Fincher let down by tiresome script and action predictability

Rating: 4/10 (21 January 2009)

Ripley (Weaver) and her remaining crew crash land on a prison planet. As the only survivor Ripley must lead the inmates into finding an Alien that was onboard her ship.
Six years after the remarkably brilliant Aliens and new director David Fincher was assigned the huge responsibility to maintain the scientific brilliance of the Alien series and sadly (and never has the word been more appropriate) he failed. Apart from a wonderful upside down chase in the final stages, there is no experimentation, no vintage scene stealing camera sweeps and no fast flowing consistency, which would become so powerful in his future releases (Fight Club, Panic Room) Fincher is let down by the script. Vincent Ward's story is amazingly flat and obvious, a contrast to the previous two releases. Ward takes a tried and tested format of having the creature hovering around in the background with the characters on the edge of their seats. Unlike Alien and Predator where this technique worked so magnificently, there is no urgency, no scare factor and most significantly no surprise. The alien in fact doesn't even feel scary when it is on screen. It appears as a matter of fact. There is no surprise to the creation whereas in Alien we didn't know what it was and in Aliens we couldn't count how many were out there or where they were. Plus this is a complete CGI creation and an obvious one at that whereas previously it felt like the Alien was right there in front of you. Effects flew out of the window and you were there sitting on the edge waiting for the creature to steal the lives of its prey. Here there is predictability about it; this along with the Star Wars prequels is the saddest moment in Sci-Fi history.
However the film doesn't start off all too badly. The action is rolling in the credits and we glimpse some Alien activity on board Ripley's ship, leaving questions open as she crash lands. The ending, as in true Alien franchise fashion, is a sad depressing and highly dramatic turn of events. Personally I love films which don't have happy ending as they are too clichéd, there is realism to be had, which the series isn't afraid to justify.
Despite the lack of originality and the predictability, Sigourney Weaver still maintains that opinionated persona of Ripley and is one of two bright points about this third part.
Alien³ was the definitive turn in the series, the time when the Alien was no longer scary and original horror and suspense was thrown out for action convention and special effects.