TF Issue 194: Is It Just Me? Alien3...

[morris]

Originally Posted by alexr

Why kill Newt and Hicks in the crash? Why not let them live for a bit. On a planet of criminals, let one of them rape and kill Newt, causing Ripley and Hicks untold distress.

I can't tell whether you're fishing for a recation, in which case: well done - *golf clap* or if you're dumb enough to think that stupid and tasteless idea would work.
The point that these are dangerous criminals with violence and murder in their pasts is well made by the near rape of Ripley. There's no need to return a child, who was obviously the heart of the second film, to suffer that fate. The story of Hicks and Newt ended and they had no part to play in this film. It's as simple and conclusive as that.
In practical terms the rating would go through the roof or be refused a rating. So, No. Maybe your mother was wrong and at 14 you were too young to see it.

Have the alien appear and kill Hicks as he defends Ripley (a heroic death for a beloved character).

Fail. 1. Terrible cliche. 2. Ripley doesn't need Hicks to defend her. She does alright by herself, always has.

[Jeffbiscuits]

I completely agree that there was no place for Ripley, Newt and Hicks family unit in Alien 3. Their story ran its course in Aliens and would have bogged Alien 3 down unnecessarily. The film deals with other issues than family. I love how Weaver plays someone impregnated with an alien queen as someone coming to terms with a terminal disease.

[Rankles]

There were other ways they could have gone about Alien 3 without killing off Hicks and Newt, maybe have Ripley somehow get seperated from them and re-unite them 1 or 2 films down the line. Making Aliens virtually redundant in the opening moments of Alien 3 was a dick move and one that the series never recovered from.

I actually would have preferred it if, at the end of the film, we suddenly cut to Ripley waking up on board the Sulaco and the whole thing turned out to be a Dallas style dream sequence....

Alien Resurrection was the final nail in the coffin but the damage had already been done by then.

[Scruffy]

Originally Posted by Rankles

There were other ways they could have gone about Alien 3 without killing off Hicks and Newt, Making Aliens virtually redundant in the opening moments of Alien 3 was a dick move and one that the series never recovered from.

Wrong. The common factor and only essential char in every Alien movie is Ripley. The other two had their moment in the previous film and were superfluous to the plot and style of the third film.

I would have preferred it if, at the end of the film, we suddenly cut to Ripley waking up on board the Sulaco and the whole thing turned out to be a Dallas style dream sequence....

Because making the entire movie 'All a dream' would delight audiences with its originality and not at all be a cop-out or dick move. Right.

maybe have Ripley somehow get seperated from them and re-unite them 1 or 2 films down the line.

Alien franchise =/= Star Wars.

[Jonesy]

In a lot of ways I prefer Alien 3 to Aliens. The low key build up, and creeping menace, of not just the aliens, but also the convicts, made for much better atmosphere than the gung ho antics of the second film.

[Rankles]

Originally Posted by Scruffy

Because making the entire movie 'All a dream' would delight audiences with its originality and not at all be a cop-out or dick move. Right.

Oh, it would have been a huge dick move no doubt. Still would have been more forgiveable than what they did with it though....

[fortunesfool]

Originally Posted by dogsbody67

So, for what it is worth, I reckon Alien 3 improved with age and the extended version but that only lifted it from being dire to OK. For my money, Resurection is the better of the two films.

[morris]

There's just no way that's true unless you have a bullshit-to-brilliance converter in your brain. I recently rewatched Resurrection and if anything it was even worse than I remembered. It was boring, the dialogue was cheesy and cringeworthy and you don't see anywhere near as many aliens as you think. What you do see stands out as clearly against the rest of the action as the alien in Alien3. [underwater and on the ladder, crawling up the ship that's about to take off.]
I watched until the end of the underwater scene and left it at that. I had no desire to revisit the daft newborn hybrid and its monstrous mother-child metaphors. ugh.

Alien3 pulls me back in, every time.

[Roba Fett]

Watched Alien 3 (Theatrical Version) last night. Still good fun, terrifically tense with a unique visual style thanks to Fincher's camera positioning. There's real chemistry between Dance and Weaver and the quiet, reflective moments they share balance well against the stark, brutal tone throughout. However, I do prefer the extended Directors Cut which expands Paul McGann's character and includes the brief imprisonment of the xenomorph. The film benefits from the extra detail, though there's one glaring negative to the DC...

***SPOILER ALERT*** just in case anyone's not seen it
Why cut the alien bursting through Ripley as she plummets towards the furnace? This scene was great, very much in keeping with the series. Chopping it just doesn't make sense. I haven't watched all the docs yet so don't know the reasoning behind it... anyone have a clue as to why it was cut?

[TheDigitalZombi]

Perhaps what they should have done is kill off Newt, Hicks and Ripley. Have the prisoners find this crashed wreckage with all three of its occupants having gaping chest wounds and believing them to have been caused during the crash. Enter Charles Dance's character who performs an autopsy which reveals the injuries had been caused by something coming from the inside to the outside, but with exit wounds only.... Dun, dun, dununununun....

The whole film could have been approached as the prisoners believing one of their number, or a small, separatist religious sect, had returned to their previous, hack 'n slash ways before coming face to face with three snarling beasties spitting acid phleghm at them.

Paranoia, tension and perhaps an unlikely anti-hero for the next film in the franchise.