I was definitely interested in watching this movie, as I’ve watched almost all of the previous Alien movies. The only one I haven’t actually seen is the second Alien Vs. Predator movie.
I will say that I pretty much knew what I was getting into, going into this movie. After all, the Alien movies are pretty formulaic…but knowing what to expect going into the movie didn’t really detract from me actually enjoying this movie.
One of the strongest parts about this movie, I have to say, was the relationship between Rain and Andy. I thought there were a lot of sweet moments between them…and it was good to see an android character utilised in that way, as I always find the idea of the AI in androids quite fascinating. Unfortunately, while both Rain and Andy…and their relationship…were extremely well-developed, I couldn’t necessarily say the same about the rest of the characters. For instance, I didn’t really know enough about Navarro to care about what happened to her. I didn’t even know that she was Bjorn’s girlfriend.
I did like the conflict that stemmed from Bjorn’s dislike of androids. I really didn’t think his attitude towards was exactly fair, as you wouldn’t hate all humans if one human made the same decision to sacrifice a few lives to save many. But that conflict definitely made things a bit more interesting, as relationships between characters in horror movies, good and bad ones, are something that make me care about what happens to them.
Right at the start of the movie, I actually thought that there was something wrong with the film, as the opening scene had absolutely no sound to it at all. I really thought that the lack of sound when the opening scene was shown worked really well…and it was a shame that that was the only time it happened.
I thought that having Rook (or Ash) appear in the movie as a synthetic was a good idea, even if the original actor has sadly passed away. It was a really good easter egg…the same way as Andy quoting one famous line from the second movie, even though it sounded kind of stilted from him.
I do think that the characters actually did make some smart decisions, which is more than I normally see characters do in horror movies. There were a couple of nice elements of foreshadowing that worked really well, at least in my opinion, and the reactions of the characters actually made quite a lot of sense.
All told, I actually did enjoy this movie, and I felt it was a really nice addition to the Alien franchise. I’d definitely be interested in seeing more of these characters if there’s a sequel.
Ink of Blood 