Come on guys - it's quite a good film!

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2002)

After the original 'Alien', Cameron had a hell of a job to try and better Scott. He did it though. So, newcomer David Fincher faced the most impossible task ever - to try and better 'Aliens'.
It was, and still is, hated by critics and fans alike when it was released. To be fair, I was one of them, but, in hindsight, I don't think enough credit is payed towards this film. I actually quite like it.
Lets take the original - a cast of 7, huuuuuuuge spaceship, and very limited, if any, weapons, and 1 Alien.
2nd film - massive cast so there's enough prey for the Aliens, confined spaces, LOADS of weapons, and MILLIONS of Aliens (including the Queen!)
The 3rd? it borrows the massive cast from the 2nd. throws them all together in a huuuuuuge facility, and due to the fact that it's a colony of prisoners that the action takes place in, there are no weapons really, and there's only one Alien.
So do the math - 1 Alien in a huuuuuuge place with loadsa guys with no weapons? This is a good premise to a film. This situation throws everyone in off the deep end, and they all have to improvise with whatever they have to hunt and kill the Alien. Cunning, intelligence, team work etc.
This film does the franchise justice, and to be quite frank, the franchise SHOULD have ended here!!! For God's sake, the ending was trying to end it here!!! It was a suitable epilogue for a great franchise.

Ripley of course in this installment has crash-landed in a prison. ALL MALE POPULATED too I should add!!! Oh yes, AND, she's pregnant, but not by Hicks, (cos they never got it on! Shame really!) by a face hugger, which layed an egg in her and it just happens to be the 'bitch' herself - the Queen!! So add this factor to the math, and we have a time limit before Ripley's chest explodes and all hell breaks loose....Nice!!
With all this in mind, Weaver develops Ripley's character even further, and I don't see what there's not to like... ...Of course, if you were to look at the pacing of the film, this is where it goes slightly wrong. It lacks the pace of the 2nd film, and maybe this is why people were thrown by this film.
But you have to admit, for Fincher to have come out of nowhere and have a chance to direct this film, you have to give him some credit!!! look at the films he's gone on to make - Fight Club, Se7en - he obviously had a good vision for this 'episode'.
He keeps the tone of the earlier films - it's moodily shot in the dark. The atmospheric oppression in the prison is very thick. Shadows everywhere. And there are some terrifying moments to be had. AND!!! This Alien is a slightly new breed due to the fact that it was created from a dog.
So, I am defending this film. I think it could have been better yes, but it could have been a hell of a lot WORSE!!!
6/10
Enjoy!