a lot better than I was expecting

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2020)

I was expecting the same old space opera stuff here, and sure enough it opens with a raft of visual clichés from the likes of 2001, Alien and (more surprisingly) The Shining. For me, coming from the same pen as the daft Prometheus was no recommendation. And so it was nice to find that the story developed into something quite new and interesting; not only that, it's told with a rare humour (in space, usually, no one can hear you laugh). I especially enjoyed Michael Sheen's performance as a slightly dorky android.
However once Laurence Fishburne has come, set up the finale, and gone again, the moral dilemmas are shelved and the film lurches into much more familiar (that is, stale) disaster movie territory. I suppose the film's beautiful looks had to be paid for this way - as we know, all Hollywood movies have to end with a Big Explosion - but it's a shame as the story didn't need it; nor did the film's wise if obvious message need to be underlined by a reprise at the end.