Prometheus Sequel (ALIEN: Covenant)

[SNIKT1950]

The people *****ing on the idea of Weaver coming back to headline are just dumb and know nothing about how to sell a movie nor revive a franchise.

There's nothing greater in Hollywood than a [well-done] comeback.

 

[Bravomite]

I wouldn't mind Alien3 being officially retconned out of cannon... I think I could learn to appreciate it more for it's purity if it was just some nightmarish hyper sleep dream haha. If Star Wars can bring back familiar and loved characters to clear the air after the prequels then there is no reason why Aliens cannot do the same (although they have a bit more air to clear!).

 

[theuzi9mm]

The people *****ing on the idea of Weaver coming back to headline are just dumb and know nothing about how to sell a movie nor revive a franchise.

There's nothing greater in Hollywood than a [well-done] comeback.

the key is WELL DONE.....which will be hard to do judging by past attempts with other franchises.

 

[jye4ever]

GOTG2 back to the #1 box office spot.

Poor AC.

I feel confident now saying that Prometheus was an overall better movie.

 

[JAWS]

Coming from a guy that sold the grail Hulk ...

Hey not having a job makes you do crazy and desperate things.

What did Salvation do differently that was unliked? By not being a time travel movie? By taking place in the future? No I liked that.

It just wasn't executed well. Bale sucked. CGI Arnold sucked. Tim Burton's hoe being Skynet sucked. McG sucked. It was just a dumb, mediocre movie.

Other then the last one I find something entertaining about all the Terminator sequel. I think the action in 3 has some of the series best. I found 4 to be very entertaining and wish they would have continued with that and not given us the abomination that followed it.

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.

Hey Khev good to see you liked it for the most part. I pretty much agree with everything you said.

Like you I found the film to be very intense at times and that is no small feat for a series going on this long.

Far from perfect but I really liked it.


Now Khev, I just watched Logan again last night and liked it even more. What is wrong with you man?

 

[spindrift]

Fox won't proceed with any more Alien movies now- look at the numbers...
However Ridley can still make some great films- I just think interest is very low for this franchise no matter how good a film may be

 

[crows]

i will never forget how KoRn in the 90s made a video inspired by Alien. I always loved watching on MTV late at night, not sure why i remembered that just now

 

[GasparZizou]

Man, ****ing try-hards, they're so lame.

HR Giger did make his microphone stand though.

 

[YoNoSe]

The last thing you want to do is try. And try hard? Pffft.

Mehlennial slang.

 

[guyver1]

I thought Hicks was pretty much a corpse . I guess the weird clone Ripley from Resurrection could possibly appear in a future film.. but nah

 

[crows]

Man, ****ing try-hards, they're so lame.

HR Giger did make his microphone stand though.

 

[GasparZizou]

The last thing you want to do is try. And try hard? Pffft.

Mehlennial slang.

I don't try, I succeed.

 

[Rotfish]

I don't mind that the Xenomorphs are the machinations of an android (the first of its kind) with a god complex.

What I do mind is that they rushed to get to the punch and even revealed part of it prior to release. I really like the concepts, but their execution lacks passion and restraint.

 

[FACEBOX]

After reading Ridley's reasoning behind why David bombed the engineers, the fail continues.

https://www.alien-covenant.com/news/ridley-scott-explains-why-david-bombed-engineers

It's almost unbelievable that any film can be considered "good" if the director has to fill in his mistakes in the plot/story during an interview.
Alien: Awakening (the next movie) should be a 5 minute movie of a Queen alien awakening from this horrible nightmare that is the Prometheus and Covenant train wreck. Then in a blind rage proceeds to lay eggs on the spacecraft we see in ALIEN, only to have a lone facehugger hatch and kill the pilot.
Screen goes black, then reference the ALIEN movie.

This is the only way the continuity will make any sense, and also explain why the xenomorphs are so pissed off. They all take place in the future. The aliens saw these movies before they existed.
"You killed the Engineers in Prometheus.
You killed the origin in Covenant.
You will not kill me". (Big Chap-John Conner crossover)

 

[crows]

the japanese poster is nice

 

[FACEBOX]

That looks badass.
Like it's a movie poster of the Alien home world.

 

[crows]

international poster

 

[ironwez20]

Wheres the Japanese poster?

 

[crows]

Wheres the Japanese poster?

 

[Dellyboy]

Ive just watched the alien covenant prologues (which i didi not know existed until today) and had a wee chuckle when Danny Mcbride asks the captain, who looks rather ill if he is feeling alright, to which the Captain replies "I'm just burning up"