Sci-fi slasher film offers little that's new

Rating: 5/10 (18 November 2001)

This film begins promisingly with a fabulous spaceship crash sequence, landing our disparate group of misfits on an alien world (actually outback Australia seen through some coloured filters). There's grit and mystery aplenty in the early sequences, but once the alien hordes appear, the film reverts to slasher film convention until the end. There is little territory here that the Alien saga has not already covered. The visual effects are of a very high standard, but that's not enough to sustain this film, nor is all-too-frequent use of the "F"-word a sufficient substitute for dramatic tension.
Vin Diesel gives a suitably laconic performance as the indestructible anti-hero, while Radha Mitchell gives it plenty as the ship's pilot. But they and the rest of the cast are just fodder for the aliens and the special effects. I wasn't terrified of the dark after seeing this film. Could have been heaps better.