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Despite upping the action and letting loose plenty more killer aliens, this prequel lacks most of the tension found in the first two films in the franchise. One area this film does deliver where the previous fell short is the exploration of the day the aliens came to Earth. Instead of just of few minutes of normal life being thrown into chaos before skipping ahead to the post-apocalyptic world, this whole film takes place as the world begins to crumble. Not long after things go south, the plot starts to fizzle out. There’s no concrete endgame to this story. If the lead characters (portrayed with solid performances by Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn) were on a specific quest that was supposed to get them to safety, there would be more urgency. Instead, it’s just a bunch of pit stops. Also, remaining as quiet as possible is the gimmick that this franchise is built on. Characters have to take extreme steps to keep the aliens from hearing them, but in this film, the concept feels watered-down thanks to there being plenty of other sounds that keep the creatures distracted. There’s an attempt to add new lore to the franchise, but it’s too vague to mean anything.
**1/2