1992 Ranked
Non-2018 First Time Watches Ranked
Ranked: Alien
Directors Ranked: David Fincher

Film #42 of my 100 Degrees, 100 Movies Challenge

Common actor from previous film: Lance Henriksen

PREVIOUS FILM: Aliens
NEXT FILM: The Usual Suspects

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!"

I'm glad Miffy told me about the assembly cut. If I had somehow watched the theatrical cut, I think I would've hated this, but this is really enjoyable.

I have to say I really enjoyed the first act. Just the tone of it all was really cool. Like, dark and grim. I was really into it. I also thought Charles Dance and Charles S. Dutton were standouts, as well as Sigourney of course. The fact we got some fleshed out characters was really cool. I especially liked Charles Dance's character and I feel like the movie lost a step when he met his demise (sorry if that's a spoiler but it's an Alien movie so most people die plus it came out 26 years ago :P).

I think the pacing was quite inconsistent. The second act drags, but the first and third acts were good, pace-wise. I thought the direction of the third act was...odd. There were some weird camera choices, specifically in that it was hard to tell just who was dying some of the time due to the camera angles.

One final thing; after reading all of the controversy around this, I truly respect Fincher. A guy on his debut film believed so much in his vision that he butted heads with the studio and ultimately walked off the set, leaving a real possibility that he may have never worked again. I respect people that stand up for what they believe in and I thought that was really cool.