I'm a big sci-fi fan, love Alien, so I thought I'd give this one a whirl. Maybe (as I said) it's not fair to compare since Alien is such a high water mark. But if you were just flipping around, just gave it a shot...yeah, it's pretty good.
I don't want to come across too negatively; it is a really good movie.
For positives, I agree: the performances are great, the atmosphere is great, and there's a lot of tension and claustrophobia.
I didn't connect as much with the characters. I liked the Japanese guy (Sho?) mostly because of the new dad thing, but I didn't feel like I really "knew" any of them. Reynolds was playing his stock Reynolds character. Even the new dad I didn't think got mentioned enough.
I really liked the scene where Reynolds and the Russian chick chewed out the scientist guy for his lack of precaution. That scene felt fresh.
The bleak ending was good, but I really didn't like the "ol' switcheroo" they played with the pods, or tried to play. Never for a moment did I doubt which pod was going where, and I felt a little condescended to with the chosen angles. It felt really obvious to me, and that felt a bit cheap. If they had just allowed the inevitability of the situation to set in and claw all over the viewer, that would have embraced their chosen ending instead of doing some kind of attempt at a fake out.
But, yeah, overall, it was a solid flick.
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