All 8 Alien movies ranked from worst to best

6. Alien 3

Released in 1992, Alien 3 marks the third movie in the franchise, as evidenced by the title. It was helmed by David Fincher in what was actually his feature film directorial debut. Fincher is one of my favorite directors, but I think it’s safe to say Alien 3 is not one of his best movies. Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Ellen Ripley in the third installment and is joined by Charles Dance, Charles S. Dutton, Brian Glover, and others in the cast.

In the third movie, Ripley ends up on a prison planet called Fiorina “Fury” 161 which is inhabited by all-male, violent inmates and the staff members. Things become even more complicated when we find out that she unintentionally brings a Xenomorph along with her who starts killing everyone. Ripley must fight to survive once again and alongside the surviving prisoners hunts down the alien.

While Alien 3 definitely looks very good, the storyline feels a bit incohesive, which is likely because of all of the production issues and rewrites the movie faced. Fincher takes a darker route with the film, which I particularly like, but the moody atmosphere and vibes he creates still don’t make up for the messy plot.

Fincher has spoken out about his negative experience directing the film, and in a 2019 interview with The Guardian admitted that he “hates” Alien 3. “I had to work on it for two years, got fired off it three times and I had to fight for every single thing,” he shared. “No one hated it more than me; to this day, no one hates it more than me.”

I absolutely don’t hate Alien 3, but it’s one of the weaker installments in the franchise, for sure.