High-minded concept abdicated

Rating: 2/10 (11 June 2012)

The concept of this film and that is was supposed to 'stand alone' was something of interest to me in going to the cinema to watch what can only be described as a trite, expensive, plot hole riddled prequel shamelessly tied to the later /earlier films that were so popular. The beginning was the best part, and offered the most promise, though the character development, writing, and series of numerous seemingly rushed sequences which unfolded were painstakingly disappointing from a director of the caliber of Blade Runner, Gladiator, Alien and others. The movie seemed to go down hill for me by introducing familiar characters and 'cousins' of those characters in very forced ways when Scott could held the viewer in more suspense and more fully explored the progenitor race(sorry, trying not to use spoiler material), though it seems that may happen if there is a sequel. That being said, as he rapidly, awkwardly forced those characters into screenshots there is not much more that can be offered about that species that has not already been shown in previous installments of the series. As I left the theatre I could anguish over the lost potential of this potentially, yet failed piece of 'smart' sci-fi which is most definitely not 'stand alone'.