Alien³

The Alien franchise is remarkable for the fact that every director has made his mark on his episode. Scott's imagination and Cameron's belligerence have been replaced by the heavy blanket of depression master David Fincher. Welcome to the bleak world of ex-convicts from which there is no escape. The third episode is not worse than the previous two, it’s just different. (12/04/2003)

As an audio-visually powerful, toned-down, existential drama about seeking forgiveness and God in a God-forsaken place, this movie is excellent, but half way through it’s like out of nowhere Fincher remembers (or more likely the producers forced him to remember) that he is filming the new Alien and not a sci-fi adaptation of something by Dostoyevsky. So, all of a sudden he forgets about everything that came before and then launches into an absolutely regular, uninventive kill-fest that loses all of the atmosphere built up in the first half. And this goes for both the regular version and the director’s cut, which is the better of the two, but just a better version of the same and not “something completely different" as many reviewers suggest. (13/01/2010)

The subject is fine, Sigourney Weaver is great as always, the magic with the camera and its lenses in the tunnels of the prison labyrinth is perfect, and the film has Fincher’s typically bold and depressing creative signature. But that somehow doesn’t bring the film to the level of which Fincher is usually capable and which would have helped Alien3 to be as impressive as its predecessor. (27/05/2002)

A hesitant chapter of alien mythology that significantly undermines the efforts of the producers. In their edit, the film is a play on effects that throws Ripley in the way of a bunch of tough guys (a la Aliens) in a depressingly themed environment (a la Alien). Although Fincher didn't direct the special edit, according to his original notes, a surprisingly more sophisticated version was created, with more references to older installments in the dialogues, exploring the gloomy planet... and the alien does not hatch from a dog. Nevertheless, I don't particularly like the third image of the Alien mosaic. Strange supporting characters, unnecessary religious subtext, and downright bad tricks cannot overshadow even the strong ending. (21/04/2005)

The last 15 minutes was the first thing I saw of the Alien saga and now, after all those years the circle finally closes. Fincher’s (probably) depressed soul made its rather significant mark on this part and even though the story is a little slow in places, there is no shortage of nerve-wracking moments. P.S.: I have never had a bigger jump-scare moment than I did during the final credits. (06/07/2009)