Looks great, but that's it.

Rating: 5/10 (10 October 2012)

I am a huge fan of Alien, and Aliens is OK for what it is, but everything linked to the franchise since then has been awful beyond words. I was hopeful that this prequel - no matter how much they tried to make it stand alone - would go some way to getting back to the awe and inspiration of the first movie. Sadly, it doesn't - not even close.
It looks good. The effects are excellent, the scenics are inspired and the designs - from costumes to the spaceships to the planets - are breathtaking. And I'm afraid that's it. The plot lacks any genuine direction, leaving more questions at the end than answers, and has more holes in it than a string vest. The stellar cast struggle to give their one-dimensional characters any semblance of depth, to the extent where I really couldn't care who died or how.
Overall, the film doesn't have enough action to sustain fans of Aliens, lacks the foreboding atmosphere of Alien, and probably stands alongside Alien vs Predator and other such drivel as 'watchable providing you're not paying any real attention'.