A masterpiece of subtext, audience manipulation, and the perfect continuation of the Saga

Rating: 10/10 (10 February 2000)

This is the film that tips the Alien Saga into the shadow of the valley of death - _Alien Resurrection_ chronicles climbing free of this valley; neither are easy films, compared to the first two. Good that Fox didn't take the easy way out and instead sought novelty with each installment.
As Sigourney Weaver hirself commented at the time, _Alien3_ subtextually addresses AIDS. There are many clues to this, and figuring out the puzzle can add to one's enjoyment of the film (just as figuring out A4's puzzles can do likewise). It's almost like a psychic game being played on the audience: it's difficult to "progress" emotionally into a liking of the film until one spends the requisite effort.
(SPOILERS?)
Clues to the AIDS subtext include the prisoners' noted celibacy, the needle imagery, the excessive bloodiness (the creature is a blood monster), that the creature emerged from a dog that had brutal oral sex with an Alien, the large body count; and especially one scene in which two prisoners run into each other in the tunnels, whereupon one chastises the other for holding a pair of scissors point-out ("You could kill somebody you moron") - this scene makes no sense ordinarily, seeming like a comic overreaction, but becomes intelligible when realised to be symbolic of needlestick accidents.
This is a film about sickness, and it did its level best to make the audience, and especially Alien fans, feel that sickness with their very being. Favourite characters killed off immediately, this endless cycle of hopelessness, a melodramatic joke or poignant coda of an ending (hinging on one's interpretation)...as James Cameron said: "Alien3 s**t on the audience". Exactly. A morbidly effective film, as was _Alien Resurrection_. Not surprising that so many gung-ho action freaks disliked it: it's a film about disease and rape and loss, where we learn there are no happy endings. Yikes!
Amusing also that many people open-minded enough to appreciate _Alien3_ repugn _Alien Resurrection_. Give 'em a few more years I suppose. All four films in the Saga are brilliant in their difference as much as their continuity, and I only look forward to a fifth entry.