All Style, No Substance

Rating: 4/10 (7 January 2013)

Really disappointed to say the least - I was expecting something epic and mythical to add to the canon of Alien and Aliens. Looks like Scott was trying too hard and tried to juggle too many ideas at once; so the end result is a mish-mash of half-baked ideas and red herrings - just when you think you know what direction the movie's taking and you think you've got it sussed, Scott will throw in another random idea that's unrelated to the other plot points before it that'll take the whole thing in a different direction. You'll be left wondering how the characters went from one plot point to another, for example; at what point did Idris Elba and his crew actually realise the danger they're in and the imminent threat to humanity that they become so heroic as to sacrifice themselves? They were hardly involved! What was the purpose of Charlize Theron's character?? How the hell did the dead Engineer get from the shuttle wreckage back to his own ship to position himself for the start of Alien? Overall, stunning visuals but this is a confused, mediocre effort.