2093 Darwin Award Finalists

Rating: 5/10 (15 October 2012)

*SPOILER ALERT*
This film puts forward a creationist/intelligent design point of view, yet its characters are all contenders for the 2093 Darwin Awards. Let's take a look at a few of them:
1) CHARLIE HALLOWAY was a reckless archaeologist who lacked both foresight and compunction over exposing LV 426, himself, his wife, and the crew to contamination when he first entered a totally foreign environment in a galaxy far, far away and impulsively removed his helmet simply because the air seemed breathable! He also overlooked the shifty android, whom he had earlier insulted, plopping its finger into his drink just before handing it to him and just after asking him a suspiciously-toned question that should have given him pause before chugging it.
2) FIFIELD was a misanthropic, virtually sociopathic geologist who somehow passed an interview and psych eval to be picked to go on a trillion-dollar expedition. Despite being an expert in mapping, he quickly got lost and wound up a barbecued zombie!
3) MILLBURN was a biologist who freaked out when he saw the fossilized remains of a Space Jockey, yet was oddly eager to pet a menacing-looking snake creature, which he tried to coax with baby talk. Despite its threatening, don't-mess-with-me behavior, Millburn continued to try to pat it on the head and ended up dead--but not before he got some Deep Throat action from the li'l critter.
4) CAP'N JANEK and his co-pilots were happy-go-lucky guys who seemingly had a good outlook on life, yet they jumped on the chance to do a kamikaze mission based on the gross presumption of the film's plucky heroine, Elizabeth Shaw, who by her own admission believes out of choice rather than evidence--apologetics and science be damned!
I'm giving this a generous 5/10 for the visuals and for Ridley Scott's nod to two of my favorite directors--Stanley Kubrick and David Lean.