As horror it's good, as sci-fi it's very bad

Rating: 5/10 (17 July 2017)

As a movie, it's enjoyable. The horror elements are well set and the story moves along nicely. The characters don't much matter, but they are good actors doing a decent job. It's the script that hasn't given them much to go on. The camera work is stunning at places and I applaud the director for making a technically competent film as far as visuals and acting goes.
The problems start when we enter the sci-fi part of the film, and more generally when we start talking about the script. As an idea it has potential. It's certainly not an original premise, but hey, I'm not gonna hold that against anything in human culture. Everything is ripping off something else.
However, the script suffers from a lot of "this improbable and stupid thing just happened so the next improbable and stupid thing can happen". After a while the whole movie degenerates into a series of these blunders and can start pulling you out of it. That's a big no no for any movie, and especially for a horror film where you rely on... well, horror.
**FROM HERE ON IT'S SPOILERS**
I wouldn't nitpick something like Alien, which has several issues as well. But Alien was made nearly 40 years ago. And its issues aren't so many to be a problem. This film just keeps piling from the beginning and they become so many that there's no longer cohesion. Without these, I would rate the film as anything between 8-10 out of 10.
The astronauts are incompetent. Just simply incompetent. Right at the point where the alien kills its first victim I have thought of a very simple and clear solution. Wear space suits and vent the station. Stick together and arm yourselves. Nope, doesn't even cross their minds until it's too late.
At this point I should mention I'm a biologist, and I've done a lot of work with relatively harmless pathogenic bacteria. My lab has miles ahead better precautions than their lab. And they have a CDC "Doctor" aboard whose basically there to make sure no one opens the door and nothing else. Their whole protection is a plastic incubator that is equipped with latex glass. Not even leather gloves. There's no emergency venting of atmosphere. There's no secondary shield to seal the incubator. The room's ventilation and sprinkler system is connected to the rest of the station. It's just plain stupid, and it's there to fail.
Then there's all those small information that make no sense: * The fuel runs out immediately after the film starts. Apparently, not one of at least 15 space agencies (today's numbers) have thought to resupply the International Space Station before the most critical and important mission undertook by humanity. And one that would place the whole station in quarantine until the mission was over (presumably).\ * I can see the alien being immune to fire and maybe withstanding limited times without oxygen, but it's also completely immune to toxic and poisonous substances and can withstand the vacuum, cold and radioactivity of space for hours.
* Also, the first 20 minutes it can't withstand the absence of atmosphere, afterwards it can withstand it forever, then towards the end it can't survive without oxygen for prolonged times.
* The humans fail to rescue one other human when they know where he is, they know he's probably alive and they know the alien is sealed away somewhere where it can't reach any of them. Then said non-rescued human proceeds to mess up everything.
* No one ever thinks of wearing a space suit so they can have that much extra protection from something that seems intent on drinking them.
* We have a flamethrower aboard the station, which goes against every single safety rule that has existed for space travel since Yuri Gagarin.
* No one ever thinks of trying to poison the organism, or even just mess up with its atmosphere when it's destroying the arm of one of the astronauts. They just sit there and watch.
* They just find the organism and revive it 5 minutes after putting it under the microscope. Seriously, WTF scientists? What happened to safety and precautions? Study what you have first. Then see about reviving it. Not only is it completely reckless and dangerous, even if the organism turned benign, they've just introduced a bunch of ethical complications to the study, when there were none.
* The ending is beyond stupid. The alien acts out of completely out of character, there's a twist that can be seen from miles away. The alien is stupidly intelligent. I mean it's so intelligent it beggars belief. Just because it has brain power doesn't mean it instantly can learn everything about piloting space shuttles, orbital mechanics, human psychology/behavior and dramatic irony.
* The humans mess up badly at the end. Not only do they execute a reckless plan, they don't make sure they maximize their odds of succeeding. They split up, when they know that the alien has only ever tried dealing with one of them at a time. They perform a plan that hinges on the alien not overpowering them (which it can totally do). Part of their plan is that one of them returns to Earth. Why? You are breaking your own quarantine rules in the most extreme manner. What if that thing can multiply and one of its offspring comes back to Earth? * Most heroic sacrifices are not only wasted. They are unnecessary and stupid.