However, the more I listen to him, the more it seems like he lacks any real distinctive style of his own. He makes up for it by being able to write for huge orchestras and choruses, which does add a certain shallow charm to his work. Virus is a good example. It's not all bad. The first and last tracks are wonderful, and the first 5 tracks or so are all pretty good, give or take.
Big orchestras can make even mediocre writing seem impressive, which is the problem.
It starts out so well. Now, granted, the movie itself was reportedly so much like the Alien films that it certainly doesn't surprise me that they'd temp it with Horner's music. That isn't too much of a problem in the first half, but in the second, it seems like nothing happens for way too long. I hate CDs where the opening and closing tracks have all the best music. Still, I can't bring myself to completely hate it.