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Tetrarch42
MemberOvomorphJun-13-2012 8:49 AMSo I generally enjoyed the film, but I felt it had a couple issues which broke the suspension of disbelief for me:
[b]1. Shaw's Squid Baby/Proto-Facehugger Growth.[/b]
-I understand the gray goo has amazing transformative and mutagenic properties but how did this things grow from at most 10 kgs. to at least 150 kgs. in a couple of hours in a sealed room? Growing from sperm cell size to 3 month foetus size makes sense given that the parasite was growing from Shaw, but this doesn't work in a sealed room; where did it get all the matter and energy to grow so large so fast? You can't make mass from nothing. If the Engineers had this capability they would be pretty much omnipotent.
[b]2. Terrible Mission Design.[/b]
-It's a trillion dollar operation but the mission had like a dozen flaws. Why did it have so few security personnel? Why didn't the scientists have an armed escort? Why weren't there guards posted in the corridors? Why didn't they send out remote controlled probes to scout the base? Why weren't the scientists ordered to wait until the dust storm had passed before exploring the ruins? Why not set up a forward base with communications equipment, a fall-back point, et cetera. I understand it isn't a military operation but shouldn't it be handled as such given the environment and risks are pretty much completely unknown.
[b]3. Unrealistic character responses.[/b]
-There were a great deal of these. The geologist and biologist decide one of the greatest scientific discoveries in history isn't to their liking to they head back to the ship, that's dumb. What sorry excuses for scientists they are, these are the best Weyland the trillionaire can find?
-Relatedly, the expert geologist gets lost in the derelict spaceship, can't he use a compass?
-Halloway sees a worm crawling in his eye and begins to feel ill and he never goes to the doctor, that's weird, I would be panicking.
-Janek convinces Shaw and the crew members that the Engineers must be hostile, with the grey goo being developed as a bio-weapon in like... four sentences?
Those were the issues I identified. Maybe the DVD extras will patch these issues up, though then I'd feel a little jipped with the theater ticket purchase.