Dismal and unrewarding

Rating: 2/10 (6 November 2004)

I was really looking forward to this film, having been a fan of both the original series of films. Sadly, it was incredibly disappointing, and I found myself laughing with embarrassment rather than either scared and/or entertained. The plot is incredibly contrived, relies on unnecessary exposition and tries too hard to pander to both fanboys and a new audience and instead ends up satisfying neither. The dialogue is utterly appalling, delivered with no emotion whatsoever, the acting is dire and you really don't care about any of the characters (I can't remember any of the their names).
The utter ridiculousness of it all ends up making it collapse under it's own weight. These people are supposed to be in minus whatever degrees Antarctica and end up running around in little more than a t-shirt and don't even show any hot breath escaping from their mouths or noses. Little details like that do not allow you to suspend your disbelief so it just ends up flat and unrewarding.
The special effects were good however, and this is really the only saving grace of the movie. But Matrix style flo-mo shots of face huggers leaping were a bad call and I burst out laughing at that point. These guys are supposed to be scary and damn *fast*, not suspended in space and rotating around the camera!
This was a dismal, uninspiring film that had neither scares nor shocks and will leave you cold (pun intended).