"Alien" but with better characters

Rating: 6/10 (2 April 2004)

I didn't expect much from this but I was pleasantly surprised.
I didn't think the effects were all that brilliant (the aliens were great but never seen in enough detail, unlike in "Alien"), but I liked the characters, especially those played by Radha Mitchell and Vin Diesel.
It started really badly -- in fact, I had to replay the DVD three times to understand the voiceover, but the spaceship crash was spectacular and the realisation of the planet was excellent.
Diesel made the film for me. He is massively calm and he brought some complexity to his character.
The lighting of the film was marvellous and created a sense of a real alien landscape, much better than the Paramount lots in the "Star Trek" movies.
Mitchell was in "Phone Booth" and seems to be getting a lot of parts. I'm booking "xXx" to see Diesel again.