Alien 3
Year Released: 1992
Produced By: 20th Century Fox
Type of Original Release: Theatrical
Rotten Tomatoes Score/My Grade Equivalent*: 40%/C-

Personal Experience: Alien 3 is a movie that I remember seeing the previews for and saw from the moment I saw Ripley with the xenomorph about to attack her that I had to see this movie. Naturally, since this was an "R" rated movie and I was only in middle school at the time, I had to wait until it came out on VHS. Ironically, up until before I did this review, I've never actually seen the film in it's entirety before...I've seen various parts of it and watched it several times here and there...but I never sat through the whole thing until last weekend. Although admittedly, from what I watched last weekend and what I had seen over the course of nearly 20 years, I didn't really seem to miss very much when it came to important elements.

What I liked about the movie

+: Smart Ass Ripley (with one line in particular..."This is a maximum security prison...and you don't have any weapons?!!" That line right there made me burst out in laughter, as if I could imagine hearing NC or the Cinema Snob saying that line)
+: Charles S. Dutton (he does a good job in his role and his voice reminds me of Yaphet Kotto)
+: The idea of trying to outwit the xenomorph while trying to stay alive without being armed
+: The cinematography (much like the first two films, it still does it's job well to convey atmosphere)

What pissed me off about this movie

-: There are several MAJOR inconsistencies with this movie in comparison to the first two movies. (I'd go into detail here, but I'll save that for the question segment)
-: No Hicks (BOOOO!)
-: No Newt (BOOOO! again)
-: No major showdown between Ripley and the xenomorph (in the first movie, you had the xenomorph on board the escape shuttle when Ripley had to coax it out of hiding and blow it out the hatch, in the second movie you had Ripley v. the xenomorph queen when she was in the power loader, in this movie it's basically climb the wall while "the black guy is killed off by the monster"** right before the boiling hot lead is poured into the chamber. At least when Parker was killed off in the first movie, he went out with more dignity)

Things that I am questioning after this movie

?: Inconsistency #1: How did the xenomorph queen lay an egg on the Sulaco? (first of all, the xenomorph queen had her entire reproductive tract blown to smithereens by Ripley...so unless the xenomorph queen is like a tapeworm when it comes to reproduction, it's very unlikely it would be capable of laying eggs. Secondly, how did the xenomorph queen manage to get off of the drop ship to lay that egg without being seen prior to Bishop getting skewered by its tail?)
?: Inconsistency #2: How was the face hugger able to impregnate the dog if it had already done so to Ripley (after all, it was established in the first film that after the embryo is implanted, the face hugger detaches and dies. The only way around this is if there were actually two eggs laid on the ship...but then again I refer you to Inconsistency #1)
?: Inconsistency #3: Was Ripley still alive after the chest burster came out of her...because it seemed to me that she was holding it to her bosom as she was falling into the incinerator (for that matter, how did Ripley know that the chest burster within her was a queen?)
?: What happened to the Alien ship at the end of Aliens...did it get blown up by the explosion, engulfed by the fireball it left behind? What?!! (How do we know these are the last xenomorphs in existence...and for that matter, if that IS the case...then wouldn't the xenomorph queen that Ripley was carrying have to be inseminated first before it could lay eggs...unless it's like a Cape bee)

CONCLUSION: The story in this movie is wounded and seems a bit half-assed...with several glaring inconsistencies and plotholes. Still, with that being said, putting that aside, there is still some entertainment value to be had to it and although obvious the inconsistencies in the movie, the story could conceivably work...but you have to EXPLAIN how they could happen in order for it to work. As it stands right now, the story isn't totally implausible, but it does seem hard to believe.

FINAL GRADE: C (Not nearly as good as the first two movies, but there are worse movies featuring the xenomorphs out there than this...plus it's also not the worst movie with Ripley in it either)

Next Movie Review: Alien Resurrection
Next Week's Review: New Super Mario Bros. DS

*: Grade equivalent is based on my video game review score system (a 100% fresh rating on RT = a 10.0 score on my system, basically it takes the percentage score and divides by 10)
**: I'm not a fan of this either...I think the idea of having "the black guy" getting killed off for little or no reason is stupid and at least semi-intentional in many cases.

Finally, I am in the process of setting up a page over at Inkbunny...more details about it will follow once I get settled in a little more there.