This movie requires incredible suspension of disbelief

Rating: 5/10 (1 October 2012)

The elements were largely here to produce a very nice prequel to the original "Alien", and it would've made for a nice fresh spin on a very, VERY tired series of movies. Unfortunately this wasn't actually a prequel, and the elements I'm referring to have really confused a lot of people that have seen Alien and some of the sequels, but don't necessarily live and breathe the Alien movies. Personally I really liked the tie-ins to the original Alien movie. In fact those tie-ins, coupled with some beautiful cinematography and good CGI were the only things I really DID like about this.
The characters were heavily underdeveloped, leaving viewers with no real attachment to any of them or anybody to really root for. There was VERY little suspense of the nature that made the original "Alien" movie so successful. The script was disjointed and just seemed to be thrown together from bits of ideas, almost as if the editor was just handed all of the footage and told to edit it into a movie, without having ever read the script or even conversing with the Director.
And finally, the most ridiculously irritating thing about the movie was the completely implausible actions by just about every single crew member on board the ship. I doubt that I need to rehash all of the specifics... I'm sure it's already been covered countless times in the hundreds and hundreds of reviews. Basically they all just acted like a bunch of stoned teenagers exploring some abandoned building or cave, with no respect for the fact that they were in one of the most inhospitable environments known to man and dealing with multiple unknown alien species.
As an adult, it was incredibly difficult to watch this movie in the theater. Every 30 seconds I was thinking "oh give me a break", or "yeah right, as if anybody would be that stupid". And we're talking about engineers, scientists, archaeologists, and highly trained crew members that went on a mission that was SO important to them that they were willing to leave their family and friends behind, knowing at the VERY least they wouldn't see them for several years, IF they ever made it back. It's not like these were idiots that just picked up the "Help Wanted" sign in a store window and took a 9 to 5 job, but that's definitely the way they all acted.
Perhaps teenagers and/or those with sub 50 IQ's might find this movie much more believable and enjoyable, but personally I found it very difficult to sit through. I would however say that for fans of the Alien movies it IS worth watching at least once...