The Unsung Brilliance of ALIEN 3
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- With a disastrous production, a gruelling edit and a mixed public reception - what's most astonishing about "Alien 3" is just how vital it still feels after thirty years.
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For the record - my ranking of best to worst of the series is as follows (because 'Favourite' isn't the same as 'Best');
1: Alien (Theatrical Cut)
2: Alien 3 (Assembly Cut)
3: Aliens (Directors Cut)
4: Alien Resurrection
A MASSIVE GAP THE SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE
5: Prometheus/Alien: Covenant
6: Alien vs Predator
7: Alien vs Predator - Requiem
8: Alien Covenant
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1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
4. Alien: Covenant
5. Alien 3
6. Alien: Resurrection
7. AVP
8. AVP:R
I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on Alien: Covenant. While I thought it was fine at the time, I don't remember much about it now.
"Alien Covenant" is a film about supposedly intelligent people making the most impossibly dumb decisions for two hours, and then they die. We also find out that xenomorphs were created by an Android messing around in a dinky cave...because he was mad that he wasn't alive, so wanted to create life?!
@@inframeout Hello there. I just wante to ask something. Do you take suggestions? (I mean as in like movie to look at or projects that would deserve a consideration or possibly so ideas)
I'm always open to suggestions (and I have very rarely done them) but it all depends.
I need to really care about the movie, the meaning behind it, the production history etc and there needs to be enough to say that nobody else has said so I'm not just repeating something that's been done elsewhere.
Another factor is that making a video is a huge commitment. Each video takes around 40+ hours to make (and I also work a full time job).
Long story short - I'm all ears and love that folks want to hear my perspective on something - but unless it's something I can mold and make into a new and interesting study, I typically just keep on doing what I'm doing
Alien 3 is a dark gothic masterpiece.
Ridiculously underrated film.
This! We need the Fincher cut!
Agreed, it has some great artistic choices, no weapons in the prison to fight the alien is such a genius move after the gunslinging Aliens
100% agreed.
Could you guys imagine? David Fincher developing the appetite and being given the means to produce his director's cut?
One can hope.
@@dipi71 its the god damn dream isnt it!
I adore Alien 3. Seriously, I love it as much as Alien and Aliens. People usually ignore the facts that this movie has introduced the "xenos take features of their hosts" thing and royal facehuggers. Nowadays every Alien based movie, novel, video game, comic story use these ideas. The tunnel chase scene was fantastic. Not to mention the legendary Ripley-xenomorph close up moment. The acting was by far the greatest in this movie. The soundtrack was brilliant too
I always felt it was the most mature of the series. I'd grown tired of basic action movies by my late teens (95-97 somewhere), yet my friends preferred them.
Yup I feel the same way about alien 3. It gets so much hate but I feel like those folks who hate it are missing what I got from it. It still had the alien franchise feel to it and the music score was awesome! The movie was very original in its own right.. it was dark and depressing and I just loved it. Have seen it multiple times. I did like the first two a lot better but alien 3 I definitely consider a good “alien” movie. Alien resurrection on the other hand was a sh!t show imo
Alien³ is a ballsy movie that would NEVER be made today. Its anti fan service it doesn't pander to you, it doesn't care if you like it.
They killed newt and hicks. Off screen. Such a disservice to their characters. Can't forgive it for that
@ssrunner I thought them dying the way that they did was impactful. Often times we or our loved ones die anti climatically and unceremoniously. Having them die in a car crash-type scenario was more horrible to me. Ripley could fight an alien but she ccouldnt fight the inevitability of death. In the end she joins them in the furnace I thought it was quite poetic.
Alien 3 is really what an alien movie should be. Atmospheric, brutal cruel, sad, with absolutely no hope. Killing off Hicks and Newt was perfect. Ripley in this environment was the Alien. A great film in my opinion.
And many people want fairy tales with the happy endings and being pissed when they learn that universe isn't a place from those fairy tales and doesn't care for happy endings.
@@Schoki99Exactly. I don't know if people were expecting a happy finale with Ripley, Hicks and Newt ending up together without thinking that the most likely outcome after Aliens is that Hicks would most likely be court martialed and even executed by the Company's orders. Newt could've been separated and put into whatever version of foster system this timeline has, and Ripley could've been imprisoned for life and/or terminated while the Company could've kept the incident on LV-426 undercover assuming the engineer's ship was canonically close enough to the terraformer so the blast could have destroyed the eggs onboard.
Alien 3 was not only the most merciful ending for them, but also a good closure for Ripley's story as she succeeded in saving humanity, but I guess that silver lining wasn't enough for the people who desperately dreamed of them forming a happy family after Aliens.
Finally, I’m not alone. Alien 3 is the “Joy Division” of the franchise
I used to think the killing of Newt and Hicks was the original sin of the movie. Now i changed my mind: the original sin was to keep following Ripley when her story was completed. Everything that was bad was a subproduct of that decision.
That includes the killings (they do not belong to this story, so they need to die) and also the glaring plot hole that kicks the whole action (the sneaky egg/eggs than miraculously appeared in the Sulaco)
Well put it’s a fantastic film and stands out against the rest because it carry’s emotion which is rare for a dark horror film especially alien, it’s very character based which I love as despite it being a prison for rapists it shows everyone’s true colours when there life is on the line. They got this bang on in my opinion 👍
The most mature film in the franchise. True, cosmic terror. A tragic but realistic story. I love all four Alien movies, but 3 has become my favorite over the years.
I get we can have our opinions, but simply saying it’s dark and realistic doesn’t make it a good film.
They’re sci-fi films, not real life
@@RYMAN1321 I think it does help make it a subjectively good film if those things are what someone is looking for. Like I am.
@@RYMAN1321do you really think that’s the sole reason why this person likes it
@@luntertherunter1771 Maybe not, but its just how I interpreted it.
@@timatkins2228 A lot of us are looking for those elements in a horror film, let's be honest that's what makes us like horror is the situations feel just as hopeless and tragic as some situations feel in life.
I have been an Alien 3 evangelist for so long, I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see one of my favorite channels express and reaffirm my love for this absolute banger of a film
The only thing you didn't mention that I love about it is the absolutely amazing soundtrack. Flawlessly transitions from heartbreakingly beautiful melancholy to pounding, screaming, visceral industrial hell straight out of Silent Hill.
When I first tried to upload this video - there was a brief segment where I swoon over the mix of chugging industrial guitars and sweeping orchestration...
...and then that part got copyright flagged so it had to get cut 😐
@@inframeout that's a shame. And, you can't use the soundtrack here, but it's available in its entirety all over UA-cam?? Shouldn't expect consistency, I guess.
One hundred million percent yes. I agree completely.
Yes! Finally. 100%! As much of a production disaster as the movie was, there is a lot of great artistic ideas in the film, very much in the spirit of the original Alien.
Yeah, if anything, I've come to appreciate Alien3 more over time. It's a goddamn miracle that David Fincher managed to turn in such an overall competent film, despite everything the studio did to sabotage the project. Really shows how much potential he had, at the time.
One nitpick: Alien3 had very little CGI, just a couple brief shots. The dog-alien was actually a puppet, but it was badly composited.
Honestly - the studio basically tortured Fincher for a year then threw him to the wolves. The fact the film retains any sense of narrative or thematic cohesion is truly impressive.
As for my use of the term "CGI"...yep, that's my bad (I should have said "Blue Screen") The actual rod puppet work was brilliant (it's shown in more detail in the 'Making Of' - but the colour timing, grading and comp work to integrate it into scenes is appalling)
Apologies for such a daft mistake on my end !
@In/Frame/Out I like to imagine how Fincher would do Alien 3 now. I wonder if it would retain as much edginess. His movies have gotten softer or the years but definitely more mature from a filmmaking perspective.
Yeah, that’s my only issue with the movie is that whenever the alien is created with CGI, it’s really obvious and it doesn’t look very good. For me though, that’s a minor issue in an otherwise great film
I believe the only CGI was the shot of the Alien’s dome cracking due to the intense temperature fluctuation.
I've always enjoyed Alien 3. I specially love the assembly cut. That version totally shows David Fincher's cinematography and style. Alien is a horror film, Aliens is an action film and Alien 3 is a stoic, dark and gritty movie. And if you see Fincher's other films, they're also of the same type of style but in their own way relating to their respective plot lines.
screaming… SCREAMING!!! This so expertly and susinctly details my exact feelings for MY favorite Alien film. I have been telling people this for years, and I’m so happy this guy gets it. Bravo, and thanks! ♥️
You're more than welcome, and I'm glad to see we're on the same page about this enormously underrated gem
They would never make Alien 3 today it's so anti-fan pandering I love it. It's by far the most emotionally and thematically complex of rhe films.
Alien 3 is my favorite Alien movie. I'm being serious. I never really understood why it's disliked so much
As you can tell from my gushing adoration throughout this video - I'm totally on the same page 😊
if you are sincere in looking for reasons, for me, it's because everything is so murky and brown, and all the characters are guys with the same clothes and haircuts, and there's one woman, who also has that haircut and wears those clothes. it is a visual bore.
Because all the characters are a bald British NPC. There are no good lines. The story is stupid. Stop pretending this is a good. Is T3 also better than T1 and T2?
@@perfectallycromulentThey didn’t think that 90% of the characters would be interchangeable NPC who you don’t care about at all
@@RM-jb2bv Yes
I loved it. Really brave to use so many British accents, I wonder what the American audiences thought of that. A wonderful dark bleak environment with little in the way of bangs and flashes to entertain. A return to the original style.
Pssst : the only CGI in alien3 is where the aliens head crack after the hot-n-cold treatment. The rest is rod puppets with bad comp... I bet someone could get the black levels correct and make it look 100% better with some time...
Someone did point out my blunder when I said CGI (I meant to say Blue Screen) - that's my bad through and through. As punishment - I will rewatch "Alien Covenant"*
*I will never ever do this
Alien 3 is so damn good. I understand why it gets criticised but I think it's excellent and broaches some really interesting concepts and ideas. Great video! 💚
I was waiting for a 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not' joke, but Fincher's lemons was way better. Another great video, it's always a delight when a new one pops up on the front page.
Damnit that's a really good gag, I can't believe I missed it.
There was also "A Talented Mrs Ripley" joke to be made - and I'm truly ashamed I didn't follow through
The most under rated movie ever, its class!
I much prefer the Alien 3 assembly cut to Aliens.
I get bored watching Aliens but Alien 3 never stops giving.
Alien 3 was maligned because people expected it to be another Terminator 2 -- a more thoughtful film than its predecessor yet still packed with the action and thrills of a 1980s blockbuster. But Fincher instead delivered a slower, more thoughtful, character-driven film. It "feels" so very much like an early 1990s movie that it hurts. But unlike today's movies, it confronts big themes of classicism and disposability of human beings without treating the audience like complete idiots. This is why Alien 3 has aged comparatively well, whereas modern movies that address similar themes, like Snowpiercer, age like milk
Alien 3 was maligned because it`s garbage compared to the movies that came before it, as was all the sequels other than Aliens. For one there is nothing original in the story. it`s just a retread of the 1st Alien movie with a different cast and location, and a downer ending. As for Hicks and Newt, well suprise, surprise callously killing off beloved characters in the opening minutes of the movie for no good reason is not popular and tends to anger the majority of your fanbase. Who would have thought. 🙄
People can try to put lipstick on this pig, but in the end it`s still a pig.
@@kirikanoir2403Same plot as the first? This was the only movie in the franchise that was nothing like the first. In all the other movies, the cast face the wrath of the xenomorphs for doing their job. Be it smuggling, soldiering, or freighting. This was the one movie where all who were involved were minding their own business and ended up getting attacked and killed out of nowhere. Showing that this franchise is a series of horrific and brutal misfortune. As for Newt and Hicks, their deaths further showed the horrific and brutal misfortunes of the series. Along with the statement that this series isn't about them or any of the humans, not even Ripley. It's about the namesake of the franchise, the alien. And what a murderous force of nature it is, as well as the losses and sacrifices that come with combating it. There can be no happy endings in a story like that. As the person who created this video shed light on, killing off Newt and Hicks that way was more mercy than any other characters in the franchise have been given. But that's my opinion, and you have yours. So neither is the objective truth.
You fucking take that back. Snow piercer is brilliant. 😂
@@MrSFblack You could argue in the first film it was a couple people just doing their job and struck with corporate bullshit. Which is what the 3rd film does. These prisoners are minding their business as prisoners, but theres a chance the corporations punished them for variety of reasons like how they tried to manipulate and punish Ripley in the 2nd film. Its because of Weyland corpos meddling that these sequence of events landed near a sanctioned planet that had a function placed on it by said corporation/civilization. They didnt care about the space crew, they didnt care about the marines and they definitely didnt care about the prisoners. They were all in the line of fire for their greed.
The series would be nowhere near as interesting (as we have seen) without a pivotal POV character like Ripley/a cohesive cast to drive the plot and learn more about the Alien. Newt couldve lost Ripley and grew up under Hicks with the motivation to stop Weyland Corporation and the Xenomorph species being investigated creatingg a new POV with more proactive motivation. Waste potential honestly.
Ignoring Ressurrection, you kill Ripley then what? This doesnt stop the Alien/Xenomorphs.
Two quote the T-800: "Wrong"
I just wanna give mention that your thumbnails are always really well done and unique. Keep it up!
The aliens in Alien 3 was actually practical puppets. Gorgeous work too, it's the compositing and lighting that sucked.
The roto, compositing and light/grade matching are absolutely atrocious. I should have really specified "Blue Screen Work" rather than saying CGI (even though there is some rough CGI in the assembly cut).
Sorry about that, and thanks for the constructive clarification 🙂
Had Alien come out just 2 years later in a post Jurassic Park world it would have looked AMAZING. If ever a film needed a George Lucas style retreatment it's that film.
@In/Frame/Out yeah they totally could have benefited from a Grade node. Chemical compositing is a NIGHTMARE. But yeah the despill is a atrocious the Alien has no feeling of weight and scale and the matte lines are a wreck. Those things are relatively easy to do now and we take it for granted.
I assume you mean the puppet lighting didn't match the environments which is absolutely true, I agree. Shocking. If you mean the main unit cinematography I couldn't disagree more, it's a tour de force in extraordinarily beautiful anamorphic photography. All hail the mighty Alex Thompson, BSC.
I never understood why Alien 3 got a bad rep. It was my second favorite Alien film. Really a well done movie.
This was the last time the characters had personalities. Every alien movie after this one have had like 2 or 3 characters with personality.
So…when will we get a defense of Alien Resurrection?
Great vid mate 👌
While I've never seen Alien 3, I really admire you for taking a movie a lot of people don't like, and explaining why you love it. That's actually what I do on my channel.
Well done. This is my favorite, too! I actually liked the Ward script with the wooden planet and monks and would've loved to have seen that visualized on the big screen. And changing the monks to prisoners is where I think this movie lost a lot of general audiences because it's hard to ask for people to root for murderers and rapists than it is to holy men. I understand the change and its thematic value but for people wanting the action-horror adrenaline rush of Aliens, (especially in America where the prison industrial complex reigns supreme and faux religious zealots dictate policy against the people's actual desires) it might have been too much to ask for a meditative exploration of trauma and redemption. But of course those are among the elements that spoke to me personally but that's not what the audience may have expected/wanted. Sigourney has never been better in the role and as you said both Charles, (Dutton and Dance) are two standouts in a series of scene stealing supporting characters. I can go on and on but I'll just end it by saying I'm glad Alien 3 is finally getting its flowers! Long overdue.
Ahh Prometheus - only watched it once theatrically and found it underwhelming and with some utterly baffling cuts - I ought to revisit that one and see if it's worse than I remember hah
Another great review! Alien 3 needs more love for all the reasons you describe. Cheers!
By far the best Alien³ retrospective I've seen thus far. Even when I first watched Alien³ (which was the theatrical cut), I still felt the film received an unnecessary amount negative attention. Even though I believe the assembly cut is far superior to the theatrical cut, Alien³ is still my second favorite Alien film next to the original.
As much as I love this movie, it kinda bums me out we never got to see Vincent Ward and John Fasano's unproduced script for Alien 3, the absurd out there concepts would probably been easier to fumble but man, a planet sized space station made out of Wood that doubles down as a monastery tying religious themes to the Aliens sound so bizarre I wish I got to see it.
So - having read that script a few times - a surprising amount of the interesting stuff is actually in *Alien 3* (the religious fundamentalism, the xenomorph being called "A Dragon", Newt & Hicks dying).
Aside from two great set pieces (one in a vertical library, the other in a corn field) - the rest of the screenplay is really conceptually muddled, boring and pretty much a less character driven, feminist and brutal version of what Alien 3 eventually became.
It's still worth a read though!
I am so happy I found your video! This is literally the first video I ever saw that doesn't trash Alien 3 from the get go. Instant subscribe.
Also let me share my two cents on why Alien 3 is my favorite of them all.
First, aesthetics. The movie is just gorgeous to look at. From the grimey, run down, rusty looking sets to the brown lead colored tint everything seems to have, even the autopsy scene. The movie is simply beautiful.
Elliot Goldenthal's magnificent score. I love this score so much that I listen to it at least more than once a week. I listened to it almost exclusively when I was writing my MA around 2015. Fits the film's aesthetics like a glove. Highlight: the cremation scene and You can still have a life.
I can't get over people complaining about bad editing. Have people actually watched this movie? The editing is pristine! Highlight: the alien chase scenes. I'm old enough to remember this film coming out. I was ten at the time. Alien and Aliens were already loved movies that I watched with my dad and when this came out, it was on on a local TV station around 5 o'clock in the afternoon. When the chase scene started I almost shit my pants, I waited with bated breath all the way through. Absolute highlight movie segment of my childhood.
I absolutely love the casting and characters in this movie. A bunch of tragic lifers with no weapons of any kind trying to overcome something a bunch of roided to the gills marines couldn't handle with state of the art firepower. The delivery from every single actor is just impeccable. Are these lovable characters, should the viewer identify with them? Absolutely not, but this just makes their struggle ever more conflicting and interesting to watch. At least to me a lot more interesting than a bunch of loud mouth obnoxious meathead grunts.
Newt and Hicks. Did people really expect a little girl in an environment like this? But I'll go back further because the prisoner angle isn't the original script. Even before this, the ONLY way Alien 3 could go was this. Like, really, are people upset we didn't get some shitty ass Hallmark family movie in the Alien franchise? Is that really a problem? Alien 3 just went back to the original Alien: bleak, oppressive, cold, alienating. Perfect follow up to the loud and obnoxious Aliens.
These are some of the reasons my favorite of the entire franchise is Alien 3. The Assembly Cut is amazing. This film is poetry on screen, rather than the loud drunken frat boy that was Aliens and I think that's a huge issue with a lot of the hate it gets. It dialed the macho aspect way tf back and I love it for that. Is it less menacing? No, it makes the first movie's allusion to rape a lot more overt, for one example.
All in all, I absolutely love this movie and think it is completely unjustly maligned.
Since I first wrote this comment, I thought of something else too.
The pacing is impeccable, especially with regards to the loss of Newt and Hicks. So Ripley looses them both from the get go, right? Then finds some sort of solace in Clemens, but Clemens is offed by the Runner. Then she finds a different kind of solace in Dillon, but that is of course different than what she had with Clemens. Then she realizes she has an alien in her. Then Dillon is killed off by the Runner again. Then, finally Ripley finds solace in wanting to just end it all and therefore in Morse. The way the plot is moved forward through a series of losses rather than loud braggard heroics is absolutely gorgeous, especially with everything else going on around this central thread. People are just still huffed up on adrenaline still to sit down and realize the beauty of this movie.
Mate, you just said everything I’ve been thinking about for 30 years and many, many, many conversations about why Alien 3 is a great film. Thank you!
I've always really liked Alien 3, it's a bold dark gothic finale to the trilogy - made all the more remarkable by the production hell it went through.
I couldn't care less about Newt and Hicks being killed off off-screen.
Never understood why this had people's panties in a bunch 🤷🏻♂️
Hear hear, they were deadweight
Alien 3 is probably an edit away from being one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. Charles S Dutton and Sigourney's acting is the best in the series. Her bloodshot eye (contact lense) in the opening act...the morgue scene...the blood trickling into to the sink...just brilliant.
It needs some scenes to make sense if you ask me. And why are ripley and the doctor talking about " are you married" and other pointless crap when the alien are around somewhere.
That feeling when you're angry that a channel of such high quality is so criminally underrated, but you also are sad because when they inevitably explode in popularity and recognition, you worry they'll change. Your content is fucking e x c e l l e n t.
That's incredibly kind of you to say. However - given that we've barely grown in four years - I wouldn't count on an explosion in popularity anytime soon. Here's hoping though! If only so I can afford to get the first four Alien movies in 4K!
@@inframeout Please keep grinding away, thoughtful and well-produced film analysis like this WILL find it's audience eventually.
I hope you can make a living of this soon but don't turn this into one of these "Why the Fast and the Furious is brilliant" channels. By that I mean: cheekily pretending to have a controversial stance on a mainstream movie, while giving an eloquent version of what everybody agrees on already.
I assure you that will never ever happen
I know, it blows my mind they don't have more subs, and yet they still continue to put out such high quality work. I recommend them every chance I get, on similar channels, and know for a fact that I've helped make at least 10 believers. Truly kills me to see other creators in this area, who upload content that's not even a fraction of as good as this, with millions of views/subs. Almost as big a travesty as Paul Thomas Anderson aving never won an Oscar........ALMOST!?!? I sincerely hope they finally receive the recognition they so clearly deserve.
I think you forgot one small detail about Aliens and Ripley. She survived the first Alien movie, but lost her daughter or rather lost time with her by being asleep for 57 years. The girl in Aliens represented more than just reductive "broken woman mended by becoming a mother", it's more like getting life back, getting back all she loved in the world. Also she's went through some bad stuff that only Ripley and her understand, so their relationship is not that plain.
Exactly. I welcome criticisms of films I love but Ripley and Newt's relationship wasn't just "I'm missing a daughter and you're missing a mom so let's be a family and we'll be happy." They both experienced losing their lives and loved ones because of xenomorphs and the time they took from them. Those two are the only ones who understand what the other went through. And their relationship signifies gaining life back, some sense of security, of normalcy and happiness and someone who understands them. It's far from a shallow relationship.
@@grawman67 Yes!!! Thank you!
@@theguy2227 You're welcome! I started this video after having watched 3 for the first time and really disliking it. I wanted to see what others thought and was interested what others see in this film that I don't.
And while the video makes really fascinating point, I found that the video and several comments sort of trivialize Cameron's Aliens themes and characters in a way I don't agree with. Views that Ripley had her independence or agency taken away to make her a nuclear family mother and the like and I couldn't disagree more. Most humans naturally desire companionship, friends, and family. And Ripley in Aliens displayed motherly or traditionally feminine attributes but was very strong, rebellious, cool, and very relatable and human.
@@grawman67Yeah, same here, but to be honest the 3rd movie truly fascinated me, even though was quite bored watching it when I was like 12. It had great characters, chemistry between them was amazing, I like the plot turn in the start (though I was a bit disappointed by it, which is a weird combination), and Repley's suicide made sense. It's very well written. But sometimes it dips so hard, you get very bored. It has great hights and very low lows. That's basically why I sought out this video)
@@theguy2227 I completely get that. I enjoyed some of the ideas in 3 quite a lot. I think there was a film I could have loved buried under it all. It just needed time in the oven for Fincher to complete the script and get it going.
Considering we got a film at all is a testament to his and the cast and crew's hard work and dedication and I can't help but respect that even if I dislike the film itself. Talk about perseverance overcoming adversity.
I saw Alien 3 at the theatre and it was too much for me, but, I was 16 at the time. Now I apprreciate how gritty, raw it is. A NIN video turned into a movie. Having said that, they did mess up killing Hicks and the little girl. It prevented Michael and Sigourney from makimg a new badazz Alien movie together.
Thank you Thank you! Especially for laying some truth about Newt and Hicks' one-dimensional asses. They served their purpose in Aliens..that's it. If everyone is butthurt because they were not in the 3rd film, then go watch Aliens again. Alien 3 is a great film.
The section on the characters of Newt and Hicks is articulated so well! I'm happy to see this film get some of the love I think it deserves. Excellent video!
A good example of a studio getting this wrong, I think, is Wonder Woman 1984's Steve Trevor. He had served a very specific purpose in the first movie and felt so out of place in the second.
Exactly. If you take a secondary character out of their very specific narrative role (aka supporting the protagonist and serving as a thematic totem for the main characters growth) - it soon become apparent that they don't work outside of their original intended purpose.
Newt's entire arc is "Be a surrogate daughter to Ripley", and Hicks is "Generic white military dude with no personality or defining traits"
That wasn't the only thing that movie did wrong @@henrye3935 😅
ALIEN and ALIENS have been held so close, deep in my heart for the majority of my life. Mother would leave for work and I'd raid her VHS collection, normally looking for a father figure in Schwarzenegger or Stallone. Then one day, I came across Alien and Aliens. Sigourney Weaver became my mother in the absence of my own. Quite a likeness too 😎
My favourite line from Alien 3 is similar to my reaction when I realised Newt and Hicks were gone.. "... FUCK..." 🤣
I would argue that human beings need connection, need other people; that's not a feminine quality, it's a human quality.
Further, I would argue that if you thought there were characters in a previous movie that weren't as deep as you would've liked, you have the option to flesh their character out further in the subsequent movie.
Gotta admit, I came into this video betting that you couldn't actually justify the writer's decision to kill off Hick's and Newt...but you did. Splendid work, my good sir!
Why everybody cares so much about Newt and Hicks?
@@ailigimmo9668 She's a kid and he is tough guy with a heart of gold. But like the guy said, they were flat as pancakes. Any guy from 3 is more interesting than those two IMO, even Burke was more interesting.
@@Bonkikavoalso they were useless deadweight. Newt was a loudmouthed brat
@@tsitracommunications2884I wouldn't call anyone who was able to survive an alien attack and it's resulting aftermath without any weapons or training "useless". But I can agree that there's nothing to Newt's character other than being a little girl.
@@BonkikavoI feel the opposite about this movie, 90% of these characters seem like the same damn person
I'm so glad UA-cam recced me this video. I've loved Alien 3 since I was a kid, and it bewildered me when I found out a couple years ago that most people hate it! Thank you so much for this excellent defense. I don't know if I've seen your work before, but I'm definitely going to look through your channel now!
What a lovely comment - especially the part where you celebrate just how underrated Alien 3 is - and thank you for taking the time to watch our video. We've got many videos to pick and chose from and I hope you find something else you like!
Same its the alien Movie i ve rewatched the most. Its perfect and iam so annoyed by the hate :D
I always thought this was maybe the best alien film. Me too i never heard i should hate hate it lol. Honestly now when i watch the alien 2 it seems not lot worse that the first and third one. In aliens the aliens seems just week animals and honestly i dont know do i really like the queen at all.
Alien 3 is sooo dark and that is what it makes it good. I dont understand why people complain that all characters die. That makes the movie even darker and the ending is very sad also. Also the alien itself looks horrific covered with blood in this film.
While the original alien is masterpiece and weirdly horrific I think the alien 3 is the darkest of all alien films.
I like aliens. 3. I don't like some of the decisions, but it's got a good cast, and the directors cut is even better . And compared to the vast majority of Hollywood films we get in current year it's a masterpiece
Alien 3 had the best characterisation and writing of any of the Alien films. I greatly appreciated the Shakespearean dialogue and predominantly British cast. It was a weird film, in the best sense. Alien won on set design, sound, music, direction and overall tone, Aliens won on special effects and pacing (a classic action movie that would have been better if it weren't a sequel to a better film), Alien 3 was a film trapped under the weight of the previous two. It was still a mile better than Resurrection, and the less said about Prometheus and Covenant the better. Also, anyone who thinks AvP count needs their head examined.
My order:
Alien (Theatrical)
Aliens (Director's Cut)
Alien 3 Special Edition (its the same as Assembly Cut, the name changes depending on whether you have the Quadrilogy DVD or the Alien Collection Blu-Ray - the Blu-Ray restores the visuals and sound compared to the DVD)
Aliens (Theatrical)
Alien (Director's Cut - I adore the LV-426 sunrise shot, but hate the removal of the long camera pans and ship traversal scenes, which were one of the things about the movie that creeped me out the most as a child)
Alien 3 (Theatrical)
I don't consider Resurrection a good film in any way so I can't include it on the list. I tried to watch it again a few years ago and just couldn't. It was Joss Whedon at his most snarky, most un-reigned in, and it infuriated me. I liked it as a kid but not now. I'll try watching it again after a heavy night's drinking.
I just love the The fragile of brokenness of Charles dances character
I like Alien 3 more as an adult because of the strong acting talent in the movie. I prefer the assembly cut because I read the novel as a kid and had wished that the theatrical version had followed the book more closely. I liked Aliens as a kid, but see James Cameron movies very differently as an adult. The more they explain about the alien just makes it less and less "alien" and more like a "bug." As an adult most of Cameron's sci fi are pretty much a regurgitation of the same story to the point it just seems "meh."
I had never considered the whole 'Alien 3 pro-choice parable' angle.
Brilliant!
I wish this film didn't suffer from the behind-the-scenes issues -- as well as that god-awful stop-motion CGI -- and that we could have seen the film entirely as Fincher wanted.
There are a lot of great things in Alien 3, however, the entire movie relies on the basis of such an insulting plot hole: The egg on the Sulaco. There is no way this could have been there. It was established clearly in the first two that eggs hatch by sensing prey. Everybody was in Hypersleep at the time, & there was no way it could have gotten to where the hypersleep chambers were. When Ripley, Newt & Bishop got off the Dropship & encountered the Queen, there was simply no way for a Queen to leave an egg.
It just gets more contrived with Ripley being yet again being the only survivor, & conveniently having a queen embryo.
You are being too harsh on Aliens & its characters. Using bad unproduced screenplays as evidence that Hicks & Newt were garbage characters is silly. At one point, the characters in Alien were written in such a way they could be played by either a man or woman. Sounds pretty thin to me.
Characters do not necessarily need a Bergman level study to be great if executed well, & Cameron's film excels in that. We get a good idea of the personalities of the marines in Aliens. Hicks was the only one that took Ripley's story seriously before the crap hit the fan. Newt was clever in being able to survive by using the vents & hiding, & the emotional payoff in their relationship is well deserved. The interesting characters in Alien 3 do not last long. Nearly everyone is nameless fodder only there to be bumped off. There also isn't much to see about what this place was like day to day before the EEV crashed. We get an idea, but not as much as I'd have liked to be honest.
Alien 3 is far greater than the pretentious prequels, but objectively, it is no where near as great as Aliens. Some interesting characters do not elevate the contrived plot holes & plot conveniences to that above Aliens.
Carrie Henn is also great in Aliens btw.
Charles S Dutton. Alien 3's most memorable actor.
I really enjoy this film myself.
Alien Covenant is great and so is Prometheus. The characters makes choices that make sense for their characters, for example in prometheus the guy they say "Makes the map" is just a geologist and not a map maker. So when he gets lost it's not him being stupid it's him getting lost.
Saw Alien3 in the theatre, opening weekend, and loved it then. I was aware, from spoilers, that the rest of the cast from Aliens had been killed off, so I wasn't shocked by it. It was an odd creative choice, but I thought it led up to a wonderful ending for Ripley's story.
After seeing the two Assembly Cuts, you really start to see the underlying brilliance of it, as characters get fleshed out, even more.
I would just like to see one more re-cut with improved effects. The compositing in that movie just didn't work. I generally prefer practical over pure CGI, but this is a case where a CGI touch up would drastically improve the final product.
In my opinion.
12:40 this is so real bcs i heard that james cameron hated the narcissus Ripley inner wear scene but i think his inclusion of hicks as a 'love interest' for Ripley was the worst thing that couldve been done
My ranking of aliens :
Alien 3 number one, but from far for me !
Alien 2 good freakin action
Alien 1 the best intro movie for a franchise to come
Alien 4 meee
and all that follows meee x2
So freakin underrated movie number 3 ! The most interesting of the bunch, a huis clos" in space with true acting and real terror ! The best !
Absolutely agree about Alien 3. For me it's a close 2nd to Alien and is usually my go to Alien film (assembly cut). Also Charles Dance gives an absolute fantastic performance, up there with Ian Holm as Ash in the original...
For me Alien 3 is the second best of the series, after Alien.....
Best movie ever made.
*Alien 3 is awesome*
It was in line with the spirit and feel of the first two films (moreso the original than Aliens). There's *much* to call it the strongest of the three:
There's a dark existentialism to the movie. Life and death are recurrent themes, good and evil, hope and loss. One of the most powerful scenes is the funeral and last rights cutting back and forth with the birth of the Alien. It’s the death of innocence and the birth of evil. Visually and spiritually its absolutely great. The director Fincher is a master of atmosphere. It's EASILY Weaver's finest performance. It has a superb cast who are far and above the rest in the Alien franchise and all bringing their A game. There's amazing cinematography, a truly unique setting and very interesting themes. It definitely has the best soundtrack.
Alien³ is first class and is a postmodern gothic nightmare masterpiece and it deserves less hate than it gets if not outright adulation from people who s*** on it all the time because they don't know as much as they think they do. Also to heck with Michael Biehn who said he hates it, nobody gives a darn about him anymore anyway except fans of Navy Seals and Charlie Sheen.
So, in terms of it being the best in the franchise:
The first is pretty much a slasher movie, albeit one of the top 5 greats. The second one is a pure action sci-fi with little storyline, but still fun.
Alien 3 is more psychological horror style with a dystopian vision of a future world. More grounded, the 3rd installment exposes the human being and human nature against each other, all concerned about their existential hell. And then an external menace forces them to find hope, work their differences out and survive their extinction. It has the best ending of any Alien movie.
I mean, I freaking LOVE _Alien 3,_ dude. So, I really don't give a crap what anyone who hates it says about it. Gimme _Alien 3_ any day of the week, dude. To me, this is one of the greatest horror films of the 90s and it's also one of the greatest monster movies ever produced, as well. Thank you for the review. Thanks for the 30th anniversary review of this horror monster masterpiece that has aged remarkably well! 😎🙂
Alien 3 is perfect the way it is!!!!! It was a huge accumulation of several different peoples visions & ideas that all eventually got placed into one film just like the original Alien film was created!!!!! Anyone that dislikes it , doesn't understand how unique it actually is compared to the first two films which would have been just another copy of the second film hence getting "sequel-itis" if they didn't kill off the other characters from the second film & it would have suffered the "3rd" installment" curse like every other film has but Alien 3 doesn't get "sequel-itis" like every other 3rd film installment does!!!! Plus if it's supposed to be the most terrifying organism in the universe then it's gotta be unapologetic just like the film turned out to be with no happy ending like the first two films had!!!!
Beautiful Elliot Goldenthal's score. I honestly just enjoy watching the theatrical release of this movie. And like with anything else with life - as long as YOU enjoy it, everything else is a background noise. Are there any better Alien movies than this one? Absolutely. But somehow I just end up rewatching this at least twice a year with a popcorn and have a blast. Same with Dune by David Lynch. New Dune movie is indisputably better. But I find myself rewatching old Dune, not the other one. Life. Keep up the good work, nice review!
I was about to make this video because for the life of me I could never understand the hate this film gets. Well done!
Damn. I gained a whole new respect for a movie that I'd never thought too much about. This is exactly what a great video essay does. Very well done, indeed.
Thank you for articulating what I feel about Alien 3. It is not a perfect film but it is my favorite out of the trilogy. The Ripley saga ended well.
Alien 3 has a very unique personality. It's extremely gritty, grim, gothic etc. I think when one explores the themes like you did, they can learn to love it. The funeral speech was truly remarkable.
Dude, get out of my head! This is everything I have confusedly rambled about to my increasingly disinterested friends for years and you just effortlessly and perfectly summarize it all in one expertly crafted, 18 minute video. Like, you even mirror my thoughts on Newt and Hicks to a worrying degree. This is the most slept-on channel on youtube, no contest. Well, this nerdy German right here is a fan, I can tell you that much! Great job!
Definitely liked Alien 3 when it first came out. Never understood the hate.
The insight on Hicks and Newt and their function in both films is seriously commendable.
Hi thank you for elucidating something that I have felt for literally decades. I look upon Alien 3 as the true sequel to Alien. For me the only drawback that still makes me cringe is the horrendous compositing of the otherwise excellent puppetwork of the creature in the third act. If only some After Effects nerd would go and do a simple colour correction on the shots that look terrible it would be near perfect for me. (I actually tried myself but I suck at AE). Thank you for this redemptive video. Subscribed.
Lemonalien 6 : The Last Squeeze
Lemonalien vs Predit-ale
Alien³ is easily my second favorite in the first 3. I pretty much ignore everything else other than those. The golic character is just so interesting. And Ripley in 3 is probably my favorite Ripley.
My favorite Alien movies 1. Alien 3 2. Alien 3. Aliens, the rest are bad to alright
Yup, I've always liked Alien 3.
An interesting addition to the themes of bodily autonomy you brought up is that Bishop asked to be euthanized because his quality of life is not up to the standards he wants, with the obvious parallel of the right to access medically assisted suicide.
Watched it two nights ago. Good movie. Assembly cut
During the beginning of the movie I was so captivated by the idea of a barren prison planet that I forgot I was watching an Alien movie. It was so good
What a perfectly produced argument to the standard view. I have always loved alien 3 and it’s nice to see someone holding it up. Yes it is flawed but still had good themes
I like this movie the best out of any Alien movie because it is in my opinion the scariest one. Aliens is usually the best one if you ask most people but it felt like xenos were cannon fodder. In 3 the xeno truly feels terrifying and unstoppable. And I daresay, 3 has the best looking xenomorph in runner variant which is stated to be the fastest of the xenomorphs. Also has the best looking practical effects for it. Yes all of the rod puppet scenes look awful but go look up the scene where he kills Rains and Boggs or when he's in the leadworks following Dillon and Ripley, it's where it truly shines. Elliot Goldenhal also did the best ost work in franchise. Assembly cut is also superior because it adds more screentime for the inmates, especially Gollic.
Amen, Garrus. Amen.
excellent essay, you said it !!
Alien3 struck me as my favourite when I was younger. It felt like a great capstone - admittedly as I got older, I could see some of the flaws. The assembly cut fixed a lot of that. Regardless it was great nihilistic horror.
“Alien 3 is just not a creature feature - it’s a film about death. Not only that, it’s a film about confronting and accepting death, and what can be achieved when that happens.
The result is nothing less than the kind of exercise in existentialism novelist Albert Camus might have made if he’d gone into horror flicks.”
- Andrew Lowry
You dare insult my beloved covenant! Banished to the egg chamber!
😭😭😭
Alien³ is massiv underrated! There is only a thin line between part 2 and 3...
Beautiful. My favourite.
I love Alien 3 and you can take that to the bank.
People who like Alien like Alien 3.
Peoplr who think Marvel is the pinnacle of cinema don't like Alien 3
Unfortunately,, the world is filled more of the latter
People who like Alien hate Alien 3.
People who think Zach Snyder is the pinnacle of cinema like Alien 3
Unfortunately,, the world is filled more of the latter
I like parts of Covenant, the talk of creation, art and Walter we're good. I swear Scott's creatures in Prometheus and Covenant are WAY scarier when they barely move and when they zip around suddenly not scary.
I really like Alien 3 but I got three head cannons. 1 where Aliens is a happy ending and no more Xenos, the Dark Horse comic with grown up Newt or Billie, and of course Alien 3.
I think personally one of the reasons I was dissatisfied with Alien3 was its discarded potential to have a female protag who’s strength didn’t come from her “becoming a strong man” it’s why I liked Aliens so much, and ultimately why I think Alien is a near perfect film. Allowing Ripley permission to be compassionate while fighting the Xenomorph has been a defining aspect of her, and while upon first watching of Aliens, I turned to my friend and commented “it’s like they treat her more as a woman now, if the first movie allowed her to be gender neutral, this one makes her be a woman, idk how I feel about it” ultimately, I think while I didn’t like the tropes she fell into, it made me despise what they turned her into in Alien3, which was, functionally, a character who’s strength is only valid because they are masculine. Which to me, destroys the intent of the first films gender neutrality, making the threat equal, and making the stakes just as equal. To me, centering her story around birthing the Xenomorph and avoiding sexual assault, reduced her as a character greatly, it made her survival feel more about just “being a woman” than actually surviving the threat. To me, all in all, it diminished a lot of what I loved about Alien to begin with.
This isn’t to come in and bash Alien3 entirely, but I feel like I have so many strong feelings on it that I desperately want some engagement on these topics!!! :)
Alien - discovering the fear
Aliens - facing the fear
Alien3 - becoming the fear.
A nihilists wet dream 😂Love this film
Fed up with “fans” whining about Alien 3. To me it’s the gloomiest in the series and has lots of quality to it. Fx the romantic story cut short by doctor Clemens abrupt death not to mention the scene where the prison director is mauled just when he is laying out the “mystery” murder case to mention 2 brilliant plot twists. The film starts with the tragedy of the losses of hicks and newt which underlines the gloominess. Who wanted to follow these 1 dimensional charaters anyway.
And the prisoners are not one dimensional characters just stop
I always liked Alien 3 and this video is the first time I realize it is regarded this negatively. Wow... I was always under the impression that the first three are generally liked and applauded. Seems I was a bit wrong on that one. :D
Alien 3 is a lot better than people think.
Alien Resurrection and everything after it, imo we could’ve done without.
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
It should’ve stayed a trilogy
Alien 3 was still a great horror film and a lot of people dont like it because it was different from the 2nd film, and why not I say!
Fantastic film my second favourite in the franchise after Alien 1979.
This is _genuinely_ my favourite video on youtube.
Thank you for articulating everything I ever wanted to say about this gothic masterpiece of a movie. If you search 'Alien 3 Nolan,' you'll see that he loves it too - so we're in good company!
I fully agree about Alien 3 (awesome) and kiddy actors (dreadful).
I'll put my hand up that Alien3 is a guilty pleasure.
Would have been a great place to wrap the franchise though.......
Your points on body autonomy and female signifiers blew me away. Excellent insight
I went through something very similar with these film. I watched them all in a single week and found something to love in each and every one of them.
I always loved Alien 3 and thought it was a great ending to the Ripley story. I too had the quadrilogy box set but never liked Resurrection. Too tongue in cheek and ''hollywood''. Ressy felt like a Hollywood movie product. The first three felt more like they had some artistic merit/integrity and a story to tell. A vision. Ressy is a studio product to try and make a merchandise selling franchise. The silly prequels all undermine the originals. Though I do find the first Alien Vs Predator entertaining. Had it been set in the future after Alien 3 on an alien planet it would have been 100 times better. Having it set in 2004 on earth showing the Aliens have been on earth for thousands of years, no big deal really undermines Ripleys efforts to stop the Xeno getting to earth lest it be apocalyptic.
I applaud you for the "lemonaaaaalien" bit
The day I don't say something profoundly stupid in an otherwise serious video is the day I die