What is it with prequels? They always feel like a slightly unnecessary or unwanted experience, adding very little but holding a lot of potential to cause problems. This one in particular has the obvious issue of being detrimental to the mystique held by the 1979 classic Alien. Which has always been a big part of the appeal. But strangely the end result doesn't really change a whole lot in the long run. It also has the potential to be a massive, crushing disappointment. While this isn't the immense failure of writing and plot problems it could have been overall it does feel slightly... pointless. Instead of being a massive train wreck it's just a strange mixture of sweeping vistas, expensive visual effects, and unexpectedly hilarious b-movie splatter.
It has to be said that any part with monsters and tentacles is often funny and rarely terrifying. Grotesque effects don't create real horror and panic by themselves after all. It's true that there are some genuinely crazy creations here, but they're not executed with the same tact as they used to be in the days prior to CGI. As a result they just become a series of increasingly wacky monster moments. It goes without saying that less is more and choosing not to show something, or only suggesting it, is often more impactful than throwing in a big creature effect. But at least most of the art direction and all the design work is pretty magnificent. The use of real locations and practical designs works very well.
But in contrast to the locales the characters are mostly useless and flat; there are no relatable slobs like Parker and Lambert to be found here unfortunately. It's just a series of forgettable (and expendable) crew members. Even lead character Shaw (Noomi Rapace) is really bland. It doesn't help that her accent is all over the place either. Her religious past and her romantic relationship is never that interesting, and these simple elements fell pretty undercooked. Luckily her synthetic companion David 8 (Michael Fassbender) has his moments, but it's still a strangely empty experience for such a large ensemble. With so much detail and texture in the scenery, the human element feels cold and distant. Where are all the characters?
Beyond this problem with the cast the main issue I have is that nobody seems to have taken the time to construct basic elements like a compelling narrative. This is more like a series of random scenes without any real pacing. In one sequence there's a crazy mutant octopus for a while, then things just move along and nobody seems bothered by the problem this causes. In some scenes there are big quarantine procedures, but in others this just gets overlooked entirely. Sometimes characters are wooden and in others they suddenly have the urge to relieve sexual tension. Why worry about the lost crew members or possible life and death situations when you can get laid? Why build all these expensive sets without writing a compelling script?
Elsewhere there are other mysteries such as mapping gadgets (that feel too futuristic for this series) which are helpful right up until characters just get lost. Apparently a simple set of directions isn't something a device like this offers. Scientists and astronauts often lack clear motivations and keep making weird choices. Sometimes as things unravel they just stop caring that things are going seriously wrong. The same strange choices effect the storytelling choices being made. Why write a long suspenseful build up to an alien pyramid, only to make everyone leave because of a weather change? Creating tension goes a long way in this genre after all, but for some reason it's ditched far too often.
Speaking of atmosphere building everything looks visually eerie... but the music is kind of inappropriate in a few places. Particularly a heroic 'spirit of adventure' type theme that keeps playing at all the wrong moments. It makes sense initially when the explorers set out and there's sense of optimism, but later on it seems like very strange inclusion. But it's not all eye brow raising on the whole, and in terms of the actual story it's not quite the mess it could have been. Even if it does have pretty weak script and the narrative is all over the place. Subtlety is at least one of its more positive attributes, and they manage to avoid obvious grating exposition for once. Which is a nice change in terms of expensive blockbuster cinema.
It's a film that wants to raise a lot of big questions. But wondering where we come from, or what all these alien jars are just isn't that interesting. Particularly when compared with the other things going on here. What's going on with Guy Pierce's old man make-up? Why is the iconic space jockey the wrong scale when Ridley Scott used his own children as doubles to make it look like a giant last time around? What's the deal with the mismatched buddy adventure ending out of nowhere? Overall it is a story that contains enjoyable elements, but it's hard to call it a classic. Because it's not. It's a prequel to something that could have once been a cheap monster flick called Star Beast. An iconic masterpiece created by a few crazy artists thinking outside the box when they were handed a creature feature script.
The same creative minds haven't been able to pull off the same trick here unfortunately. They might have avoided a lot of problems if they'd have just decided to avoid the association with 1979 at all. After all as a prequel it really doesn't work... in style, tone or content. But I suppose exploiting the brand awareness was too tempting with a large budget involved. The creative edges have become blunt over time and the risks are too great when box office expectations are high. Ultimately this isn't a gigantic failure, but it's very flawed as a concept and as a final product. Like a creature emerging from a pool of black slime this is often pretty interesting to look at, but it's not close to being fully formed.
3/5
