Alien 3 proves that too much of a good thing leads to stupidity.

Rating: 5/10 (24 February 2018)

'Alien' is simply the best horror sci-fi of all time. 'Aliens' is one of the best sequels ever. Poor old Alien 3 had some hard luck, especially when your predecessors are that amazing. Essentially, this is a boring mess that tried too hard to be "out there". Y'know, so bold in certain plot twists that it wanted people to talk about it forever. Oh we talk about it all right...! Ripley crash lands on a maximum security prison filled with predominately white British men who are murderers, rapists and child molesters (hang on...we aren't all that bad!). A face hugger was on board, it implants an embryo and the whole thing starts again. Replicating the same narrative as 'Alien' but removing every horror aspect and injecting plenty of weird twists that just aren't executed correctly. Thinly written script, boring characters, no substance, blah blah blah. The dialogue just exists because it had to. It never progressed the story in an interesting way, in fact it was highly forgettable. Brave decisions were embedded into the narrative that seemed...out of character? I'm not too bothered by the ending, underwhelming sure, but the really annoying choice was for Ripley to fraternise with a prisoner. You've now just turned the most badass female heroine in cinema history into a tool. Me no likely! The effects are severely dated, especially when the Xenomorph is on screen. The editing on the theatrical cut was horrendously abysmal. I just felt nothing for this. Every director is allowed one poor film, this is Fincher's. I could see him trying, particularly during the final act where they trap the Xenomorph. The POV style and frantic action was effective, I was immersed. He utilised many inventive shots which makes me believe this isn't his fault. I still love the man. The acting was also fine, everyone perfectly did a good job especially Charles Dance. But Alien 3 just couldn't pull of the same success as the previous instalments, and for that it leaves a bitter aftertaste.