembly Edit is fantastic, and totally redeems an unfairly malaigned film. I've always felt it was closer in tone to the original movie. Aliens is great, but a lot of vocal fans think that Fox should have kept that set up, and taken the series into an Earth War type scenario. I've always thought that would be hard to tell on film, as the four movies are Ellen Ripley's story, and it's very much about her, and how she has to deal with this creature. Once you've done Aliens, it's a bit reductive to just do it again in an even bigger scale. Whereas Alien 3 is much more personal and about her, how the Alien has destroyed her life, she'd quite like to just stop, but can't, because she knows what's at stake if the company get their hands on a Queen.
Alien 3 assembly cut is fucking great!
Alien 3 is my fave of the series, it’s so bleak and dystopian and very much in finchers style, wet rusted tones, nihilistic etc. It requires he most thought to enjoy (not exactly the best idea I admit) but to me it’s great. The score and sound design are second to none
Alien 3 is a very good film. The tone is purely an alien film. All characters are brilliant,but deep down Ripley never gets any peace from this nightmare. As she says you been in my life for so long,I can't remember anything else. The whole movie is so down in tone, it matches perfectly for Ripleys situation on this prison planet. Overall a very sad movie for all the characters,which made it real. An excellent film for me.
ALIEN 3 is a special kind of AWESOME... if you think about it , the melancholic doom of it all is the perfect end to this franchise. Alot would have wanted the Starship troopers type 3rd wich was originally planed. But I and many see it better THIS WAY. The ALIEN is DOOM ,,, and this unfortunate yet Perfectly Believable outcome is far beyond any actions they could or would have sufficed. ALIEN 3 is AWESOME!
What's the musical bed playing through your discussion?
Very underrated sequel. Gets a lot of bad press, but I love it. Fucking bleak, but so atmospheric.
6:05 - Luvvie alert!
"I'm friends with a guy that works on the bins." Touché.
i love The original script of Alien 3❤️🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
I love the amount of Brit TV actors in Alien 3. It makes me see it as an expensive episode of Red Dwarf! Actually Project Shadowchaser, a film Richard has mentioned before, was filmed at Pinewood on leftover sets from Alien 3! Imagine if Red Dwarf had done that. Or Split Second, another great genre riffing, charmingly low budget production.
Did you watch the DVD or Blu-Ray version? The DVD has really shitty audio, with lots of level changes, but the Blu-Ray is great. The actors came back to re-record dialogue and generally the balance is much improved.
Would like to see you guys cover something other than the Alien, Predator, Robocop, Terminator movies.
They do intend to ;-)
You SHALL go to the ball!
By which I mean you will, I think this is the last bit of such content. I'm planning an Italian horror season, I have more Romero stuff coming and we're working on more experimental content.
We're a bit sick of those series ourselves and are looking forward to covering new stuff, we just played it safe to begin with (this episode was shot back in the Summer).
Hope you enjoy the new stuff when it comes!
-R
@@ValVerdeBroadcasting Awesome news, I'll look forward to it, and be tuning in!
@@RighteousBrother Great! Duncan and I are off to film in a cemetary tomorrow...
@@ValVerdeBroadcasting On the note of Italian horror: Richard are you watching/
reviewing the Suspiria remake when it comes out?
Richard looks very similar to Brian Glover in this film...
Rumour Control these are the facts.
"Fuck !!!!" Having said that, I get why people hate the film but I'm one of the few that is a fan of the film. Having no idea about what happened behind the scenes at the time, seeing the documentary and the Assembly Cut makes me appreciate on what they were trying to do and I always believe if we had had known what Fincher would have become, the studio would have left him alone. Even Michael Biehn admits had he known that that he wouldn't have minded what happened to Hicks as long as he appeared in a future film.
Those letters are really big, and that number is really small, Dougal
The letter at the end of the name is far away 🤣
@@ValVerdeBroadcasting That's one perspective [other Alien 3 posters are available]
Alien 3 does have it's merits-Fincher shows his talent despite the hellish production, Dylan is a memorable character, it uses the formula of the original Alien in a new way, Sigourney is fantastic- but I can't say I have too much love for it. 1. All the prisoners are more or less 'Unlikeable Bald Thug' and that's it. 2. The film really seems to be hell bent on demolishing everything set up previously [we lose Newt and Hickes immediately, Bishop asks to be turned off, Ripley's gone] and even within the film [Charles Dance is killed the minute he becomes interesting] which is very off putting [oddly like the new star wars]. Alien 3 did not need to be exactly like aliens, but it could have treated the characters with a little more respect.
Hey Richard, would you and Duncan at all be interested in doing a It Ain’t Broke on Superman III? I love that film and would love to hear your thoughts on the film at length, great work as always guys!
We actually did a live show on it once, so we may have used all our material! We'll see, we're both fans of it!
Val Verde Broadcasting If you are going to do Superman 3, can you do 4 as well? If only to show Superman using his vision power to reassemble part of The Great Wall of China, fucking hilariously stupid! Superman 4 : Electric Boogaloo.
Awesome! I’ll have to check out that live show!
Alien3 assembly cut is a better 'Alien' film then Aliens.
Alien is a tense, claustrophobic, paranoid, sexually suggestive horror film. A lone creature with no emotions hunting down a group of people who are weaponless (relatively) and are more out to just survive then kill it.
Aliens turns the scary Xeno that by itself is almost unstoppable and just turns it into cannon fodder for a bunch of for me largely unlikeable Space Cowboys.
The xenos are literally mowed down in their hundreds. Their lose all their scariness & power.
Alien3 return to that first formula, you have a group of people trapped with a lone Xeno with this crushing sense of claustrophobia & tension. Some may say the tone is depressing but I love it and think it's far more faithful to the original. It gives power back to the Xeno. Shows just how hard it is to kill just one of these things not simple cannon fodder
Ripley beautifully finishes her character arc
Call me a fucking idiot I couldn't care less, just my opinion
The problem for me regarding the alien in 3 is that is dont really act like the alien. Its more like a generic monster that kills people randomly and seemingly without any finesse or cunning. The toy with it like some dummy in the tunnel chase.
@@daveruda 👍
@@daveruda Probably acts more like a animal cause it came out of a Ox/Dog how I saw it anyway.
I have always liked this movie, even when I was 8 years old and probably shouldn't have been watching it. Would I say it is as good as the first two films? No, but in my opinion it was the last good film in the franchise. Resurrection is some kind of weird nightmare rehash of a film, and the two vs predator movies were just pure trash. I know people who actually feel that this one was the worst in franchise. Those people probably need some glasses when watching the later films.
As a piece of cinema Alien 3 is miles ahead of any of the recent instalments. And Resurrection is like a parody Alien film.
@@THEremiXFACTOR "Weyland-Yatani, they were bought out by Walmart". Can you tell Joss Whedon worked on the script?
@@davidjames579 Cringe city.
Another review. Life is good!
First I've hear of this, great stuff. So where exactly is Val Verde on the Planet? =P
Richard, with that shirt on you definitely look like Max Payne from the 3rd game, all you need is the glasses hahaa.
It's great to see both of you doing videos together again. Alien 3 was never broke, it just had so much shit being made, so much that David Fincher didn't want anything to do with it. Proper gem and I love Elliot Goldenthal's score, dark as fuck.
Still my favorite Alien movie. I love all 3 of them, and like Resurrection.
"It ain't broke... unlike the equipment hur hur hur...." etc.
They're not broken, it's just some superficial damage. Anyway, cameras are now available from Rawlinsons.
They were made promises about storage that weren't kept.
@@Thewingkongexchange There's superficial damage to the outer packaging...
@@ValVerdeBroadcasting I give cameras to all ladies I know aged 50 and under. Over 50 just seems sarcastic.
LOL you'll be showing off your 12 inch plate next.
"FACK!"
Mummy Harper gets me to pray to Christopher Reeve as we pass every race course.
I hate it here.
I like to imagine all of the Patreon money goes on Richards drink.
This channel is in its infancy so it's cheap 10 for £5 (it was when I used to drink) Beck's shite but as the channel goes it eventually gets to JW King George Blue Label.
I'll be curious if you're theory is true, and we see increasingly more expensive brands of booze.
Alien, (1979) Aliens (1986), Alien Again (1992), Aliens Are Back (1997), Alien V Predator (2004).
Aliens cubed
I love the movie, even the flaws are brilliant. And the original theatrical cut is my favorite.
I also like the Theatrical Cut more, Ripley's death and the dog bursting scene are much better than what's in the Assembly Cut.
Love this movie
I watched Alien 3 for the first time in over a decade (when the quadrilogy DVD came out) yesterday. It was even worse than I remember. Completely miserable and tedious. Two hours of shitting on what came before. Charles Dance was the only halfway interesting character in the film and he dies after 30 minutes. The second half of the film is interminably boring. Just endless, meaningless, uninspired deaths of characters you don’t know.
crazymanner2003 I couldn't agree more. I saw it when it came out and it was only worsted as a cinema experience by The Phantom Menace. A boring, disjointed mess masquerading as something portentous. Never went back to the franchise although I understand they are still making the same mistake.
I don't really have a problem with the way Alien 3 is directed, apart from the dodgy effects. I just find it unnecessarily bleak and nihilistic. All the humanity from Aliens was gone.
I think if you watch Alien 3 straight after Aliens, it makes you so low. So try and watch it in isolation. And keep the Prozac near.
Surely, where the alien is concerned, 'bleak and nihilistic' should be the norm because that's exactly what it is.
FACK!!!
Strangely nihilistic
Always tried to like this Movie, never could
Downbeat&Beat 2 Shit!!Still scares me when I watch the Assembly Cut-has an Agatha Christie And Then Were None Vibe.......
It's a film that sacrifices story for artsy. It looks great and has some nice moments but it killed the series. I don't know a single movie that has been a bigger disappointment than Alien 3. It could have been so much more. It could have built upon aliens instead of taring everything down. It's probably a mix of not wanting to pay returning actors and Sigourney having an ego trip and wanting creative control and no rivalry for the lead.
The Phantom Menace was much more disappointing
For me Alien 3 was a huge blow while Phantom Menace just came and went
daveruda Well, it was meant to end the series and for a lot of us, it did..then came the black comedy Resurrection and those horrible Scott films Xx
Love what you guys are doing but to build the audience base now Oliver has cast you out is to play to the base and hit the generic noise releases. Star Wars, Marvel, DC etc even though they may bore you senseless, will get the views on Val Verde to monetize yourselves and then start hitting the broader beats. Want you boys in profit so you can keep on keeping on. 👍🏻
I don't get all the hate this film recieved. It seems like everyone wanted to see a happy family (а man, а woman, а girl and а f'n robot) fighting evil aliens from outta space in Alien 3. Well I'm glad Alien 3 is what it is.
Nothing in ALIEN3 is as numbskull ridiculous as the alien queen stowing away on the dropship in ALIENS. But somehow no one cares how illogical that this.
I don't need to see your big calves and knees, Richard...
Why? It was Summer. It's not like I got my dick out.
-R
@@ValVerdeBroadcasting Haha, just busting your chops
@@JesseWolfboy Man, we get so many of these it's becoming hard to tell which are serious!! 🤣
-R
It’s very hipster to now like Alien 3, and dislike Aliens, I’ve noticed.
Which of course is wrong. Alien 3 isn’t very good. It’s just a trend, guys
The assembly cut of Alien 3 is great. Aliens is great. Alien is great.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
-R
P.s. I don't recall saying Aliens is bad.
The Alien Quadrilogy dvd set with the extended cut of Alien 3 came out in 2003. 15 years ago. And numerous fans have been praising that since it came out.
Pretty patronising of you to tell people they aren't allowed to like a film because you think their minds are being controlled by a 'trend'.
It's possible to like and respect both Aliens and Alien 3.
Jack S pfft- so tell that to all the people that had the opinion of actually liking Alien 3 back in ‘92- that’s a long af trend, darling Xx