Saw it tonight; spoiler free impressions

I was so freaking excited for tonight! I got all decked out in my favorite shirt, packed up my teenage son and husband and we hit the road to the cinema.

I live in a podunk little town in the way northern suburbs of Atlanta, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the theater start to fill up for A:C on this rainy Thursday night. Ok, on with the show... and please remember, this is just my measly old opinion, please take it with a grain of salt! :)

The Good: As others have mentioned, the acting was pretty solid across the board. There were a couple of instances of bad dialogue, but that's certainly not the actors' fault, and I think by and large everyone did a great job with what they had to work with- even James Franco and especially Danny McBride, whom I've loved since Eastbound and Down. He was great. For the most part the characters were slightly more fleshed out, more believable, less stupid and more sympathetic than in Prometheus. Basically more like real people and not caricatures of people. And naturally, Fassbender stole the show.

There was some lovely cinematography featured throughout the film; as always, Ridley's keen eye leaves his artistic stamp on everything he touches. There were also some genuine moments of horror and tension, though I tried really hard to avoid spoilers- if you watched much of the footage that's currently available you might not feel the same. I quite enjoyed the treatment of all of the creatures, although I do feel like they veered into "too much CGI" territory a few times.  

The Bad: I don't know if it's because I'm an old, but I had a really hard time seeing what was happening on many of the shots that were filmed outside in the dark. Which really sucked because that's where much of the action takes place. It pulled me out of the movie on several occasions, and I found myself thinking "what the hell was that" or "what just happened". I'm a horror junkie; I want to see exactly what happens when people start exploding or when they get their guts ripped out. As far as the story goes, there was quite a bit I left feeling frustrated about; mostly the many abandoned plot lines from Prometheus, coupled with not enough meaty plot points to this story. So much more could've ben told. It felt rushed. And oh that ending. Minutes before it happened, I leaned over and whispered to my husband what I thought was going to happen and that's exactly what happened. I mean, it was a fine ending but when it's so predictable it's disappointing.

The Ugly: Cripes, I wish that this had been better. It had so much potential to be amazing but ultimately fell victim to total mediocrity. And being mediocre isn't the end of the world, I  know, I just wanted more. More depth, more new and fascinating creatures (I'd love to have seen WAY more of David's lab and his drawings!), more things that I haven't seen before. I wanted to be confronted with things that challenged my visual and mental preconceived notions and that did not happen. So I feel let down. But I will certainly add A:C to my collection when it comes out on DVD, and perhaps repeated viewings will soften my feelings toward it. Hell, I loathed Prometheus when it came out, and I love it now- flaws and all.