Review of Alien 3

Alien 3 (1992)
9/10
As good as the first two Alien movies
6 January 2019
I don't think I ever diverged that much in opinion about a movie with IMDb reviewers or critics. This movie delivered much more than I had expected. It's no surprise that Alien 3 was received better internationally than in USA since this movie has something artistic in it, something not appreciated by American crowd. Furthermore, this movie is a perfect example of how "fans" can help to bring a movie down: they're just not capable of appreciating something new and always think It's best to just hark back.

Alien 3 can be best be described as a combination of the original Alien and milieu from Twelve Monkeys starring Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis. There are no guns here, no massive shootings, no futuristic technology, no spaceship. It's dark in here, claustrophobic, dirty.

What really amazed me is how successful Fincher was in using humor to assuage such a dark world. There are really funny moments very cleverly put so that they make this dark world feel like inhabited and made by humans. Most of the people in here are prisoners who work physically demanding jobs, far away from civilization as we know it. Moreover, humor helps us to keep in mind that there prisoners are still human even when exposed to such harsh circumstances and after doing horrible crimes.

Critics are right to point out how editing and cutting makes you feel confused, not knowing what's happening. Well they're right. I think that doesn't have to be necessarily a bad thing. Since there are no weapons here, all protagonists were vividly confused and very scared. These cuts put you in their position. Alien 3 really stands out from other movies from Alien series.

I will conclude with recommending this movie to all of you who love dark and dystopian atmosphere even if you're not into Alien series because this is a great and bold movie.
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EDIT: I've seen Assembly cut version so everything written above refers to it. It was interesting to watch making of this movie and see what happened behind closed doors and with what problems Fincher had to deal. Maybe overcoming those helped him to become a great director.
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