The third act in the Alien series brings nothing new to it.

Rating: 4/10 (15 February 2007)

Alien^3 is a textbook example of how too much studio control can destroy a potentially decent film. After the massive success of Aliens, the studio wanted yet another film to bring in more profit. That makes perfect sense to me. If you have a good thing going then why not milk it? But here's the problem: Aliens ended with very little wiggle room in which to make another film. For all intents and purposes, it was the end of the story. As Alien^3 went through various drafts, the numerous writers attempted to bring new things into the story regarding the aliens. For example, William Gibson's screenplay had the idea of the aliens having an alternate means of reproduction via spores. A very neat idea, mind you, and the descriptions of the transformations in the script would've made for very horrific imagery on film.
Unfortunately, Alien^3 decided to throw any good ideas out the window and magically place an alien egg aboard our heroes' ship, despite the fact that in the previous film we are shown that the Queen has left her eggs at the hive.
And I'm just getting warmed up.
Another common gripe about Alien^3 is the death of the characters Newt and Hicks. Many fans of the film felt that it was necessary and that it helped eliminate the "happy ending" of Aliens. I personally don't think it was a bad idea to kill off the characters, except that it was executed poorly on screen. Their deaths carried no meaning other than to forcefully make Ripley a fish out of water again. Not only that, but Newt and Hicks (who were engaging characters) are replaced by uninteresting stock characters who serve no other purpose than to be cannon fodder. Now the previous two films had their share of cannon fodder, but they at least left you wondering who exactly was going to die. Example: few suspected that Ripley would be the sole survivor of Alien.
Lastly, people complain that Alien^3 was nothing more than a retread of the original film. That's very true. Except that, unlike Alien, this film didn't work. Instead we are treated to a rather formulaic slasher-like storyline. The ending is one of the few parts that truly work and it serves as an excellent bookend to the series.
Director David Fincher, who was unfortunately reduced to the level of studio puppet, does manage to save the film with his talent in creating a moody atmosphere. One can only wonder how much better this film might have been had he been given a greater amount of control.
Alien^3 could best be described as "the great sequel that never was". Given a more interesting script and more control on the director's part, this film could've been at least as good as it's predecessors. Fortunately, Fox took a step in the right direction with Alien Resurrection by having entertaining characters and a more original story.