laduqesa

I so wish the film had finished with a satisfactory ending at the halfway mark. The first section of the movie was in turn tender, exciting, revelatory. Surprising connections were made and family secrets revealed particularly about Antonio's heritage and family. The initially tentative romance between him and Marcelo was closely drawn and sensitively done.

Unfortunately it all went pear shaped. I have no idea what I was meant to be watching in the second half of the film. Was it some sort of fantasy? Imagination of what could have been? Was this life after death?

As a standalone story, this second part could have worked, the disappearance of a lover, the reaction of the people left behind, the allusions to a past that was clearly tragic. But grafted onto what had come before just didn't work. It made no sense, had no logic, it meshed with nothing that had come before - in fact, it contradicted it.

I watched the whole film but with growing frustration. I'd still say watch to the end but I'd love to know what it was all about.

I am always caught up short when reminded of the fact that outside of cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, minorities, including gay men, foreigners and women have a terrible time in Argentina. Ara and Kossi have to keep their proclivities secret.

Nonetheless, Ara was virtually stalking Kossi before they made verbal contact. No wonder narrow-minded eyes put two and two together and came up with the correct answer.

The build up to the couple's sexual awakening was delicately done. So was their scene in the storage facility.

But it's all a fantasy really, albeit a riveting one to watch. The final MMA round could only exist in the context of a film such as this, not in real life. I didn't mind at all. I loved this light, optimistic film.

I know it's sci-fi and isn't true, but the best of the genre has to have some sort of internal logic and consistency. Here we have none. A "space virgin" somehow knows how to rig herself up in a spacesuit and at the same time detach a cargo pod from its holding ship. A bunch of what are basically chavs, in some way knows about the research ship in orbit above the colony planet and no one else does. And what's more, no one stops them from taking off for a recce. It's all ridiculous.

The aliens grow so fast that it defies belief. There are 47 minutes before the crash will happen. But the ship is full of huge adult xenomorphs in far less than that time. And who did they all sprout from? There were nowhere near enough facehugger victims.

The special effects were fair. The acting was too and the cast made a good attempt at portraying a bunch of loutish oiks.

Unfortunately though, there was no real tension or horror. It was as clear as day who would survive to the end. And the strategies invented to avoid being impregnated were not feasible - OK, neutralise heat but the facehuggers can still sense vibrations or movement and can hear.

Watch it, but don't expect anything like the two masterpieces that were the first two films in the franchise to come out.