Welcome back to my series of Alien reviews! I'm reviewing every film in the sci-fi franchise, twice a week until May 19th, which marks the release of Alien: Covenant. Today, we're diving into Alien3 or Alien 3 or Alien Cubed maybe. Alien 3 was the first ever film to be helmed by David Fincher, who of course went on to make several modern classics such as Fight Club, Seven and The Game. Fincher HATES this movie. He hated working on it and especially the final product. The whole production history of this picture is actually really fascinating. Chris Stuckmann and Matt Brando did recently did an outstanding video which I will link here: https://youtu.be/q_r6AWJRV38 In Alien 3, the ship Newt, Hicks, Bishop and Ripley were in at the end of Aliens, crashes on a prison planet, which kills Bishop, Newt ans Hicks, so already nobody knows how to feel. The entirety of the last movie has been rendered obsolete in the first 5 minutes. Regardless, Ripley is recovered on Shawshank planet, which is full of religious men. There are no women on this planet, so when Ripley arrives, it makes them all a little uncomfortable. Not only are there no weapons, but there's also no weapons, which is really stupid. A prison planet with no weapons at all? Ridiculous. That was actually Sigourney Weaver (Ellen Ripley)'s idea. As awesome as she is, we have her to blame for this decision. She's very anti-gun you see. Back to the story, an alien has of course tagged along and Ripley and the gang of prisoners need to take it down. The Xenomorph is birthed from a dog this time around, which is a cool concept. It opens the door for other types of Xenomorphs to be out there. Like what if a Xenomorphh came out of a cow, or a bird! Or a bee! Speaking of birds and bees (horrible suegway I know, but it's not like I'm getting paid for this.), Ripley has a relationship with a doctor played by Paul McCann and its not anywhere near as compelling as her relationship with Hicks or Newt. My favorite character is Dillon, played by Charles S. Dutton. He's kind of like leader of the prisoners and has some truly cool scenes. There's an awesome scene where he beats up some rapists with a lead pipe. Ripley is bald in this one, and she looks better in this than she ever has and ever will. Ripley, other than her look, isn't quite as badass as she is on the other films. She's perfectly fine, but she's largely overshadowed by Dillon. The Xenomorph effects are generally solid, until the last 20 minutes. In the final section, there are some borderline horrible effects. It becomes so apparent that it's just a puppet on a blue screen and it's actually kind of insulting, as it looked so flawless in the last two movies. There's some really cheap P.O.V. (point of view) shots towards the end, which is ridiculous when you take into account who the director is. Fincher is way above using a cheap gimmick like that. On the bright side, depending who you ask, this one is gorier than the previous entries. Plenty of glorious and graphic little moments. Especially the fan scene. The Alien birth from the dog is another favorite of mine. The ending (although it's been rendered irrelevant) is executed well enough and the CAT scan scene is neat. The whole movie, but especially the ending, bwats you over the head with religious symbolism, making you wonder if Zack Snyder was behind it. In the end, Alien 3 is fine and has a good score, some cool moments here and there, and an awesome looking Ripley, but it is nowhere near as fun as the last two. It's alright of you like the franchise, but all-in-all, it's nothing that special. GRADE: C Thank you all for reading. If you have thoughts and suggestions you can contact me on Instagram at @mrGabeThomas, on Twitter at @GabeDamien or email me at gabetheguy12@gmail.com. Thanks for reading and as always, take care and stay scared.
