A fitting end to a great sci-fi series !!! (Resurrection doesn't exist in my world)

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2016)

'Alien³' is the 3rd film in the Alien film franchise and undoubtedly the one which is hated by fans the most. It is directed by David Fincher and the screenplay written by David Giler, Walter Hill and Larry Ferguson is based on a story idea by Vincent Ward. After escaping from LV-426, the escape vessel carrying Ripley crashes onto a remote ore refinery named Fiorina "Fury" 161 which is also a penal colony. It is soon established that the reason for the crash of the escape vehicle could be an alien stowaway which could have landed with her on this colony. The prisoners on this colony who embraced an apocalyptic, millenarian version of Christianity initially are cold towards Ripley, but gradually they grasp the danger that confronts them and they start working with Ripley for surviving.
After watching Alien³, I have come to the conclusion that the only reason why fans and some critics criticised and hated this film so much was because after Cameron's 'Aliens', they were expecting more of the same and weren't ready for something so bleak, so nihilistic and so radically different. I am aware that the production for this film was chaotic and it was so stressful for David Fincher, that he ended up walking away after the shooting ended without supervising the post-production and he has in the subsequent years disowned the film citing reasons of unrestricted studio interference. But even after acknowledging all that, I was really impressed by this film. Yes it has some flaws with the plot, but overall it is my 2nd favourite in the series after Scott's original.
My review will be entirely based on the Assembly Cut. The first and foremost thing that I noticed was that this was a throwback to the smaller,more contained filmmaking of the first film departing from the bigger, grander, blockbuster elements employed by Cameron. We again revert back to one single Xenomorph and the element of claustrophobia instead of the army and war elements of 'Aliens'. This is not an action film, instead it is atmospheric horror with clear and apparent biblical themes and Fincher successfully managed to distinguish this from earlier films. The great aspect of the entire Alien series is that every film distinguishes itself from the other and creates its own identity instead of wallowing in repetition like so many other fan-loved film franchises are guilty of.
The film instantly kills off Newt and Hicks and introduces us to ragged, dirty prisoners and criminals in a penal colony and these reasons have been upheld by many fans to justify their hate for the film. But I admire the fact that they decided to go for such a risky move which could have easily annoyed the fans which it clearly did in the end. I like this story decision because another film with Ripley, Newt and Hicks at the forefront would have only led to more of the same and we would have had another shoot em'up Aliens-esque blockbuster. Instead we got something more.
The film has religious themes at its backbone. 'Alien³' in a way is about the second coming of Christ. The film is about redemption. All the prisoners on Fiorina "Fury" 161 are murderers and rapists who have embraced religion and they're waiting for God's judgement, redemption and a new beginning. Ripley comes into this prison and gradually becomes the person that allows the prisoners achieve some sort of redemption. She becomes the Christ figure in the prison. I think this is the film in the series where Sigourney Weaver gives her best performance as Ripley. She is at her absolute lowest here and conveys the mental struggle perfectly through her expressions as well as her physical appearance. Ripley's death in the end was I believe the last nail in the coffin which completely alienated 'Alien³' from most of the fan base. But for me it is the perfect end for a fantastic, strong character. In a true Christ-like way she sacrifices herself to save humanity from evil and from humanity's own sins of greed.
All the actors in the film give great performances alongside Sigourney Weaver, but I'll give a special mention to Charles S. Dutton and Charles Dance. Although this was Fincher's first film, but you can clearly see his stamp and his artistic vision all over the film. He creates this brilliantly dark and bleak atmosphere. I noticed his trademark fast editing strategies which always makes his films extremely fast paced even when they are very long. The film looks fantastic just like every other David Fincher film.
There certainly are some flaws here. I thought the screenplay once or twice went into cliché territory and became a little unreasonable. I also thought the CGI used for the wide angle shots of the Xenomorph did not work at all.
But even after considering these flaws, I was still impressed by 'Alien³' and for me this film marks the spiritual ending of Ripley's amazing story. 'Alien:Resurrection' for me is an unnecessary film that was made just to earn some money. I conclude by saying 'Alien³' is a very impressive film with great themes and great characters and in my opinion it gets hated and panned by fans and critics for all the wrong reasons.