Poor Successor to Alien and Aliens

Rating: Null/10 (9 October 2011)

When I was younger, Alien 3 was my favorite entry in the Alien series. Its grim tone and religious symbolism struck my adolescent mind as deep, while its ending provided a fitting conclusion to the series. Seeing it recently, I found that while the film offered early insight into the talent of David Fincher, it is ultimately deeply flawed. . The third Alien film finds Sigourney Weaver stranded on a prison planet after a mysterious fire on the Sulaco. Her suspicions are soon confirmed when a xenomorph begins slaughtering the prisoners. However, an even graver threat lurks on the planet, far closer than Ripley can imagine.
The film has a number of flaws in both the pacing and characterization. Ripley's behavior in the first thirty to forty-five minutes of the film is inexplicable, as she refuses to tell anyone of her concern that an alien is on the planet. Instead, she makes bizarre requests of the prison staff, wanders around dangerous inmates obliviously, and acts shocked when the prison staff concludes she is nuts. This contradicts the resourceful, intelligent Ripley of previous films, and causes the first half of the film to drag.
Furthermore, Ripley goes through several sidekicks in the course of the film, with the end result that none of them are adequately fleshed out. Although the actors playing them, particularly Charles Dutton, do well, they have very little to work with. Even the special effects are lacking. Although the Alien suit and puppetry effects work as well as they did in earlier films, Alien 3 adds in computer effects that have dated badly over the past twenty years. (The Special Edition available on DVD is even worse, with bargain basement computer animation added in for deleted scenes.)
The film does have some good points. Sigourney Weaver maintains her strong characterization of Ripley, while the supporting cast largely does well with their roles. Also, the film maintains a strikingly grim feel for a big budget studio picture, an early sign of David Fincher's distinctive vision. The soundtrack is also good, giving the film an almost operatic feel. However, these good points are undermined by the film's glaring flaws.