The further destruction of the Alien saga...

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2012)

This review contains spoilers, so please, if you've not seen this movie DON'T carry on reading.
OK so I don't usually write reviews, but in this case I feel I HAVE to review this movie, perhaps mostly to vent some frustrations. Being a massive Alien(s) fan (a self confessed alien junkie who owns several copies and knows perhaps a little TOO much about it) I think this why I am so let down.
Let me start by saying I have been waiting for this movie with great anticipation since the concept was revealed to the media. Then the gradual release of the various trailers just added to my excitement, especially as the trailers looked SO good, they just oozed reference's to Alien and had a wonderful creepy atmosphere to them... but that's where atmosphere stayed I guess...
The film starts off well enough, beautiful scenery, beautiful 3D, and then... we are greeted by a hooded figure walking near a waterfall, who looks suspiciously like a rubber Vin Diesel, but okay, I can accept that. My curiosity and research into the movie had already told me that this guy was a Space Jockey. The film then carries on well enough with more visual treats etc and a nice part with David and his introduction into his creepiness.
The film starts hitting confusion when they land on the planet they discover in a star map (one of the LV planets - presumably near to LV-426 from the original Alien) I can only presume (you'll notice I use the word 'presume' a lot - mostly because this film is riddled with plot holes and things that will leave you wondering 'why'?) that the scientists knew exactly where on the planet to land as they seem to find the 'tomb' straight away, however the film makes out they just randomly stumble upon it by accidentally flying into the right area... okay fair enough. The young scientists want to go looking straight away - brilliant we could see some action / suspense, space jockeys! Well not really, it seems to be a rather brief trip, but a least we see some space jockeys. One thing that annoys me here is the character 'Fifield' - every films likes to have a 'hard man' and quickly he is established at being just that... mo-hawk, tattoos, attitude etc but he is the first to run away when they stumble upon a dead jockey!? Fair enough he's not that hard man or the cool guy everyone likes in the movie... who is? So some things happen, things that leave me feeling very disappointed, mostly due to the space jockey concept. The helmet. The exploding face? why? and then the rest of the plot starts making no sense... David the creepy robot decides to poison someone with Alien goo, wicked, lets see him transform and kill some people or something? okay maybe he'll turn into the space jockey we see in the trailers? nope, okay lets see him commit suicide and be forever forgotten from this movie once again (one can only presume he was poisoned the impregnate Shaw - but who knows) otherwise his poisoning is pointless and his death needless.
Fifields return... a chance for some action? not really, its short lived, although I did enjoy the little 'Aliens' reference in his death.
Everything that happens beyond this point in the movie just adds to the confusion of it. I read the small amount of reviews on here before going to watch the movie, and I noticed a theme, a theme that I REALLY did not want to believe, but in the end the negative reviews are just right. I don't want to believe it, but they are.
This film could have been so much more, and its biggest problem was moving away from being an Alien prequel and trying to be its own movie, instead it is just a mash up of different ideas which ultimate destroys my passion for the evolution of the alien. This film should have been unconnected to alien OR it should have been a direct prequel to alien. Instead we just have some kind of mash-up of ideas and some space jockeys thrown in for the fans. I idea of a space jockey being an engineer was something I liked, but I hated that they were big rubber men in suits, I would have preferred them to be a separate race of alien who created man, not aliens who are men.
The End was the worst part of the film, never have I been so disappointed to see a Xenomorph (or some breed of) or how it was "born", (big squid facehuggers?) I much preferred the original concept of them being a biological weapon to destroy planets. Elements of that idea where there, but quickly forgotten.
The film lacked suspense, there were no scares, and just when I thought something was being set up for a scare I was just left bored.
The film has great ideas which are ultimately destroyed by it trying to be connected to Alien which in my opinion is its downfall. It is riddled with plot holes, pointless characters (Weyland and his makeup, Vickers and her star wars "father" line, and pretty much every other character besides David, Shaw and Janek).
Ridley I had high hopes and you destroyed them, this film could have been amazing. Instead it fits in between Alien Resurrection and Aliens Vs Predator (I can't class it on its own since you decided to tie it to the alien saga sorry).
5/10