Stylish but Empty (And such a disappointing third chapter)

Rating: 3/10 (6 August 2003)

(SPOILERS ALERT)
I know I'm in the minority on this, but I hated this chapter with the fire of a thousand suns. This was just such a disappointing direction for the series to go in -- I'm a huge fan of Alien and Aliens, and I walked out of Alien3 halfway through the first time I saw this, when I saw what they'd done to the lovely ending of Aliens. James Cameron made a fantastic, thrilling, pulse-pounding film with the second one, gave Ripley a well-deserved happy ending (complete with a new family) -- and this film goes and takes a dump all over it. It just seemed like a pointless and cruel choice for the series to go in.
Fincher may be a prodigiously talented director -- no argument, I'm a huge fan of his other work -- but in this case it's all overblown, overdone -- it feels more to me like a "look what I can do" film exercise than a Scifi film. I just wish the film had paid half as much attention to the script as Fincher does in setting up his shots. Fancy, too-long shots of blood spattering in slo-mo, predictable artsy shadows for the alien to lurk in, etc -- even upon rewatching this (it's taken me three times simply to make it to the end), I just didn't care, and it's obvious the filmmakers don't either. It's very cold, characters are dispatched on schedule, and oh, look at the pretty slomo.
On the good side, the acting is uniformly fine, with Weaver fantastic as always in a totally thankless role, and the cinematography is really gorgeous. People get slaughtered right and left but at least it's by candlelight.
Ultimately, what bothered me most (and still does) was Alien3's underlying humiliation of Ripley -- it was like they went out of their way to rob her of all previous happiness, then further degrade, debase, and humiliate the character until she dies a gruesome, painful and unhappy death. Um, OK. Nice ending.
Anyway, all you Fincher fans will probably throw things at me, but count me in as one of the minority who hated this. (I still love the rumor mill that says Joss Whedon's first draft of Alien Resurrection was to simply make all of Alien3 a dream. Works for me!)