3D Monster > 1D People

Rating: 3/10 (29 February 2020)

I so want to enjoy this movie more than I actually do, and much of this longing is spurred on by the creature design and development. The folks who came up with this menace are genuinely intelligent and creative people, and their work shines brightly. It is an insidious and curious creature, much like mankind, and has a varied maturity rate and reacts to stimuli in manners that aren't unrealistic. Its movement patterns and adaptations all reflect a life born of zero g environ.
Unfortunately, the script writers didn't spend near as much time with their human counterparts.
Here are some facts that counter the very basis of this movies drama and plot:
The ISS is no where near as large as portrayed in this movie. It's far more confined and claustrophobic. It is also no where near and poorly lit (before the alien) as portrayed.
Many of the characters are too human, and rely heavily on their emotions to make life and death decisions. NASA doesn't recruit or send people who can't or won't immediately handle the stresses bestowed on them in a rational manner.
There is no question that there are real life protocols this film chooses to ignore, especially concerning first contact. NASA and other government funded projects have think tanks upon think tanks who have dreamt of this scenario, not withstanding the vast collective of fiction in all media to draw upon. They have checks and balances.
To hinge this films entire plot around constant human error is a slap to those professionals' careers and achievements.
But it is a Hollywood fiction, so maybe I should let it pass?
No. One of the rules of great writing is not to deny your premise, a mistake instantly made in the first 20 minutes of this film.
Kudos to ththe effects and design teams though. They saved this film from being completely unbearable.