A sci-fi film that could have been brilliant but wasn't.

Rating: 5/10 (16 June 2012)

Right, well right off the bat I have to address the huge media "thing" which surrounded this movie. Namely.. "is it a prequel to Alien"? The answer. Yes.. yes it is. The ending has a creature that looks like an alien from the Alien series being "born". The end. Sadly this movie has none of the brilliance of Alien or Aliens. It is a movie seemingly designed for children who might sneak in. The dialogue is so clunky, so unbelievably direct in its exposition that it seems almost comical. As I was watching it I felt as if Ridely Scott had perhaps written an intelligent script and had the actors do takes using those lines but then a studio suit had asked him to use the RIDICULOUSLY CLUMSY OBVIOUS EXPLANATORY lines just in case. Then all those lines were used in the final film. I was really expecting this film to be great, and it sucked. Not on a visual level, the visuals were excellent, and not on a performance level because the central part played by Noomi Rapace was fantastic. She deserves an Oscar nod for this... but she also deserved a far better script. To be honest, and cynical to some degree, this film felt like it had been screwed around with and that there might be a much better film somewhere in the editing chambers... or perhaps the chambers of Ridley Scotts mind. I wish I could give this a higher score because I was really looking forward to this picture. But I have to give it a 6. Shame.