Prometheus Sequel (ALIEN: Covenant)

[guyver1]

The more I've let the movie simmer, the more I'm thinking: Covenant is a better film (structurally/script-wise) than Prometheus, but Prometheus is more interesting. I remember nearly getting goosebumps the first time I saw the Engineer wake up. Hearing it speak in the deleted scene was equally awe-inspiring.

Prometheus, as clumsy as it is, raises so many exciting, fantastical questions. Covenant sweeps some under the rug and offers unsatisfying answers for others. In short, it works -- and casual moviegoers may be more pleased -- but it could've been so much cooler.

I'd rather Ridley took his time and kept going with the Engineer storyline. Keep the Neomorph element, but put off the Xenomorph for as long as possible. Dunno about you all, but it's more exciting for me to see precursors of Alien DNA in these movies than the classic Xeno itself. Show me more Engineers. More ships. More weird, intermediate stages and mutations. More things that hint at what becomes the world of the 1979 film rather than that world exactly. Because once you finally see it, there's no reason to continue.

I'm still trying to figure out what alien was it that wrapped itself around the very first Engineer from the original Alien. All the aliens from Pro weren't as big as far as size that I can tell

I guess they never show us in a film

 

[Wor-Gar]

We need more intermediate stages!!!

 

[guyver1]

Where the hell did this facehugger this size come from

 

[crows]

I'm still trying to figure out what alien was it that wrapped itself around the very first Engineer from the original Alien. All the aliens from Pro weren't as big as far as size that I can tell

I guess they never show us in a film

Where the hell did this facehugger this size come from

Thats david

 

[Bo Shrek]

25 years from now people will look back and see Prometheus as a masterpiece

 

[guyver1]

Thats david

Oh guess I was wrong..thanks

Now I feel I have to see this

David,really

Khev you forgot to mention this

 

[crows]

It all points to it

 

[guyver1]

It all points to it

Watching the spoiler review on YouTube ..I'm speechless

 

[Rotfish]

Oh god -- it's Anakin all over again!

Yeah as that one comedian said "I don't want to see where the stuff I like came from, I just want to see the stuff I like."

What's the alternative? More Xeno-centric movies? I thought that was old hat.

 

[guyver1]

Now that the plot for this was revealed on YouTube.. I feel that this franchise has lost what I thought was unique about the concept of the alien

I wish now that they didn't come up with this film

 

[jye4ever]

My 2nd time seeing it now.
It felt like dating a younger, hot (but intellectually challenged) woman and having a fun night out.
However, while I consider her a fling and others might see her as girlfriend material.... she's definitely not marriage material like her older sister (Alien). Meanwhile, their cool father has become a senior citizen and an alcoholic who wants trick women into having more of his kids.

All in all, a fun ride but definitely not a classic.

That last sentence says it all.

 

[EVILFACE]

By far the most disturbing moment in the film and possibly the entire series was:

Spoiler

when Daniels asked David about him helping her with the cabin and instead of playing along he deliberately dropped his cover since he knew there was nothing she could do about it at that point. Just so he could look into her eyes as she realized that he'd won and that all those horrifying things that were done to Shaw would indeed be done to her. Freaking diabolical. And the fact that it ended on that note makes me totally fine with the over the top cheese of her surviving the battle with the first xeno and then later when the cargo hatch was opened against the second.

Disturbing for sure but she brought it upon herself. She even looked at the missing hand. Anyone could tell it was cut off instead of bit off.....

 

[theuzi9mm]

Okay here are some quick thoughts:

ALIEN: Covenant is not a great movie. Not even close. However I liked enough of it strongly enough that I had a smile on my face at the end, I thought it ended on a really ballsy high note. I don't know what I'd rate it, it was a mixed bag to be sure.

Bits and pieces:

Spoiler

1. I can't believe that we got yet another "crew in cryosleep wakes up early, intercepts a transmission, gets impregnated and brings an alien back on the ship, said alien gets blown out the airlock." I mean what, they seriously did that again?

2. However...I was *completely* blind-sided by the false ending. In fact this might be the first time a false ending caught me off guard since The Lost World. I literally thought it was over when they crushed the first stowaway Xenomorph and flew back to the ship. Yes they completely cheated (a facehugger impregnates a guy who stays conscious??) but right now I don't care because I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I did guess the twist that David sawed his own hand off but I assumed that the film would leave his identity ambiguous.

3. This movie might have the absolute dumbest space farers in the history of science-fiction. And Billy Crudup? THE most incompetently stupid captain in the history of film, period. I almost expected David to say "Are you ****ing serious??? I literally told you that 'it's perfectly safe' when you entered my lair and then you witnessed me cozying up with an alien that just ripped the head off your crew member and then when I tell you that the eggs are 'perfectly safe' five minutes later you believed me??? I just did that as a joke not to actually kill you but oh well." I mean he literally could have.

4. But the movie had scenes that were genuinely intense. That first "back bursting" scene really seemed to capture the horror and chaos of what witnessing something like that would be like. People panicking and slipping on blood is always an unsettling site to behold. And just watching someone in that panicky state of choosing their own life over a friend like a drowning victim or something. I just really liked the vibe of that whole sequence.

5. I still lol'd when Danny McBride asked "are we doing full quarantine?" Oh NOW you guys suddenly have safety protocols.

6. I chuckled at the "Uncle Bob-ness" of Good David vs. Bad David but the payoff (at the end) was worth it.

7. I was braced for an odd "flute scene" and thought it was weird but then I realized that it was a nice moment that let the film breathe a little bit, a rare commodity in these tentpole pictures these days. Plus the oddness of Fassbender kissing himself was something genuinely unique, also a rare commodity in this era of "retread the past."

8. Having Shaw dismissed off camera felt like Hicks and Newt being erased from Alien 3 or Saruman getting kicked out of theatrical ROTK. I understand why they did it but it always feels a bit cheap and wrong.

9. Hearing ALIEN's old school 1979 score mixed with Prometheus was kind of weird, as was David playing the actual theme on his flute.

10. As much as I loved the surprise showdown at the end it did seem a bit rushed. For a film that actually crossed the line into "bad taste" a couple of times (which actually worked to keep me a bit on my toes) I was surprised at the restraint in the shower scene. After the decades of fans speculating "What did the alien do to Lambert, why did she appear to be hanging with no pants??" I literally thought "Well here you go Ridley, you've got the Xenomorph standing face to face with a completely naked girl, I guess we'll find out," and then...apparently he just killed her quickly like everyone else. Okay I guess that ends that particular mystery with a whimper.

11. I actually liked that we didn't see too much of "Engineer society." Not that it matters anymore because who cares at this point but we did finally see the Space Jockey homeworld (or at least "a" homeworld) and they wisely used it as a backdrop location and didn't waste time exploring even more things that shouldn't be explained.

12. I thought that Danny McBride was one of the dumbest casting decisions imaginable for an ALIEN film and might have liked his character the most.

13. For the most part I loved all the visuals, especially the aliens themselves. I really liked seeing the main Xenomorphs occassionally standing and walking upright.

14. The big action sequence of Daniels being tethered to the dropship ramp as McBride flew all over the place trying to shake the Xenomorph was so ridiculous yet at the same time pretty fun and cool in a totally contrived movie kind of way.

I'm sure I can think of other things that were stupid as well as other things that I liked. A strange mixed bag to be sure and if I still cared about Alien as a franchise then I'm sure I'd say "this isn't canon!" but eh, I don't care and at the end of the day I left the theater entertained. Probably my favorite film of the year so far (again, a very low bar to achieve) and the one I'll most likely revisit the soonest.

I agree on your point #4. That part was shown almost in full sequence on the Alien screening on Alien Day I went to. That was probably the only 'intense' sequence of the film. It only works the first time you see it though, which is odd because as many times as I've seen Alien, certain sequences still are intense and draw you in. When I saw that footage on the Alien Day screening for the firs time, yeah it worked, but when i saw the movie last thursday, yes I knew it was coming, but I did not have that same intensity. How is it that Alien scenes nearly 40yrs later still get you drawn into the scene/character and this movie doesn't....hmmm...must be the director.....

 

[jye4ever]

I agree on your point #4. That part was shown almost in full sequence on the Alien screening on Alien Day I went to. That was probably the only 'intense' sequence of the film. It only works the first time you see it though, which is odd because as many times as I've seen Alien, certain sequences still are intense and draw you in. When I saw that footage on the Alien Day screening for the firs time, yeah it worked, but when i saw the movie last thursday, yes I knew it was coming, but I did not have that same intensity. How is it that Alien scenes nearly 40yrs later still get you drawn into the scene/character and this movie doesn't....hmmm...must be the director.....

lol great ending to your post.

So true though about how the classics hold up, look at The Exorcist to this day still shocking and that's saying alot in this desensitized world.

The classics always do.

 

[theuzi9mm]

lol great ending to your post.

So true though about how the classics hold up, look at The Exorcist to this day still shocking and that's saying alot in this desensitized world.

The classics always do.

indeed. I will say this though, Shaw's C-section scene in Prometheus was done pretty well. When I recently re-watched that before AC, I'd say that was probably the most 'intense' sequence of Prometheus, and it does still hold up to draw you in and keep the tension.

 

[CallMeTheDoctor]

I had a blast with the film, but then again I also enjoyed Prometheus. I still think to this day that scrapping the title of Paradise Lost was dumb. It had plenty of nods to Milton's work.

 

[Khev]

This movie really does collapse if you get hung up on the foolishness of the cast. Even moreso than Prometheus. The whole time they were down on the planet all I kept thinking was that they could literally be on "Skull Island: The Planet" for all they knew. T-Rexes, Kongs, kaijus, any conceivable killer insect or other creepy crawly to say nothing of poisonous plants, viruses and other toxins. It boggles the mind really.

They should have had said that Covenant was damaged to the point where they had to make a pit stop. That they needed some critical resource that just happened to be on the planet forcing them to go down. Or that their navigation system was wrecked and they had the choice of either living out their lives on the ship until the air ran out or hope they get lucky down on the planet. Then when David was brought on board they could have said that he fixed the navigation or something. So many other reasons they could have had the team go down to explore a completely untested planet.

The film's plot is pretty indefensible. The reason I was still able to enjoy it was because the mayhem and tone was so dark and unsettling. And that

Spoiler

in the end no one was rewarded for their stupidity. They all died in ways that made me sympathize for them. Maybe like a "good" slasher movie where technically everyone's an ***** but you forgive the movie and just embrace the shlock. But if I didn't have that feeling I'd completely write off the film like so many of you on account of the absurdity of the characters' actions.

 

[guyver1]

This film seems worse than " jumping the shark " of the franchise.. it could bury it. Why confuse us more Ridley

 

[Khev]

This film seems worse than " jumping the shark " of the franchise.. it could bury it. Why confuse us more Ridley

As a "prequel" to ALIEN and ALIENS it's still better than TPM/AOTC/ROTS. But otherwise yeah, best not to think of it as being connected to A1/A2. However I do think that Covenant can be enjoyed as a parallel reboot of sorts. Interesting that the only truly great prequel (Rogue One) was made by a different director than the original film. These Academy Award nominated/winning directors (Lucas, Scott, and Jackson) apparently really struggle with going back to tell the origins of their own films.

 

[guyver1]

As a "prequel" to ALIEN and ALIENS it's still better than TPM/AOTC/ROTS. But otherwise yeah, best not to think of it as being connected to A1/A2. However I do think that Covenant can be enjoyed as a parallel reboot of sorts.

Not to mention the whole anthology including AVP and Requiem IMO.

I guess it all depends on Awakening. If Scott doesn't pull it off, I'd say end the franchise in films