Every Alien Movie - Ranked From Worst To Best

Alien 3 is usually remembered more for the large amount of behind-the-scenes troubles it had on its way to the big-screen, rather than the actual film itself.

But maybe that's because those troubles are directly reflected by the film itself. It feels like it was cobbled together hastily, and doesn't always adhere to its own rules.

All the action is basically bald men running through corridors; the Xenomorph is shown moving extremely quickly, yet some people are able to outrun it; some of the CG effects (like the birth of the Runner Alien) are shaky; Newt and Hicks, two fan-favourites, are killed right off the bat, apparently because the movie didn't know what to do with them; and after Aliens showcased dozens and dozens of Xenomorphs, scaling it back to just a single one feels far less scary.

There are positives to be found, though. Sigourney Weaver is on fine form as Ripley, first-time director David Fincher shows flashes of that brilliance he'd later develop fully, and Elliot Goldenthal's score is chilling. Alien 3 has many solid parts don't quite come together.

But on the whole, it's messy and uninteresting. The various inmates of the prison will blur together to the point that you won't even know who's being killed and who's still alive - so it's hard to care - and the whole thing feels like a sub-par version of Scott's original.