Could be worse, could be raining...

Rating: 10/10 (10 May 2003)

This movie is a mixed bag. The first two had an organized structure of building up suspense, then throwing us shocks and action. This one takes a different route, being more a typical action movie. Unfortunately, too much time is spent in between with the problems of "Fury" 161 that the Xenomorph takes a backseat to the underplayed drama for the first hour. The brooding nature of the film seems to take the attitude from the first two of "things are only getting worse" to an extreme. (Some Spoilers)
The directing style is not as flashy as the first one, but more creative than how Cameron was in ALIENS, that's probably the best compliment I can give this movie. However, I do have some rants:
1) Why do the plots keep getting more and more ridiculous with each movie.
2) The CGI Alien just isn't that effective. It looks fake, plain and simple. The inventiveness of the effects from the first two are glossed over so instead of goth, we get gloss. Also the Alien POV shots just don't work that well. Call me an old-school skeptic, but I liked the puppets and suits from the first two, at least they improved on the design (somewhat) for this...
3) Why did Chuck Dutton have to get killed? I'd rather he was the only survivor because he at least had some depth to him.
However, this movie could have been so much worse, but it also could have been worse. I place no blame on David Fincher's shoulders for the results and, instead, lay it on the newcomers in the series--Vincent Ward and Larry Ferguson. Sorry guys, but you really messed up this time.
Overall, 3 out of 5. Stick with the first two, avoid the 4th!