For a while, it looked as though the Alien franchise was well on its way to carving out a reputation as the greatest sci-fi saga of all-time, with Ridley Scott and James Cameron getting the ball rolling in phenomenal style with a pair of back-to-back classics. However, third time did not mark the charm when David Fincher ended up way out of his depth on the threequel.
Making your feature-length directorial debut on a hotly-anticipated blockbuster that was facing the pressures of living up to the indisputable greatness of its predecessors is a tough task for any filmmaker, never mind one dealing with the studio system for the first time. Unsurprisingly, then, Fincher’s inexperience was preyed upon by the grubby hands of interference.
Alien 3 isn’t a dumpster fire, but it is a marked step down from its two forebears, although not all of the blame can be laid at Fincher’s door. After all, not only is the Assembly Cut vastly superior to the theatrical release, but his subsequent establishment as one of his generation’s very best creative minds indicated that he was left at the mercy of the 20th Century Fox boardroom.
Not that he cares, seeing as he’s actively distanced himself from and outright disowned Alien 3 over the last 30 years, but that hasn’t prevented the undercooked intergalactic epic from making a renewed splash on streaming. Per FlixPatrol, the tepid return of Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ellen Ripley has spiraled onto the iTunes global most-watched list, and you could even call it the third-best Xenomorph story ever told depending on how you feel about Prometheus and Covenant.