I Was Shocked

Rating: 4/10 (30 November 2017)

What could have been a decent movie is so horribly flawed by a major defect that it plays like a B movie with big-budget production. Most of the first hour is so laughable that nothing that happens subsequently can save it.
The flaw is that behavior of the mission's captain and crew are are completely implausible. On a whim, the original mission is put on hold when a potential new destination for colonization presents itself. Because the planet has a breathable atmosphere the crew lands to investigate it without any concerns whatsoever for possible hazards, biological or otherwise. At that point, I reached for DVD box to double-check. Did Ridley Scott really direct this foolishness? Unbelievable. All I could think was "Dumb and Dumber" in space.
Even without this fatal defect, the movie is nothing special. With the exception of Michael Fassbender, the acting is weak. The characters are shallow, and unlikable, and there is no thematic development whatsoever. It's just another action movie in space.
The movie goes from bad to just plain annoying - particularly the demonization of the creatures as some kind of pathological deviants. Unlike the humans the creatures behave exactly as they are supposed to, according to their design. World-class scientists would have some appreciation for this, even as they try to destroy the aliens.
But there is no sense of awe - only cries of "Let's get this motherf-----." By the end of the movie I was rooting for the aliens.
The usual big-budget production is impressive, but so what? No food for thought. Not even any artful suspense. Too bad.