Unfairly judged.

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2008)

Alien 3 was given the unfortunate situation of preceding two ground-braking films. The first redefined what we'd come to expect from the horror genre and the second did the same with the action genre. The third had high expectations and ultimately failed to meet them. That is not to say its a bad movie though.
Alien 3 assembles just as strong of a cast as the first two. With a good mix of both American and British talent. The British actors outshine the American ones, with only Charles S. Dutton really sticking out amongst the American bunch. The Alien now resembles a four legged animal, but unfortunately loses a lot of its scare by being computer generated a lot of the time. In my opinion that is the largest fault of the movie. The movie is saved by the strong cast and their relationships with each other. Some don't get much screen time or much of a character but the ones who stick around till the end are the most interesting anyway. There are some powerful scenes in this movie which stick with you and its thanks to the excellent cast. You'd be best off getting the Special addition of this movie as it fleshes out a few more of the characters and clears a few others things. You'll still do well seeing the regular cut though.
Artistically the movie is more impressive than the previous two. Thanks must go to Fincher and his dark style of atmosphere and storytelling. Why he dismisses this film is beyond me, not his best film but nothing to be ashamed of. All film makers have their ups and downs and this is definitely one of Finchers downs but because of the sheer quality of his other films it shouldn't be seen as bad in any way.
Its safe to say this movie might not be for everyone. Its dark, violent and a much different beast from what we saw in "Aliens". But pay attention to whats on screen and you may think differently than most.
8/10