Remember when...

Rating: 2/10 (22 July 2018)

We thought the problem with Alien sequels was the lack of Ridley Scott's involvement? Those were the days. Prometheus may have been ponderous and pretentious, but at least there was something there to think about. This film is like a really bad remake of Aliens--all out war with a fetal/adolescent/grown up version of the beasties, but without Cameron's sense of pacing or the deft characterizations, or Ripley's kickass Mama a Mama battle with the queen bitch. Given the extremely short time frames between prequels and the original series, there's no good explanation--other than asses in the seats novelty--for the constant morphing of the creatures, and these new aborted fetuses with fangs are the worse thing since that other human/alien hybrid at the end of the last Alien sequel. Hairless and without a developed exoskeleton they seem strangely resistant to heavy caliber, automatic weapons. This movie wastes thirty-five minutes getting to any sense of tension and yet, in all that time, fails to develop any significant sense of character or conflict. We just wait for the beasties to arrive and the slaughter to begin. If an unimaginative gorefest with creatures you've seen a hundred times is your idea of a good time, this is your flick. Otherwise, not so much. Ridley, whose BR 2049 was similarly structured like a wet noodle, a once great filmmaker, has simply forgotten how to create genuine narrative tension. It reminds me of Lucas in the second trilogy, though Scott has fallen farther, since some of Lucas's flaws were there to be seen all along.