I think the third movie was the first one I did not watch in the theater. I didn't remember reacting to what happened to Newt and Hicks, but I found the movie dreary. Later, I imagined that they could have set it in something like a space city, with all protagonists alive and involved in political intrigue, and then found out later that one script--by Gibson--was supposed to offer similar.
From there, I had a similar reaction to the rest of the features.