The "Alien" series had been a series that had become a great financial success for 20th Century Fox. After the success of "Aliens," the studio was eager to get a third film in the works. Thus they hired David Fincher to direct the third installment that found Ellen Ripley on the prison planet Fury 161.
There are a lot of mixed emotions toward this sequel and I even find my own opinion to be quite mixed. This film, like it's predecessors, is different.
"Alien 3" does return to the single alien that the first film became known for. The twist this time is the extremely rustic planet Ripley is on. There are no weapons or any means of self-defense. Ripley has trouble finding even fire.
There are several plot points I appreciated about this film. The first is the 'post-apocalyptic' feel that this film had. There was a sense of mistrust and the need for survival that made even other people a threat to each other as well as the alien. I liked that the alien came from an ox instead of a human host. It made the alien different, such as being a quadriped and extrememly quick on it's feet. My favorite aspect of this film was the queen dwelling in Ripley's chest.
Earlier on in the film Ripley had an encounter with the alien but was not killed. It was soon discovered that the alien knew that a queen was inside of her. This gave Ripley a sense of immunity from the alien that she used to her advantage. On the flip side, we knew this could end only one way: Ripley's death.
I really like that Ripley met her end in this movie. The notion that she kept waking up at the beginning of each movie to a new terror was getting old albeit still believable. It was about time to finish that idea.
On the negative side, I felt this film was a half hour too long. I feel this film could have benefited from a shorter run time. It could have also benefited from a smaller cast. At times I even felt like there were more people than they knew how to kill.
This film was incredibly talky at times. I found the first hour to be necessary explaining the deaths of Newt and Corporal Hicks as well as Ripley's grief that Newt died. I found myself intrigued with Ripley's insistence that an autopsy be done on Newt due to her fear that an alien could be dwelling inside her. After that autopsy the film took a religious turn.
A lot of the exposition was preachy and overly religious and I thought that the behavior of the inmates contradicted the religion they were practicing.
While this story did advance the plot of the "Alien" series, it was nowhere near as good as it's predecessors and therefore recommend you rent it.
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