Rick Spaulding

This movie was slow going for me for the first third of it's run. The usual character types put into place for what you might guess will be their predictable demises. I went to bed - picked it up the next night. The film was far better from this point (inside the predictable laboratory with specimens). I finished the movie thinking " this is turning into one long reference fest". I don't believe there was a past "Alien" film (or video game) that escaped mention either visually, or with scripted lines. The film did advance the "Alien" lore for me, but in trying it's best to serve as a bottleneck for tieing all the franchise movies together; short-cuts had to be made to keep the movie progressing to an ending. There were moments that worked; references that surprised; and a couple moments that had me really pondering the motivation to go "there". All things considered, I will re-watch this movie - some time later, with friends who probably never saw it; even though it's been out for a year or two. If you know this franchise - you will enjoy this film. If you skipped some of the movies, you will need some explinations as to why? and how come?.