The first I time saw it was also the first time I have been to a midnight screening at a cinema. I usually try and see the first screening of a new movie, but I was so excited that I was willing to go to this special midnight screening of it.
With it being a distant prequel to the Alien franchise, I shall give my view of that first. I had known about the Alien franchise for ages, but only seen the first one just over a year ago and absolutely loved it. The whole style was just just so unique and I have watched it many times since. Then I suddenly found a new favorite in Aliens, which I think is fractionally better than Alien, but still think both are two of the best movies I've ever seen. Alien3 was solid, but nothing like the first two but still decent. Alien: Resurrection felt a bit pointless in my opinion. It was well made, but the plot seemed weak and I don't know why they made it in the first place. Won't mention the AVP franchise as that was a waste of time I thought. Anyway, onto the review.
In a nutshell, I enjoyed it. But I know it took a lot of bad criticism which I can understand. It was a good film that should have been a great film. I think with it being related to Alien, people were expecting it to be directly like the Alien films. But that was being said from the general fans, the hardcore fans understood what we were in for. It was within the Alien universe, but not a direct prequel, more like a spin-off. The closest comparison I would mention, it would be, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
I know that is a horrible film to compare it with, but I think it is the best one. We have already been told about a sequel and I think we will be expecting another one that then makes 'Alien' the next in timeline, just like the Star Wars prequels.
Back to the film, you can tell Ridley Scott was back to his roots. The build-up on the ship was good, the introduction to the characters, the visual effects and the terrific music made it a promising start. The set designs were as great as Alien was, mainly because they used the same ideas from the same artists from Alien. Then as soon as we get into the second act, things started to be a bit disappointing. Some of the action scenes could have been better constructed and one bit at the end was awfully done in my opinion.
The big question was, who was under that suit from Alien, known as the 'Space Jockey'. We did find out, and I thought it made sense. I know some people were expecting something different, but I think it was fine. It made sense to the story.
As to the performances, a lot of them were solid. But the best one was by far Michael Fassbender, who is slowly becoming my favorite actor at the moment. His role as the android, David, was very creepy and definitely was up there Ian Holm in Alien and Lance Henriksen in Aliens. Noomi Rapace as the Sigourney Weaver-esque role was pretty good and she was in my favorite scene of the film.
Some of the other roles played by Charlize Theron, Logan Marshall Green, Idris Elba and Guy Pearce were o.k, but I know they could have been better. The other characters felt non-existent to me, which was a disappointment. This is because, in Alien and Aliens there was a lot of development in the minor characters and you cared about them, whereas in this, you don't.
The whole thing just felt like it was a safe version of it. Ridley Scott is known for making Director's Cut's of his films and he did make one, but sadly not for DVD, and I don't have a Blu-Ray player. I personally think, the distributors with their sticks were poking Scott too much to make sure it got a high box office rather than explaining all the loose bits of the film.
However, I still enjoyed it. There were bits that I loved, but there were disappointing bits. I loved the ending and hint for a sequel. It open a lot of new questions and I can't wait for them to be asked in the next one or maybe two.
Rating: 7/10
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