disappointing, bleak...

Rating: 3/10 (16 July 2010)

...in comparison to the first two. As it's own movie this is a good concept and could have worked much better without the Alien franchise. The prison setting, these brutish characters and a sense of entrapment all lend well to a horror/thriller. But taking these established characters; Newt and Hick's, then dispensing of them in this film, was such a slap to the audience and renders Ripley's heroism pointless in Aliens! I understand they were trying for a different, bleaker tone; they succeeded, but it was just *too* bleak for me. The relationship set up between Ripley and Clemens was frankly all i could care about; (the other characters seemed so dislikeable I wanted them to end up as Alien fodder)and when Clemens is killed off barely an hour into the film I struggled to watch on. The struggle worsened when we learn that Ripley is carrying one of the Aliens herself, so how is an audience supposed to believe she can survive this, and how are we supposed to root for her survival when she is already condemned to death? By this point i was totally disengaged from all the characters so didn't care about the film at all. A few things that might appeal about this film though; it's got a grittiness that lacks perhaps in the former films. Some sort of realism that is successful and an atmosphere and lighting which does it's job well.
I just get the feeling they were trying for an idea which failed in this film. It seems like it could have been something great, but wasn't. I would say go into this film without Alien and Aliens in mind, but that's entirely impossible and that's why it's such a disappointment to me.