Alien 3 (1992)
Synopsis
Our Alien 3 review revisits the film’s place within the Alien franchise, with William’s perspective drawn from the franchise retrospective featuring guest John.
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William's Alien 3 Review
Alien 3 is one of the most frustrating sequels in the series because it takes a story with enormous potential and makes decisions that undercut much of what worked before. I understand the idea of putting Ripley into another hostile environment. A remote prison world could be an excellent setting for horror. But the way the film begins immediately loses much of the emotional investment created by Aliens.
The treatment of established characters is a major issue for me. The previous film worked hard to make those relationships matter, and this installment discards some of that investment before the new story has even begun. I know horror movies don't owe anyone a comfortable continuation, but shocking the audience isn't automatically the same as developing the narrative.
I also don't like the film's visual atmosphere nearly as much as the first two. The prison setting is stark and drab, but it lacks the sense of oppressive mystery that made the Nostromo and the colony so effective. Too much of the environment looks open and brown, which changes the feeling of being hunted by something just beyond your view.
The creature effects are another disappointment. Some of the computer-generated imagery has aged poorly, especially alongside the practical work in the earlier films. There are moments when the alien's movement pulls me out of the story rather than making me afraid. The attempts to show action from the creature's perspective are also distracting. I don't want to experience these scenes as the xenomorph; I want to be frightened for the people trying to escape it.
There are interesting ideas about isolation, religion and hopelessness, and I can see what the filmmakers were trying to create. The problem is that I didn't find those elements compelling enough to overcome the choices surrounding them.
Alien 3 isn't devoid of ambition, but I think it takes the franchise in a direction that sacrifices much of its strength. Instead of building on a great sequel, it feels like a squandered opportunity with uneven visual effects and a story I struggled to care about.