Woefully inert sci-fi horror vehicle

Rating: 5/10 (29 March 2017)

Although visually sophisticated and compact in its running time, this very generic film sinfully wastes its formidable A-list cast. The storyline here gets little or no development and therefore offers little or no reason to care about the agreeable but nondescript international space crew that confronts the realities of extraterrestrial life.
Ryan Reynolds makes his best effort here as an engineer with a sardonic edge. Biggest shocker: Jake Gyllenhaal manages to be boring. I never thought I'd say that about one of his performances. Rebecca Ferguson has virtually nothing to work with and the rest of the cast is all but muzzled in this cookie-cutter, throwaway screenplay. Visual splendor does make this nice to look at, but that's where the excellence stops.
Although this lethargic, mostly non-scary film does go on to finish strong, it is too little, too late and does not elevate this above standard fare. Genre fans might feel let down the most. Not recommended.