Call me crazy, but in the five year gap since the release of Prometheus, I was kind of expecting them to have come up with some really great story material for a follow up. It's a long time to wait for a sequel in an era where every franchise entry is treated as a stepping stone to the next money spinner. More and more focus is given to connected stories these days. However for whatever the reason, this latest instalment feels surprisingly hollow. Maybe it was something to do with the cancellation of Alien 5, or the studio pushing for more recognisable series motifs and creatures. There are certainly elements here that feel far more like action schlock than they should, perhaps clashing with Neill Blompkamp's ideas. Whatever the reason the outcome is just the same, this is a weak and uninspired addition to an already pretty shaky brand.
In the opening of the
story, we're offered two different elements that will
provide to be the main issues with the film. Initially there's a
retread of ideas from Prometheus as David (Michael Fassbender)
discusses music and creation with his father. It's an unnecessary
recap, but again it's been a while. Then we're reminded of something
else that we should already know – that this is a prequel to Alien.
Notes from the original score and even a new version of the iconic opening logo materialises against the blackness of outer space. The result of these two ideas clashing is that it feels like a movie without a real identity. Also without being too dramatic, to suggest
that this is anything like the late 1970s classic beyond the title is
pretty insulting. The frequent comparisons are just distracting.
It's never anything more than a pale imitation, an attempt to
recreate better times rather than aim for anything more ambitious.
It's a very slick and expensive recreation at times, even if the visuals still don't match the grimy, used technology and the coffee and cigarette stained sets that were so believable the first time around. But the design work on show doesn't really serve any kind of grand story or theme. It's all just skin deep. Distress signals are intercepted, dead characters have their remains jettisoned into space, and mysterious crashed space craft are discovered. But nothing feels quite right, it's all rushed and lacks the required amount of tension. Even the opening scene in which cryogenic pods are opened again is now a noisy action scene – a far cry from the glacial unease of the first version. It's all the same but everything has changed, for the worse.
Obligatory alien
parasite sequences are present and correct of course, serving as some of the story's high points. But these are violent splatter
scenes full of bloody mayhem and creature effects. They sate my
desire to see gory and hilarious '80s style monster moments rather being part of
something truly gruelling. The instance of this is a dual serving of body
horror in which the hatchlings burst forth from slightly varied
places of their hosts. They couldn't change things too much. It seems like someone felt it was necessary to
out-do their own past work, despite there being no real need to do
so. In a way this approach in which things are ramped up to new
extremes is reminiscent of all the old school copies of Alien. So in
places this begins to feel like the most expensive Italian rip-off
ever made.
Beyond these creature
comforts however, the other problems of Prometheus are back and are
more apparent than ever. Characters in the ensemble barely register
as individual personalities beyond guy with cowboy hat, (Danny
McBride) one dimensional religious dude (Billy Crudup) and grieving
wife (Katherine Waterston). The latter tries to fit into the shoes of
previous female protagonists in this series and sort of becomes the
central character, but it's all so thinly drawn that they can hardly even
be called archetypes. The performances are all fine but nothing more. They still go into uncharted territory and act
like idiots whether it's diverting their colonisation mission to look
at a very suspicious beacon, deciding to disembark without pressurised suits,
or trying to fly rickety cargo ships into electrical storms.
Again a special mention goes to Michael Fassbender as David the sneaky android, who is found of course on the Engineer planet the crew follows the signal to. He gets double acting duty this time around by also playing Walter, the expedition's own synthetic crew member. They get all the best scenes together, and David's handiwork in the decade since Prometheus is pretty dark and fascinating. However they go too far undoing the almost hopeful ending to the previous instalment while at the same time losing parts of the overall mystery with several rather silly inclusions. Why they decided to change gears and move away from the unknown is itself a strange enigma, particularly when established life cycles from the series and visual details from the last movie are basically disregarded.
By the end it all
devolves even further by dropping in some action nonsense with
people hanging from ships in flight. Yet another creature running
loose in a flashing hallway sequence comes along, but it feels almost tacked on.
David's big scheme is still mostly entertaining but this finale
just comes across as something demanded by a studio think tank trying to decide what the audience wants. I guess we will never know what really
happened, just as we'll probably never see what the intended sequel
Paradise starring Shaw and David's head in a bag might have
included. This isn't terribly offensive if you just want to see some
well shot landscapes and sets, and some fun robot madness in between all the arterial spray and
breaking bones. But it just seems like a big waste of time beyond
that, simultaneously undoing old story threads while creating sequel bait for new releases.
2/5
