Great entertainment with an interesting premise that doesn't quite fulfill

Rating: 7/10 (17 June 2012)

I had very little expectations of this film as I kept my head buried in the sand for all the trailers and clips. So when I saw the opening scene of a human-looking alien effectively kick starting the human race I thought to myself that potentially this could blow my mind.
Poor scriptwriting however is this films biggest failing. Using a crew that represents a gaggle of Americans from your local diner for instance hurt the "reality" of the piece, as other reviewers have stated, for a "trillion dollar" mission one would expect the worlds leading scientists to be present, not extras from Dog the Bounty Hunter. Naturally the acting suffered, Charlize Theron in particular coming across as wooden and only there for her blond hair and figure hugging suits.
There were a lot of questions that remained unanswered clearly opening it up for a sequel. However, Scott could have easily covered everything in one full impact mind blowing 2 hour film rather than spreading it over what I presume will be another trilogy.
3D was pointless and I thought a lot of it had been done in post production so was very surprised to find it had been filmed in 3D. Still, was pleased that I saw this in the cinema. It did keep me entertained however, which is why I begrudge giving it less than a 7. 6.5 would probably be my overall grade if IMDb offered half stars!