hellojustin1988

Fun movie. Odenkirk was fantastic. The action was really well done. There wasn't anything particularly new nor were there any tropes that they hit too hard so for that a 7 is warranted. The kids/wife didn't really add much value to the story and I don't think there was much chemistry between them but that's not a dealbreaker as we're here for the action and that action is great. Oh, also, cheers for keeping this movie at a tight 90 minutes. Love that.

Outside of Affleck and Bernthal I couldn't care less about anyone in this movie. It tried to be a little bit "deeper" than the first but it came off as trying way too hard. Why should I care about agent Medina? Why should I care about the kid who we never really meet. Why should I care about the mom for that matter? The "boss" character was not scary or intimidating or interesting. His head henchman was the real threat here.

There are some good bits to be found. Bernthal outraged about not getting his dog fast enough. The square dancing scene. And maybe the final broo-ha-ha action at the end stood out specifically. I have an autistic wife and can relate to a lot of what Affleck portrayed on screen but sometimes it veered off into that stereotype zone a bit too much. Pretty good overall though.

And finally, nothing was ever explained and everything just happened to work out for everyone involved? A thin, confusing story and forgettable characters held this one back unfortunately.

Damn, the marines really ruined this movie didn't they?

Positives:

-the xenomorphs looked spectacular. The way they moved in particular was the stuff of nightmares. There was a natural progression from the first to how they are able to survive how they do.

-Ripley was still a badass and very obviously the smartest person in the group -most of the special effects were a step up from the first movie -there was a bit more lore and context added to the idea of "the company" and their greediness.

-set design

Negatives:

-the marines. The tropes, dialogue, and general intelligence were unbelievably bad. Why did the marines have to be blockheads? And was their dialogue written by a 12 year old?

-the sound mixing was just awkward and off-kilter.

-lacked any sort of gripping story. Missed opportunity for the team to discover these aliens and learn a bit more about how they work.

-the weapons in the movie were just ridiculous-l'd expect weapons of the future to be better than what's available present day, not worse.

Overall, pre-marines dying it's a 5. Post marines dying it's a 7. I'll average it out to a 6.