SPOILERS - Some weak areas and some strong areas

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2003)

People ventured into this movie expecting the same level of action as Aliens. Many were expecting multiple aliens and lots of surprises. Some were even expecting an adventure with the surviving cast of Aliens. The movie did not deliver on these expectations.
It should be clearly stated that Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 are claustrophobic tales that make you feel incredibly uneasy, tense and scared throughout. Alien 3 does exactly that and it delivers. David did an amazing job putting this film together considering the circumstances around the production. He directed the characters very well and you suffer with Ripley when she jumps into the pit. The acting is powerful and stands up to the other two films!
Weak areas: The alien in Alien 3 is a different type than that on the other two aliens. David Fincher should have put more effort into revealing the differences between the types of aliens. It is not very clear and because of this his movie bares too much of a similarity to the first film.
The reason Aliens did so well is because Cameron made it an action movie rather than a horror movie. We all knew how 1 alien looked like from the first movie, so he threw in MANY aliens along with a scary surprise (The queen alien). The action in Alien 3 was somewhat limited compared to the second one. It did not have many surprises to share aside from the faster DOG alien. The Special Edition was excellent as it included an awesome alien birth sequence (from an OX). The sequence clearly shows how this monster is very different from the others. It also briefly reveals the Super Face Hugger for the first time. These elements should have been kept in and I don't know why it was left out.
For those of you interested, I'll mention this now: I liked Aliens the most. Alien comes in a VERY close 2nd place. Alien 3 comes in at 3rd place and Alien Resurrection comes in at a very distant 4th place.