Believe it or not, I had never seen Alien 3 in my life. But with all the buzz around Alien: Romulus, I figured I would check out this controversial movie that also just so happens to be the directorial debut of David Fincher. I could only get access to the theatrical cut, not the Assembly Cut, which is said to be far better, so this review will be reflective of that.

I feel like Alien 3 is The Last Jedi of this franchise. In that, it kind of reconned a lot of what came before it in order to suit its own narrative beats. In this case, it completely dunks on the ending of Aliens by killing off Hicks, Newt, and Bishop in the opening moments of the film and making Ripley the host of an unborn Xenomorph. If this was the first entry in the series, then it would not be a bad setup, to be honest. But Aliens is so iconic and beloved that taking away the emotional payoff of James Cameron’s film only serves to start this film off with a bad taste in your mouth, one that leads to confusion and resentment. It almost comes across as punishment for liking Cameron’s entry, which was more action-focused than its predecessor.

A few weeks or months after the events of Aliens, Ripley finds her ship crash-landed on Fiorina “Fury” 161, a prison colony filled with violent men serving out their sentences. One positive thing I can say about Alien 3 is that the film looks great. The set design is awesome and the colour correction and ambience are really good, using a rusted orange aesthetic that contrasts boldly with the grey-blue tones of the first two films. I also like that the film went back to having only one Xenomorph, as opposed to the horde that was in the previous film. Less is more when it comes to scary monsters. And while the practical effects and creature design are great, the latter once again created by H.R. Giger, the CGI model alien running across the sets looks janky and hilariously dated. It’s a shame they opted to use a digital alien, as the first two got by just fine using practical effects only for the Xenomorphs.

It should be no secret by now that there was quite a bit of studio interference with Alien 3, so much so that Fincher has publically disowned it. There were so many script revisions and writers coming and going on the project that feels a bit all over the place, without a central focus. The end result is a pretty thin plot, which is a shame as Ripley coming to terms with her own mortality is an interesting idea, but one the film barely explores. The ending chase/hunt scene, where the inmates try to trap the Xenomorph, goes on for far too long and despite having one Xenomorph running around, it’s not a scary movie, despite the heightened gore. There are certainly a lot of ideas going on in Alien 3 and they’re not per se bad ideas, it’s just in execution, it wasn’t done particularly well and led to a frustrating viewing experience.

There’s an extensive cast here, but most of them are essentially there to act as red shirts, especially for the trapping scene. I couldn’t tell you anyone’s name apart from Clemens, played by Game of Thrones’ Charles Dance, who’s the only character really worth paying attention to, which is a shame considering the film features and wastes the late great Pete Postlethwaite, a well as Charles S. Dutton, and even a very young Holt McCallany.

In the end, Alien 3 felt like a bit of a letdown, not because the movie was poorly made, but because there was clearly a vision here that was thrown into the mud and mixed in with a slew of other ideas. The end result was muddled and incohesive, but there are moments of brilliance peaking through the mud. Hopefully, I can be afforded the opportunity to watch the Assembly Cut and compare the two versions, if so, stay tuned for an article on that.