Within half an hour, I was already reminded of Aliens (the sequel), 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Event Horizon. And still with high hopes, the disappointment came crashing down as the movie did not pick up at all.
Instead, at every turn, it looked more and more like Aliens; so much so that it was almost like a rip-off. And I'll say first for fair warning, spoiler alerts from here on out.
From the beginning, we have the android Michael Fassbender in Lance Henriksen's role in Aliens. Then Charlize Theron was woken up from a pod, just like Sigourney Weavers. The protagonist was a female in the form of Noomi Rapace, who carried an alien baby in her belly, which in turn ripped her belly open; exactly like Aliens. And the alien itself had a mouth within its mouth.
I don't know why they didn't just call this a remake of Aliens, to be honest. With such a great viral video to hype up the movie, with Damon Lindelof writing it, I was further perplexed as to why this didn't have more originality.
But there were also a lot of lazy writing, just like how Lindelof's "Lost" series has been plagued with as well. I couldn't get over that scene when Sean Harris' character proudly called the reconnaisance droids his pets and then couldn't understand what they reported back so he had to scream at Idris Elba's character for explanation.
And then Rafe Spall's character, who was supposed to be a biologist specialist, showed zero respect when encountered by alien "snakes" as he proceeded to call them "baby". I gave a triumphant cry in my head when his character was killed in the most terrible way by the "baby".
I didn't fault the actors. I thought Theron, Rapace and Fassbender were excellent. Theron in a tight suit was also excellent but that's beside the point. The other cast members did very well with whatever they were given. I didn't fault Ridley Scott for he too delivered in the direction.
But it was the writers who really failed here. They wanted to do a lot, they wanted something intelligent. But they sacrificed on the storytelling, especially with Logan Marshall-Green's character who, as a scientist, somehow has a knack for negativity and giving up easily. Just so the story could move forward.
Rather than going the Aliens way, had the story centred and focused on the subject of existentialism, that would have been more interesting. Just like the viral video Lindelof wrote as a marketing hype.
Now we'll just have to hope that the sequel does something different. And for not being a gimmick's sake, change the title!
Glad to know that you enjoyed your first experience with IMAX. I don't think I'm able to do that anytime soon. *C'mon Brunei! Bring IMAX here!*Anyway, I never watched Space Odyssey(I know *gasp*) and my memories of the Alien franchise is very vague (I was still a kid when I watched it. Didn't understand it either) but I enjoyed Prometheus, and I see where you're getting at.But I don't think they're trying to recreate Alien; it's more of a prequel. It explains the origins of the alien lifeforms. I remember reading somewhere online that it's actually 2 different timeline set in the same universe of the Alien series. That's why the cutting off alien baby via c section and Theron waking up from a pod was a respectable nod (or hint if you prefer) to the Sigourney Weaver's version. I truly like Fassbender's performance. I never felt such thrill and goosebumps from a supporting actor since Christoph Waltz from Inglorious Basterds, and he deserves an applause for that. As for the movie as a whole, I liked it, and I think it deserve much more credit than 6/10. Just my 2cents. :)
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