that needs to be a 2 pack, need someone to do the fingering!
I just saw it last night. It's a solid 7/10 in my book. Has severe editing and pacing issues. It entertains but feels more like a spinoff movie IMHO than a core movie. Fassbender is great and you could tell where that crossing prologue could have gone (should have kept it in) and the opening scene just reeked as if it had a lot more to it. The first act was good, I agree, but it went downhill fast. Editing and pacing are not the best and again you are left with more questions than answers.
Ridley's past hallmarks with Sci-fi and tension and direction just aren't there in this. The whole movie did feel rushed, the prologue sequence was done over the main titles, which just seemed to me they did it just to 'fit it in' because they knew they had to. There must be a lot more to that, perhaps on the dvd when it comes out.
Why would David's hair even grow in the first place? He obviously can't self repair like Walter can. I agree I thought it just stupid how NO ONE in the crew thinks it odd that shortly after meeting long haired David, he cuts his hair to look like Walter....If a complaint about Prometheus was that the characters acted dumb and stupid, this is no better in that regard.
Basically all my assumptions were correct and I really am not sure this is the direction I myself want to see it go in. I agree with others who say Prometheus visually is better (it is). I knew going in to NOT expect an "Alien" movie but it does just seem off kilter somewhat. I don't 'hate' it, but I don't 'love' it either.
yes and maybe it will turn into something really good- I think Nolan needs to go back into the sci-fi/thriller genre again because this seems out of place for him
Just seen it and it is ok for first time viewer but most already know this franchise by now. As for this movie, it's barely ok. The formula is really the same. Boring, actually. Good thing Mr. Green went before afternoon and not IMAX.
I don't get the hate for Covenant. By no means is it perfect, but some of the scenes in this movie (in particular the first 5 minutes) are better than most movies I have seen the past few years. The first half I admit is the best part of the movie, when the xenomorph finally appears it feels like a Cliff's Notes version of Alien. But that gripe aside, for me there is more good than bad so I left satisfied. I loved David. Any scene with him and Walter are the best scenes in the movie.
And I am happy with his overall part in the genesis of the Alien.
I also do think the effects on the CG xenomorph should have been given another few passes because there are 2 shots where it is embarrassingly bad. Hopefully it is worked on before the bluray hits.
I hope it does well enough to get one more made so Ridley Scott can just finish this prequel series off.
I agree with your summary Snikt, our scores are a little different lol but your comments are all on point. First 20-30 mins was interesting Sci-Fi but it reminded me more of Danny Boyle's sunshine than Scott's Alien movie (not a bad thing at all). But I already found myself questioning some points:
What were the roles of all 16 members of the Covenant crew? I'm guessing they all had vital roles but unlike Alien, Scott doesn't bother to set this up (would have been useful character development). I swear that Danny McBride / Tennessee was seemingly the covenant pilot and repairman (as he went on to fix the sails ... I think that was him).
Billy Crudup's character tells us that the company judged him not to be leadership material because of his religious 'fanaticism' which is fine. My query here is why make him second in command ... Seems kind of risky as that's a position that could (and did) lead to a leadership role.
I know Daniels voices this opinion but what the heck were these people doing abandoning their original mission that they had literally spent years preparing for? I know for story reasons but that was probably the first moment when I thought uh oh stupidity lies ahead. In alien the company wants them to investigate the message and there are bonus incentives, in aliens it's their job to investigate why they have lost contact with the colonists. In covenant it would have been sensible to continue on with their mission (respect the lives of the 2000 colonists on board) and report the stray signal to the company so they could investigate.
Act two I have more narrative issues:
Out of the 15 crew members and Walter that survive poor James Franco lol why did they send all but three of them down to the planet? If the Covenant needs 16 crew members don't you think it would have made more sense to just send down a few well equipped members of the team on the initial exploratory mission? Don't send Walter he is vital to the ship (in the event that this planet is not ideal and they need to resume their original mission).
Don't send both Crudup and Daniels .... Basic protocol should dictate that you do not send both your superior officer and second in command into risky scenario (in aliens Dallas investigates and Ripley stays on board). Otherwise your left in a bizarro situation where McBride is essentially in charge of the ship! Also (and as mentioned) I still don't know what the roles of all the crew were it bugs me lol. Here we see Crudup as the co-pilot of the lander. Ferris is the lander pilot. Crudup's character's wife is a scientist I think but everyone else is just meat. Also why only one lander on this massive ship?
Now we have 12 of the crew and Walter on the ground. They leave Ferris by the lander on her own whilst the rest of them disappear off to investigate mysterious signal... Wtf?! Ferris is doing essential repairs on the lander (their only means of escape) yet they don't even leave her one soldier / guard. Usually the co-pilot would at least stay but as it's acting captain Crudup he can't stay because he needs to be in the thick of the action making bad decisions ... Uh all wrong.
At this point in the movie we have only really been introduced to 6 characters (Walter, Daniels, Crudup, Tennessee, Ferris and Crudup's wife). There are still 10 members of the crew that we don't know anything about (I could not even tell some of them apart). Scott then kills off two of these characters (Ferris and Crudup's wife) in a fun scene but narratively this seems like a mistake as we now only have 3 characters left on the planets surface that we can be invested in and 7 meat bags (discounting the meat bag who gives birth to the first neomorph). Many meat bags dieing in gory ways is ok but if we not invested in the characters it's meaningless. Less characters who are well developed would allow you chance to care about them and it also helps to create tension which is something that this movie is lacking (other than those Fassbender on Fassbender flute scenes).
I have more grumbles lol but that's enough for now.
Good points all around.
I'll just go into one though: why they deviate from course.
I thought the arguments given by Oram (Crudup's character) were solid. Risky, yes, but nothing unheard of in Sci-Fi movies.
All in all I thought this crew was a lot cleverer than the Prometheus crew.
As for Oram and Daniels going dow, heck, Kirk took Spock and McCoy along with him all the time!
But seriously, the landing party were composed of security guys, Oram's wife, who was the biologist (the one taking the samples), Faris (who was the pilot), Daniels (who was the terraforming expert), Oram (the only questionable choice to go down, I'd say), Walter (another questionable choice, but he was a great multi-tasking addition to a landing party). While on the Covenant you have Tennessee (the other pilot), Upworth (medic), and two other guys (don't remember what exactly they did).
Sounds like a decent split, especially considering that if anything went wrong, you could always get other specialists off hyper sleep.
Wait people actually remember the names and roles of these useless characters.
None of them mattered to me they were all mindless empty characters.
Oh my wife died ok let me now make jokes a minute later.
Oh no the ion storm is blocking us you know the ship high up above the planet that can just bypass the storm but then again the storm became a non issue when it had to be.
The gore was nowhere as gory as I was expecting.
The climax with her swinging around the ship on a cable was cringe worthy bad.
The Engineer-Xeno origin yeah like whatever they can keep it i'll just use the scarier one in my imagination which is I DON'T KNOW.
Yes i'm watching Alien tonight for some much needed cleansing lol.
