Alien 3 – The Re-Assembly Cut

I had the pleasure of (finally) viewing xeno_alpha’s Alien 3 Re-Assembly last night – heres my short and sweet review:

note – I mean no disrespect toward the editor I am merely reviewing what I saw in a constructive manner of criticism. The review does contain spoilers.

The menu:
The DVD starts off with the standard red faneditor warning but with a great alien twist. I wont spoil it but it was a nice change and made me smile.
The menu features a very nice video montage from the film with a nice alien font complete with interactive icons for play, scene selection and bonus features.
very cool without being overly technical.

The Film:
The main film is relatively seamless, the assembly cut footage does at times give itself away due to the less than optimal audio track but that is no fault of the editor. There were a few times where the audio seemed very (and I mean VERY) slightly out of sync. Off the top of my head the scene where Ripley wants Dillon to kill her w/ the axe comes to mind. It could be that it was assembly cut footage or maybe I am crazy. Its not bad enough to be fixed but it did seem slightly out of sync. there were a few other parts that had the same issue (to me) but I cant recall specific scenes at this time. Again its a very minor issue and not a deal breaker IMO.

I have never seen the original workprint but this re-assembly was a solid watch, it restored the (pivotal) Golic plot line from the assembly cut and incorporates pieces of the theatrical and assembly cuts to make an almost optimal version (I prefer the theatrical Dillon Motivational scene as it just feels so much more powerful) but that wasn’t the point of this edit. What scenes are present here trims the fat of the assembly cut but still tells a better more complete story than the theatrical cut. This results in a great “third option” for fans of the film.

The bonus features:
There are 2 deleted scenes features that total over an hour of material, both punctuated throughout with nice looking text cards that explain the individual scenes and why they were removed from this version. The first feature focuses on deleted material from the assembly cut and is nice to see what was cut and why.
The second feature, which IMO is the real gem of this disc, contains deleted and alternate scenes from the original Alien 3 Workprint. And while not at all pretty to look at, its a great addition for Alien 3 fans and series completionists. This stuff is very cool, and that alone warrants it a place alongside the quadrilogy set on my shelf.

So, if you liked the original film or the assembly cut this edit successfully bridges the gap and is definitely worth a look for fans of the film/series.

Video: Very nice image quality comparable to the source material. 9/10

Audio: Nice 5.1 surround, no glitches of note. 9/10

Editing: Other than obvious issues present in the assembly cut and minor A/V sync issues mentioned above, this edit was seamless. 9/10

DVD authoring: Nice menu, simple but effective. Bonus materials (especially workprint scenes) are a nice addition and inflate my score from a 7/10 to a 8/10

Entertainment: I think I may like this more than the other cuts available. Definitely better than the theatrical and better pacing than the assembly. Other than my personal preference differing on a few scenes/edits, this is an improved version of the film IMO. 9/10

Final score: 9/10 – a job well done!