The very worst of the franchise - Alien³ (1992) Discussion

For me, Covenant takes the cake, easily

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Prometheus is the better movie, but I actually liked Covenant better.

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I like Prometheus. Didn't love it but I enjoyed for the most part. Michael Fassbender is great in it.

But Covenant is borderline unwatchable for me. But to each their own

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[–] Philhelm (472) 8 months ago

I'm not arguing that Covenant was a good movie, but at least it had some bona fide alien action. The last act with the alien on the ship wasn't too bad, especially when he told Jussie Smollett that "This is Xeno country!"

Otherwise, Alien 3 is miles better than everything but Alien/Aliens. Alien 3 is overall a good movie, but would have probably been a better sequel to Alien than as a sequel to Aliens.

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

You're wrong.

Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus and Covenant are all significantly worse in every way, aside from special effects, which are secondary anyways... well, at least for people that understand movies and don't just fall for flashy pictures.

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[–] FootOfDavros (6765) 9 months ago

^ It's true.

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[–] clashwho (746) 9 months ago

Yep. Except I also prefer the special effects in Alien 3 compared to what we got in Resurrection.

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[–] FootOfDavros (6765) 9 months ago

True. Don't remember them particularly being an issue - apart from that shot of Ridley falling into the incinerator, which was terrible. Although maybe that was only in the Assembly cut?

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

The Alien's running and movement animations were absolutely ghastly, like really so bad that I always thought it would be better to cut these (few) scenes out.

It's funny how some things never seem to change in film.

Jaws' shark is so rarely shown not because Spielberg was that smart, but because of constant mechanical failures not making it possible to show what he originally intended. So they left a ton of shark scenes out and in the end, got a significantly superior result just because of it. Wish A3 would have done the same, realizing their CGI is just so shit, they'd better skip it.

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[–] cyguration (3856) 9 months ago

Yeah, the effects in Aliens 3 felt worse than Alien Resurrection to me.

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[–] DeckardB26354 (965) 9 months ago

Fuck you Kendricks you condescening cunt.

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

Woah, the language on you! Do you blow your father with that mouth!?

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[–] moviechatterer (13391) 9 months ago

🤣

come now, Deckard doesent just watch for flashy pictures
He also likes all the shooty shooty bang bang that Aliens had ,
and all the SIR YES SIR,SIR ! Military Jingo porn.

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

To be fair, his nickname implies he's also a Blade Runner fan.
It's not all bad, I guess. Maybe there's hope for him?

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[–] moviechatterer (13391) 9 months ago

Slim ,
Some of the posts I've seen that "Filed & monitored" sig line underneath of suggests he does indeed need to be filed & monitored on a government list.

But yes , he does at least appear to appreciate Bladerunner

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[–] Galactus03 (4289) 9 months ago

What's so bad about Prometheus and Covenant??

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[–] asom (6511) 9 months ago

Everything.

But it's ok if you like them.

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[–] Galactus03 (4289) 9 months ago

Yeah but I dont understand the hate for them. What specifically pisses everyone off about them? I recently did a rewatch and then went to Alien right after...it all hds up. As for resurrection. Yeah there were issues but it was not a total dumpster fire. I wish they would not have had a clone Ripley..

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[–] asom (6511) 9 months ago

The hate comes from high expectations.

The hate comes from comparing them to Alien and Aliens and expecting them to be at the same level. Which they are not.

The hate comes from them having the feeling of urgency and danger only as results of idiotic actions from crews supposedly super trained and "the best".

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

Pretty accurate.
The asinine actions of these, allegedly, top experts in their fields made me rip my hair out throughout the movie and there was no way in hell that I could ever suspend my disbelief that much.

On top, I would add the sterile and esoteric touch especially Prometheus had with the whole engineering bullshit which I find completely boring and actually harmful to the franchise.

Horror movies work best the less you really know about the monster.
That's also why horror sequels do not work 99% of the time, because all they can come up with to make follow-up movies interesting is to dial it to eleven and show the monster all the time, ultimately destroying the mysticism behind it and with that, what made it work in the first place.

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[–] Galactus03 (4289) 9 months ago

Yeah but sequels/prequels do that. Explain backstory. I get what you guys are saying but as a whole I find them enjoyable scifi films..

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[–] Philhelm (472) 8 months ago

Part of the hate is because the people in Prometheus and Covenant are retarded.

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[–] SickSpazmoid (707) 6 months ago

You are absolutely right. Prometheus is not just bad... it is like "Plan 9 from outer space" with better effects.

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[–] pjl69 (2435) 9 months ago

Its more interesting than Aliens.

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[–] Seperatrix (1089) 9 months ago

I think so too. I didn't feel that way years ago, but upon a re-watch not that long ago I found A3 much more interesting than Aliens.

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[–] Guitar King (4363) 9 months ago

Then your judgement is seriously flawed.

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[–] MichaelJPollock (650) 9 months ago

Same here ! Ages way better than Aliens I think.

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[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7409) 9 months ago

I have only seen the alternate cut with the Bull alien. I admit I didn't like this as much as the first 2 but it's definitley better than Covenent and the AVP movies. I refuse to watch Alien Ressurection.

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

A:R is honestly not that bad.
While it takes a very...different approach to the Alien franchise compared to Aliens and even more so Alien, it has its own charm and is worth a watch, really. Just don't take it too serious and think of it as some fan fiction material, not canon.

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[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7409) 6 months ago

I hate Ripley getting cloned.

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[–] DarthAckbar (842) 9 months ago

never seen it, refused to watch it

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

Your loss. It is easily the third best Alien movie. The only really bad thing are a few CGI scenes, but how important is that in the end. Terminator's exoskeleton scenes in T1 looked like shit too due to the overly obvious stop-motion like it's the 1960s, but that doesn't make the movie bad.

Give it a shot.

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[–] DarthAckbar (842) 9 months ago

thanks, i might

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[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7409) 9 months ago

A lot of fans hate Hicks and Newt getting killed off. I admit I myself would rather they lived. But the studio felt it would cost too much for the actors to come back.

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[–] Kendricks (2083) 9 months ago

I agree, I would have "liked it better", have they lived - but the problem here are really the fans and their expectations from a franchise that made it very clear from the start that a happy ending should not be expected, and I like that.

Hicks dying was bad enough.
Little Newt drowning in her cryo-pod was, and always will be, gut wrenching.
I hate it, and I love to hate it - if that makes sense.

It's also not just about Newt, but Ripley AGAIN losing "a child" which made Newt's death so horrible. It was very obvious that she basically immediately adopted her and that both were very happy with that. This destroyed Ripley for good. She was never the same again and throughout the movie you feel a significant difference compared to who she was in Aliens, thanks to Weaver's performance.

My point is, as harsh as it is, it is still brilliant.
Just how the movie manages to make you root for murderers and rapists to survive and defeat the xenomorph. That's a difficult thing to achieve and I enjoy moral conflicts like that... while others apparently just jump hate trains and parrot the ever same meaningless and superficial, dumb reasons: Muh CGI...

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[–] Levtones (502) 7 months ago

Killing them off was ballsy, which is precisely why I love Alien 3.

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[–] Philhelm (472) 9 months ago

Alien 3 is unfairly maligned because it wasn't the sequel to Aliens that people wanted (myself included). It's a good alien/monster horror movie, and certainly better than Resurrection, AvP, Prometheus, and Covenant. It's just unfortunate that it had to take a dump on Aliens to exist.

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[–] e3e34ifj (1339) 9 months ago

Discounting anything AVP, I might agree. It's a very beautiful-looking film and great on a technical level (musical score, cinematography, art design, effects, etc) but it's horribly boring and has an awful screenplay. Covenant may be a smidge worse but its close.

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[–] agentalbert (2343) 9 months ago

The misery ends quicker with Covenant, which is about all it has going for it over this one. Not sure which is worse, but these are the bottom two, imo.

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