Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Rating: 6/10 (12 September 2003)

"Alien 3" is the third of four films based on the alien theme starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. This one was filmed in the UK and was directed by David Fincher.
At the close of "Aliens" (1986) Ripley escapes the alien attacks along with the little girl "Newt" and Cpl. Hicks and what's left of the android Bishop. "Alien 3" opens as the shuttle carrying them separates from the mother ship and lands on, of all places, a penal colony. Only Ripley survives and Bishop is relegated to the garbage.
Ripley discovers that she is the only female on the colony. She is befriended and ultimately bedded by the colony doctor, Clemens (Charles Dance). She begins to suspect that there may have been a stowaway aboard her shuttle. She hooks up the remains of Bishop (Lance Henriksen) and learns that indeed one of the alien creatures had been aboard. Then the carnage starts. One by one the convicts begin to disappear. The rest organize under Dillon (Charles S. Dutton) and with Ripley set about to destroy the creature. And as luck would have it, there are no weapons in the colony.

Blood and guts literally abound in this movie. Rather than build the suspense as the two previous films had done, this one is wall to wall violence. It's sort of a Friday the 13th in outer space. Mind you it is well done if you like gratuitous violence. Director Fincher does save a couple of surprises for us at the end.
It's another of Ripley's Believe It or Not adventures.