Hollow Pretension

Rating: 3/10 (14 January 2013)

Visually impressive, but otherwise a massive, hollow disappointment. A shockingly uncharismatic "heroine" not fit to polish Ripley's boots, characters that...aside from "David" and "Janek"...are utterly unlikeable and generate zero sympathy, effects and situations that manage to be grotesque without ever being at all frightening, just barely above Syfy Channel level CG for "The Engineers", and worst of all, a script that takes perverse pleasure in being as obtuse as possible. I loathe being spoon-fed by a film, but I loathe even more a film that absolutely refuses to part with any information at all...and the pretentiousness inherent in that. That pretension is greatly in evidence here. Ridley Scott is a brilliant director when he's making entertainment, because his entertainments frequently achieve the level of art. When he's purposely trying to make art....he's a thudding, crashing bore.