Great film.....until the end.

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2018)

This film can be summed up in one sentence - "It's fine until the big white thing appears".
This of course refers to the newborn creature which was created for the film (with zero input from Giger I might add). The lumbering atrocity was one of the worst decisions ever made in this franchise and is there for sheer shock value alone. The makers obviously didn't know how to end the movie and so descended into schlock and gore with this horrible beast as some sort of cheap climax which caters for the lowest common denominator.
Absolutely unintelligent and utterly tasteless!
The rest of the film however, is great! It's a really good, solid action sci-fi with some memorable characters, and there's some really interesting sections like the clone room, the man who is told he is impregnated, and some new behavioural traits from the Aliens themselves.
The film wasted a tremendous opportunity by killing off most of the crew from The Betty. They could have very well taken over the franchise from Ripley, becasue we've had the tragic personal tale already, so an ensemble piece concerning mercenaries hunting down the creatures for profit could have really opened up some doors to interesting stories.
That being said, the movie could have been a smashing 90s sci-fi film in its own right if it didn't house the Alien name, but the weight of the franchise brand plus some quite awful decisions drag it down to just "decent but flawed".
Worth watching for the first hour and a half for sure, but after that it descends into gross out pap.