Alien 3 (1992)

Director: David Fincher
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S Dutton, Charles Dance

Synopsis:
Ripley is the sole survivor when her escape pod crash-lands near a run-down prison colony, but things take a turn for the worst when a new xenomorph emerges.

Impressions:
Alien 3 is a contested sequel and rightly so. Even the director wasn't happy with how it turned out, but the rubbish heap that is Alien: Resurrection does make it look better by comparison. I'm tempted to call canon discontinuity and just imagine a happier continuation where Aliens left off, but I really don't mind this one so much. It's well-shot, with a good setting and some pretty good performances to pull it off. There are plenty of things I can quibble about, but I can appreciate this film trying to capture the feel of the original. The whole AIDS allegory is whatever. Going back to the performances, Sigourney Weaver is consistently good as Ripley, but I want to give particular notice to Charles S Dutton as the spiritual leader of the convicts. Also worth noting is Charles Dance as medical officer Clemens and Brian Glover as Andrews the warden. You may not find the convicts as sympathetic as the cast from the previous two movies and I wouldn't blame you for it, so that may result in you feeling slightly less invested. (Depending on how you feel about things, the fallacious notion that XYY individuals have a preponderance for violent criminal activity may be offensive to you. Whether it's a dealbreaker or not depends on your sensitivity.) While the special effects are generally good, there is some spotty comping of the xenomorph puppet.

Don't expect this movie to stack up to the previous two, but if you can look past that, it's still worth seeing. I haven't seen the assembly cut, but I have read through the chopped up script with all the mutually exclusive scenes representing the alternate version of the story. I can't comment on it in any great depth or make a specific recommendation.

Rating:
Watch It