A few scares and good effects but suffers from not knowing what it wants to be.

Rating: 6/10 (26 June 2013)

This is another really delayed review, except this review is nearly 8 months late. I saw this film when I wasn't in a place to write reviews and I never got around to doing one but now I want to review all of my 2012 viewings, so Moonrise Kingdom review will be coming soon but not until after a third viewing. Unfortunately, this review is based on that single viewing but I don't really want to see it again. I don't get why people are still making a fuss about it, I never gotten into its blockbuster marketing campaign and I only saw it out of general hype. I am a huge Alien fan, and the prospect of a prequel was very intriguing, but after the disappointed reviews came out, my expectations were very low. I did have one expectation, and that was great special effects, which it does actually have. Way more impressive than Avatar or any of the visual effects films which creates whole worlds.
Unfortunately, the screenplay has lots of problems and that's mostly due to not really knowing what it's doing. It ends up feeling like an accidental homage to the B-movies (breathing on planets, monsters, etc) while it's trying to take itself far too seriously. Granted, a fun Alien film would have stuck out like a sore thumb, but it really would've benefited this film. Michael Fassbender is great as David, but he and every other character is under-utilised and used as mere props. It does have a few scary moments, particularly with the surgery machine, but it lacks a lot of tension, and any moment it tries to build with tension, it's ruined by illogical moments and clichÃ©s. Prometheus may have been better if it actually was a prequel to Alien, but the ending lays the tracks for another pointless sequel. At least it was inconsistently entertaining when it wasn't doing its wishy-washy spiritual stuff.
6/10