Underrated

Rating: 8/10 (8 March 2019)

First off, I agree with the consensus that this isn't as good as the first two.
Alien was sci-fi horror. Ground breaking and much-imitated since. Ridley Scott, say no more.
Aliens was a war film (elite unit dropped behind enemy lines). Nothing we hadn't seen before but brilliantly written, acted, directed. James Cameron, say no more.
AlienÂ³ is a character study, and a damned good one. David Fincher, say what?
This is a stylish debut from Fincher, who had yet to make his name with such classics as Se7en and Fight Club. He had been directing music videos up till this point but clearly had bigger ideas.
The tone of the film *is* pretty dark and despairing but I always liked that too. The claustrophobic atmosphere created by the story and setting, the set design and photography builds to a tense climax. The story itself is quite simple, but for me it's enough. The quality of the acting is all the more prominent for not being obscured by a convoluted story. It also benefits from going back to its roots and only having the one alien on the prowl, as opposed to the hordes in Aliens.
I'm English and one of the things I've always loved about this film is the roll call of English character actors in it ... Charles Dance, Brian Glover, Ralph Brown, Pete Postlethwaite and some others. Charles Dance in particular lends a lot of class to proceedings and I can't imagine anyone else in the role.
I watched this in the cinema on its release and have always had a higher opinion of it than most. I've watched it many times since then and still enjoy it.