Better Than You Might Think

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2001)

When I heard that Alien3 was coming out, I was thrilled. The first two films had blown me away. The creeping terror of Alien and the slam-bang action of Aliens, together with the amazing humanity and depth of the Ripley character had me completely hooked and eager for much, much more. When Alien3 reached theaters, I was there opening night. When it was all over, though, I felt let down. I wasn't sure why - I just felt like something wasn't quite right. The effects were good, the sets were dark and ominous, and the acting was great, but for some reason, I just didn't get into it.
A few years went by and I eventually was given a set of all three Alien films on VHS. After watching the first two (including the deleted scenes from Aliens), I decided to give Alien3 another chance. After watching it again, it was clear to me that I had missed something the first time through. As the guns-blazing style of Aliens had been a wild but satisfying departure from the relentless, helpless terror of Alien, Alien3 took off in a completely new direction and served to underscore the central themes of the series - the destruction of everything Ripley cares about by her accidental association with the monster, and the fact that the titular Aliens aren't evil - humans are. We're shown Ripley, who lost her daughter and everyone she ever knew at the beginning of Aliens but seemed to have found new hope with Hicks and Newt, once again losing it all in the first moments of the film. She had escaped once again, only to be plunged back into the darkness. After seeing Alien3, the scene in Alien in which she argues with Captain Dallas at the airlock becomes incredibly poignant - the moment Ash disobeys her order to quarantine Kain, Ripley's life is destroyed. Wherever she runs, it will find her. Whatever she loves, it will take.
This leads to the second point, conveyed extremely well by Alien3. The aliens are not evil. They simply are. They kill to survive and to grow. They follow their biological imperatives. They adapt any environment they come in contact with to better suit them, and they survive. The evil in the Alien series has always been human. It is the Corporation, which ruthlessly and heartlessly sacrifices anything - equipment, facilities, lives - in order to make money. A group of murderers, rapists, and irretrievable criminal scum has more regard for the sanctity of life than the Corporation ever could.
Alien3 is darker and slower than other Alien films, and is very different from those that proceeded it, but I believe it is in many ways, a more rewarding film than its counterparts in many ways. We see the humanity and fragility of Ripley more in this film than in others. We see the true extent of the horror and destruction wrought on her life by the Corporation's plotting. In the end, we see the sacrifice necessary to stop the evil from being spread. Ripley confronts her demons directly and by opposing, ends them. In this, we see how Alien3 is wonderfully different from the other films - Alien was horror/suspense. Aliens was action/thriller. Alien3 is tragedy, and a very well crafted one at that.