Alien-Ate

This review is gonna be harsh, but I'm not going to blame the editor for this. Okay, I'll blame him for the ending, as it somehow managed to accomplish the impossible task of being even more ludicrous than the original. But with that exception, I'm not gonna blame TMBTM. He did what he could to try and fix this film. It's still bad, but it's not "as" bad. It's mediocre.

The reconstruction of the first act is fantastic. I'm not sure how TMBTM did it, because it conveys most of the same information that the original cut did, and yet it made the characters more interesting. I guess it goes to show that timing is everything.

Unfortunately, the rest of the edit goes in a downward slope after that strong beginning. There are still plenty of scenes that make no sense, and I'm not sure if it's even possible to cut them out. The underwater sequence is the scene that bothers me the most. In that one sequence, we get two poorly done character deaths, Christie's ridiculous geometric shooting skills, and a nonsensical plot twist revolving around Call. And while I respect the fixing of one of those deaths, it still doesn't change the other three problems.

The fact is that this is an edit of Alien: Resurrection. It's still going to be flawed. If you choose to watch this, keep your mind wide open. It's still nothing when compared to the first two Alien movies, but if all you want is a less cringy version of A:R, then give it a watch. Just don't expect Citizen Kane. You're bound to be disappointed if you do.

By only looking at the other reviews have I only found out that Ripley was the Alien Hybrid creature, so unfortunately I don't think the narrative at the end was clear enough. But that was my own honest experience, as watching Call shouting for Ripley left me completely confused.

Otherwise the edit is brilliant as the cuts and audio are flawless and by watching it (apart from the end) you would think it was the proper cut of the film. I think removing some snippets of the film was a good idea such as removing the scene where Call originally opens the door from the other side as in the original film it feels a bit dull because we hardly sympathise with the character at all throughout...if anything, Call is a bit of a brat and gets in the way, so I'm glad you trimmed her down throughout. Another part I seem to remember being removed was when the general looked at a piece of his brain when he's been killed by the Alien, yeah, that definitely had to go. I think you may have shortened the swimming scenes, which helped with the suspense.

Personally I think you could have removed the Alien Hybrid altogether....yes, it would have been slightly anti-climatic, but it would have shortened and improved the film somewhat. I think we all hate that stupid Hybrid and for the Alien Queen to be so soft and go unguarded just didn't make sense for me in the original film. Perhaps that could be a future edit for someone to do?