Alien Resurrected

Rating: Null/10 (1 September 2017)

Answering a distress call on an unfamiliar planet, a space crew are hunted by aliens who use human bodies to breed in this Ridley Scott sci-fi thriller. The film is often atmospheric and the special effects are as expected good, but marketed as both a sequel to 'Prometheus' and a prequel to 'Alien', this entry suffers from trying too hard to fit under both banners. There are quite a few alien attacks, but the action does not begin until over 45 minutes and it is seldom anything new or original. The characters are also fleshed out in such little depth that it is hard to get emotionally invested in their struggle to survive. The 'Prometheus'-like elements work better with acute creator and creation themes and a glimpse into androids trying philosophise their purpose beyond serving humanity, but this is very much in the backdrop as the alien attacks become more and more rampant. The vast planet setting additionally lacks the intense spaceship claustrophobia a la 'Alien' and 'Aliens' and absent are the themes of human irresponsibility that made the earlier entries so potent with characters whose doom is brought on by corporate greed, venturing into worlds where humans do not belong and so forth. The film is certainly never boring and Michael Fassbender makes the most of his dual role, but it is easy to see why this was not the sequel that many die-hard fans wanted.