As an ardent fan of the Alien franchise...this was an year's worth of wait...and I should say I may not have been thoroughly impressed but I wasn't disappointed either.

Rating: 6/10 (22 September 2012)

Well I have been doing a research on this project when it was still under development way back in the summer of 2011. When I saw the fresh stills in late august of the same year...I was thrilled. I have been a Hollywood fanatic since the age of 4 and the first time I caught up with the franchise was when I saw Alien(1979) at the age of 7. Being an equally huge fan of horror or "Real Horror",I should say,the alien franchise was definitely among the best of the best when it came to franchises of this particular genre. Every flicker and frame of the saga(Alien,Aliens,Alien3,Resurrection) was a treat with the last part being a disaster but the franchise still maintained it's class courtesy the clinical brilliance of scott and cameron with the first two films.Throughout the saga,as I grew up,my mind kept pondering about the origin of the xenomorphs..where did they come from,how did they spawn...and of course eerie and iconic image of the space jockey which yielded the maximum of the what's,why's and how's...
Initially when I read the title I thought that it was just another sci-fi box office piece...but when I saw the teaser...I was absolutely ecstatic..and then started the wait..one that was like almost an year..and finally I got my hands on it..and let me tell you throughout those 123 minutes or so..I just didn't let go..
Well the story's about an archaeological find in Scotland that leaves clues about life on the other planets bearing a potential to answer the question about intelligent life beyond...the rest of the story..as you all know courtesy the film's viral campaigning and advertising and pop-up storyboards on movie sites..so I won't elaborate on that part..
For people who have not seen any of the films in the alien franchise..I am sure you would find the movie shallow without soul...which is probably scott's failure because the point of focus was the origin of mankind but I guess scott's desire to stress upon the unknown origin of the xenomorphs clashed with the desire of a sci-fi fan unaware of the alien saga to know and fancy the possible explanation for the origin of mankind...
Well,my first analysis is of the characters...and honestly every character fit right in...the actors were spot on when it came to the portrayal of their characters...you can see the brilliance of scott when you can see the weight age given to the characters with respect to the relevance of the story...
The standout performances are that of noomi rapace and michael fassbender where the former plays an ambitious young scientist while the latter plays an android ,the role which was previously played superbly by Ian Holm and Lance henriksen in the first two films of the saga..
Charlize theron shows her character acting capabilities yet again as she plays a cold and calculative executive of the Weyland Corp. put in charge of the mission..
The weaknesses of the film ,which I would first throw light on,is the way scott tried to show us the origin of mankind...I wouldn't go into specifics as it would spoil the suspense...but you would notice that as the movie tries to boil down to the point where it's going to reveal the true intentions of the "engineers" and why they chose earth..it immediately gathers into a hurried adrenaline rush to get to the point where it wants to show us the origin of the xenomorph..what I am trying to say is that a story that is woven beautifully with the plot moving with the fine bends and fidgets of feather immediately goes into a rash fast-paced sequencing without warning..that may have been scott's surprise but frankly...it didn't work out..
Also a key point to note in the film is that the planet where they land is given the name LV-223 but in the franchise it's LV-426 which you see on a monitor right when they are about to land..well even after watching the movie I thought that it was scott's agenda to make us piece together the puzzle...you will see that there would be no such possibility...And that to me has been the flaw when it comes to scott's scope regarding a few of his films in the past,making movies with a spectacular storyline and direction but not laying enough emphasis on aspects that require a little more detail..
Well the major positive of the movie has to be the visual effects...stunning,awe-inspiring and unbelievably realistic are just few of the words that I can use to describe it...the effects are so realistic that for a moment you would be forced to wipe out the fact that they are all computer graphics..and also scott's desire to stress upon the origin of the xenomorph with a possibility of being linked to our origin...and visualizing the landscape and the setting to perfection...
Well, in this review I didn't throw light on the plot because I'm sure by the time you are reading this you would already know what would the plot probably be like..it's not your average clichéd plot but it's something which we have seen over the years in the sci-fi genre.I hope this review was clear and convincing enough..I was disappointed with the inexplicable bend of the plot being a true fan of the franchise but if you have seen the films in the franchise or if you are an ardent fan..it would still be a delight..
I am giving this an 8/10 because my understanding regarding the origin of mankind might still be blurred...but my curiosity regarding the dreaded grim reaper which terrorized all of us through the saga has finally come to an end..and trust me that particular part has been shown brilliantly..