the New Testament in Space

Rating: 6/10 (17 June 2003)

The third instalment of the Alien 'Trilogy' sees Ripley survive and land on a prison ship where all the inmates, who have been previously convicted of murder and rape and suchlike, have turned to religion. If this sounds unlikely, then the flat characterisations, the continuos obscenities and the pummelling repetitions of people telling each other to shut up won't help.
The biblical comparisons are made almost too obvious, and the lack of a referral to the Alien as an Alien, but simply as a beast or a monster, give it devilish credentials, but there is almost too much in common with the gospels that it watches like The New Testament in Space.
The only characters that deserve any serious consideration are Ripley and Clarence, yet there interaction is completely uninspiring.
Sadly, the ending is by far the best part of the film, but the build up to the ending lacks any feel of intensity and slightly confused me.
All in all, the film is poor, and as an act to follow the two previous films, certainly can't stand the heat.