Aliens vs. Predators: Ranking The Films From Worst To Best
5. Alien 3 (1992)
For some fans, the Alien franchise ends with 1986's Aliens and those fans have every right to feel that way. Mere moments into David Fincher's sequel, the events of Aliens and the struggle Ripley went through are rendered moot as Hicks and Newt are killed and Bishop is left irreparably damaged. Understandably, by spitting in the face of James Camerons excellent story and the characters it gave birth to, Alien 3 immediately alienated its invested audience and earned itself perpetual scorn. But strip away the opening and one will find that the rest of the film is surprisingly solid. In stark contrast to its predecessors, the film offers a much bleaker visual pallet, full of warm colors, grime and smoke and an infusion of general glumness, using its setting in the penal colony to mirror the hopelessness of Ripleys journey through the series. Despite the well-documented studio interference, Fincher at least pulls off the feat of giving the film its own unique visual and thematic identity. Alien 3 is not as tense or gripping to watch as the original film or as fun and exciting as Aliens, but its attempt at shaking up the franchise to keep it from becoming formulaic is noble and it offers some neat twists, such as the Xenomorph adopting traits of its host, the use of POV shots from the creatures perspective and how it interacts with Ripley. Despite everything shed gone through in the films, Ripleys journey comes to a close in a big bummer ending, which hasnt pleased and will continue to not please a lot of people, but its that exact mindset that sets it apart from its predecessors and helps define itself as the underrated film that it is.
Writer, film enthusiast, part-time gamer and watcher of (mostly) good television located on the fringe of Los Angeles, who now has his own website at www.highdefgeoff.com!
