The weak link...

Rating: 5/10 (17 January 2016)

As much as I enjoy the "Alien" franchise, then there is of course one seed in everything that doesn't grow up to be as impressive as all the others. And in my opinion, then "Alien³" is that one 'bad seed'. While the fact that it is an "Alien" movie is good, then the movie was just hindered by some questionable choices from the writers and director David Fincher.
The concept idea for "Alien³" was alright and it did have lots of potential. However, director David Fincher just didn't fully utilize the potential that was made available for this movie. And that was a shame, because "Alien³" could have been so much more than the mediocre result that it turned out to be.
The story was just a tad too convenient, especially in the terms of writing off the Rebecca "Newt" Jorden, Corporal Dwayne Hicks and the synthetic Bishop characters. I never understood why they wrote off these characters, perhaps because none of the original performers, aside from Lance Henriksen, returned to the franchise. And also that what looked like a miniature egg had managed to get onto the space vessel was just a bit too scripted and forced. But the idea of the story taking place on a prison planet was interesting enough and had some interesting things to it.
Now, the things that did work out well enough in favor of "Alien³" was the cast, as they had managed to get some pretty good talents to star in this third movie. Sigourney Weaver is of course a given for the "Alien" movie, and alongside her were the talents of Charles Dance, Charles S. Dutton and a short voice cameo by Lance Henriksen.
What killed off "Alien³" for me was the horrible CGI effects that they used in the movie instead of a physical prosthetic puppet or something. It was so bluntly in-your-face fake and bad to look at, especially with that black outlining aura that was around it. The CGI in a movie such as this has to be believable, and trust me, it was nowhere near believable in "Alien³".
I will say that the alien creature design was interesting, as it deviated a lot from the creature design of the 1979 and 1986 movies. And that was in itself a refreshing change of pace for the franchise. Just a shame it was so poorly brought to the screen by some very questionable CGI effects.
"Alien³" is enjoyable enough if you enjoy the "Alien" franchise, but the movie in itself a weak addition to the franchise. I am rating "Alien³" a mediocre five out of ten stars.