Not quite the disaster that everybody claims it is

Rating: 8/10 (17 March 2019)

Alien3 has long been the unloved child of the Alien franchise, and has had some pretty scathing reviews since its release 25 years ago. The troubled production is by now well documented, which included script changes, rewrites, sackings, walk-offs and the director disowning the movie. This as a shame, because I think that with what he had to contend with, David Fincher didn't make a bad movie at all, especially the Assembly Cut version (which he didn't have anything to do with), which is superior to the Theatrical Version
Alien3 suffers from being a direct sequel to its predecessor, the wildly entertaining and action-filled 'Aliens', which took Ridley Scott's original premise, and expanded it, changed direction, added more lore and more everything. Alien3 changes direction and tone again, foregoing the gung-ho, weapons-filled action for a bleak, gothic movie whose central theme seems to be hopelessness. I don't think that audiences expected this and were disappointed that there weren't even more guns, and even more aliens than the previous installment. On first viewing back in 1993, I shared this disappointment, but over the years I have warmed to Alien3.
The mainly British cast is superb, which includes the likes of Charles Dance, Brian Glover, Pete Postlethwaite and Paul McGann. The prison planet where Ripley finds herself after crash-landing is a beautifully designed, bleak mix of post-apocalyptic industry and gothic architecture.
The special effects haven't aged quite as well and the CGI alien is pretty fake looking. The close up "man in a suit" or puppet shots work better, and the alien design is a nice variant, suggesting that the creature takes on some of the characteristics of its host.
This movie will never satisfy many people, and that is their right, but for me, Alien3 is underrated and under appreciated.