Started Slow, Delivered

Rating: 8/10 (5 September 2017)

It took me quite awhile to finally see this movie, especially given my love for the 2nd installment of this series -"Aliens". I finally watched it in 2 parts over this past weekend.
The first half of the movie had me skeptical. It felt formulatic and i had seen it all before, reminding me very much of Prometheus. When I was forced to turn off the movie due to life interrupting, I was not even sure i'd bother finishing it.
The following evening I decided to continue on. Glad I did. The second act delivers on quite a few levels. The xenomorph action is well done and downright scary at times. A few CGI scenes break the illusion but mostly I praise the film's treatment of the xenomorphs. In that regard as an Alien film it was quite satisfying. The homages to the original films were a welcome addition. All the while we get revelations about the origins of the xenomorphs, setting up the bridge between this film and Alien.
The characters were merely adequate. No Hudson, Ripley, or Burke level interest here but I found McBride's character and Daniels at least held my interest and I was able to root for them as they attempted to escape with their lives and battled the xenomorphs.Of course Fassbender puts in a good performance, but i would have enjoyed getting more into the human characters of the film vs the time spent fleshing out the android.
Still, considering where this franchise has been, this was better than I expected and stands alone as a good, entertaining flick. It's first and foremost a horror movie and absolutely delivers as such. It's a hard R movie folks, meant to scare, gross out, and amuse. Well done xeno scenes, attacks and deaths. While doing so it carries the story of the xenomorphs that much further, making this flick both thrilling and engaging as the second half unfolds.
Best Alien movie since "Aliens" (which let's face it will never be equaled). Perhaps on par with the original "Alien" for entertainment value if we set aside innovation and significance.