Strong premise, good cast, solid design but ultimately disappointing, and here's why...

Rating: 1/10 (30 May 2012)

There is not a review bad enough to prevent someone from seeing a Ridley Scott film, nor should there be, because one does have to see with his own eyes to believe just how bad this one is.
The major flaw is undoubtedly the story itself, or the lack thereof. The absence of structure leaves the impression that no choices were made, not only in the writing phase, but in the editing room as well. While certain scenes seem redundant, some unconvincing, there are those that are downright ridiculous. There is no suspense, save for a few weak attempts to hide the obvious. The sense of gradual progress is missing and any interest that may have been sparked by the opening sequence swiftly wears off.
The lack of character development does not help either. One-dimensional characters do not provoke any emotion. Even the protagonists do not stand out, despite the attempt to bring back, or rather chronologically speaking, pave way for Sgt. Ripley in Dr. Shaw.
Dialogues are weak. Even the most benevolent audience could not but laugh at lines that were not meant to be funny. And this was as a benevolent an audience as it gets, given the fact that everyone had waited for months for this film to come out and cued for at least two hours to buy a ticket.
The film was promoted as the latest achievement of the director of Alien and Gladiator. The Kingdom of Heaven was conveniently forgotten and this film would share the same fate on the posters promoting the director's future efforts if it were only up to the artistic criteria. However, box-office will most likely determine whether a new franchise will be made based on the open ending.
Had it been someone else's film it would have deserved four stars, owing to the strong, good and solid points mentioned in the title, however, as it heavily milked the allure of the Alien mythology and the director's reputation, one star is all it gets.