Review Alien: Covenant (2017)

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
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Your thoughts on this movie.....

The crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination, and must attempt a harrowing escape.



 
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Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
I am a huge fan of the Alien series and, deep down, like them all to a lesser or greater extent.

This looks, to me, like a course correction from where Prometheus was supposed to be heading and Ridley is bowing to fan demand for Alien action. This might work. It might not.

But of course I will be still going to see it, even if it is a turkey in the making! Just like I did all of the others.

It's painful being an alien fan sometimes! :)
 

Alex Vojacek

Administrator
Staff member
VIP
I really really really hope that I won't need to see another "surgical operation" or "day of the tentacle" scenes.
The first one was a serious dissapointment for me and the best Alien movie is still Aliens (second)
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Yes, I was disappointed with Prometheus too. The movie kind of died for me when we learned a little too much about the Space Jockeys. I wish they had just left the mystery of that skeleton in the first Alien unsolved.
 

Elessar

Member: Rank 2
I love the original Alien,
and I don't like Prometheus. It's not about its (weak) link with Alien, but about the movie itself:
Why should I care for a bunch of stupid, irresponsible pseudo-astronauts wreaking havoc on an innocent planet?

Having said that, it's fun to watch Prometheus on big screen at least once, if you're able to shut down your mind. The movie is pretty eerie.

So I'll watch the new one in cinema no matter what. I can't judge anything based on a trailer.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10



A full scene from the forthcoming Alien Covenant has been released, to help to tempt us all into the cinema....

Don't watch if you don't want to see any of this movie in advance!

And if you do watch this scene, what are your impressions of it?



 
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Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
It was an okay scene in my opinion.

Just okay.

I was hoping for much more than okay though.

And the similarities or "homage" to a certain other scene were painfully obvious and I thought very self-conscious.

We don't want to be teased. We want to be entertained. With new stuff. Not rehashes of old stuff.

Ultimately, it was a bit yawn-worthy I thought.
 

MovieKnut

Member: Rank 2
Yes, I was disappointed with Prometheus too. The movie kind of died for me when we learned a little too much about the Space Jockeys. I wish they had just left the mystery of that skeleton in the first Alien unsolved.
Completely agree with you Doc. It was disappointing to learn that one of cinema's most icon creations, the space jockey, was a large man in a spacesuit. If Ridley had used Jon Spaiht's Engineers script (essentially Prometheus but staying closer to Alien mythology) I believe that Prometheus could have been one of the best entries in the Alien franchise. Not sure why they invited Lindelof to adapt an already great script
 

Janine The Barefoot

Wacky Norwegian Woman
Are you looking forward to this film?

Or can't you be doing with it?

Either way, please explain why?



It's got to be done. For those of us who spent any amount of time wondering what happened to the colonists sent out to investigate what lay unexplored on LV426 (?), this is the closest we may ever come to seeing at least a part of how that experience may have played out.

By the time the Marines landed on the planet only Newt was left to tell the story. Along with the kind of physical evidence archeologists spend years trying to cobble together and that the Marines had to figure out on their own if they hoped to save themselves from the same fate as the colonists. We could make guesses about it. We could speculate. We could take Newt's story and combine it with what the Marines went though. But in the end, you still want to see it. You still want to know how it all played out for them. Especially given the fact that they were terraformers sent out to that ship without any knowledge of what it really contained. All because one "little" man in a huge corporation wanted to make a name for himself along with a boatload of cash... regardless of the cost in human lives.

And Fassbender is still an enigma. Is he the "A-2" like the one on the Nostromo who put weapons tech. collection and the company itself ahead of the crew he was supposed to serve; and who, according to Bishop, "...were always a little bit twitchy". Or is he a "Pinocchio" of a completely different kind? One who, now that his "father/master" is now dead will adapt his own programming and evolve into something completely new & different. Something neither really good nor truly bad but rather a being with his own agenda to serve... and will that "being" with programming of his own, serve as a protagonist or an antagonist especially when it comes to choosing between the human population of the ship vs. the "Engineers" or their "bio-weapons"?

I get that a lot of people thought Prometheus was a jumbled up waste of time... but a lot of people feel the same way about space travel in general. I believe that both hold as many questions as answers and that most of them are best left to the interpretation of any who choose to become involved.

One way or the other it's going to be a great ride and I wouldn't miss it for the world.
 

Janine The Barefoot

Wacky Norwegian Woman
Looking forward to it though Prometheus was a little disappointing.
Hux, I live for the "moderate" reply because those are usually the ones I don't have to consider before responding to (trolls, war, teargas being launched from "reply" to "reply"... in any case). "Prometheus was a little disappointing" is to replies what the smell of good, really good, coffee in the morning is to those of us who dream about the sun like others dream about winning the lottery!

Oddly enough, I actually understand the reasons so many people found Prometheus so lacking. Even those who aren't driven solely to the theater in search of non-stop action and unlimited FX budgets still have things they look for and are frustrated by not finding. For me, one is character development. If I don't care about the characters... then kill them dead and get my butt outta that seat ASAP!!! Next, it's FX in service of story instead of the other way around (rather like bad porn IMHO). I get as reved-up as the next gal when the sex actually has a place in script and when it's well filmed.... But like I said, characters first, FX in service of story next and then so on and so forth.

I think on a surface level, Prometheus felt unsatisfying because the action didn't always feel connected to the story and it didn't feel that way because we really weren't given enough info on the characters to fully understand their nature. Thereby making their actions questionable or difficult to find the motivation behind. In Aliens, we knew who those Marines were. We totally understood Ripley and were completely empathetic to Newt. We connected to their plight, we rooted for them and we were furious when their betrayal by both The Company and their commanding officer (not too mention the ridiculous little geek The Company sent along as their rep. with yet another secret mandate and his own hidden agenda) used incomplete knowledge so ineptly that "our guys" paid for that lack with their lives... and that in the end, those lives were still worth less than the "profit" they were after.

We didn't get any of that with Prometheus. It was pretty much "science geeks in space": archeologists, anthropologists, geologists, biologists, botanists, chemists and so forth. Also including the Capt. & crew along with "David the space-age boy" and his angry, over-bearing older human sister. They weren't in space long enough (awake) to get to know and once on the planet too many things went wrong too fast for the audience to connect to either them or the action itself. So why bother getting invested and what would you even get out of it if you did?

It took my second or third viewing to realize that the characters were there, revealing oh so very little in order to demonstrate how much we think (as humans) we understand, without ever really knowing that we don't actually even know what we think we do... as evidenced by "The Engineers". Then, still in the face of overwhelming destruction and, to a degree, the knowledge forced upon the sole survivor that we know almost nothing at all when it comes to our own heritage... still we search on as if we are not only entitled to that knowledge but that we are owed it as well. It is hubris of the highest order and mankind is the embodiment of it and has been since the first ape picked up a rock to throw at a piece of fruit in a tree.

Prometheus challenges us to set aside everything we believe in and start over. To surrender to the fact that when it comes to space, not only do we not know anything, we may never know anything, not anything at all. Prometheus demands that we the audience use what was basically a framework to construct our own understanding and accept that it may never be complete... or for that matter, even be a true representation of where our place is and how we fit into it. Or, for that matter, if we actually do have a place that is "ours" and if so, how the hell are we supposed to keep it safe?

As I saw it, the enormous "Buddha/Alien" head served as a gigantic reminder that space is another "country" and it's very possible that it's a "country" we will never be able to survive in, much less truly understand.

But what do I really know anyway? Opinions are like arseholes.... and you can fill in the rest! :emoji_alien: :emoji_eye: :emoji_footprints:


However.... I still stand by my feeling that the sequel must be made, that I have to be in one of the seats at the first show, on the very first morning it opens..... and 3D makes my brain ache!

:emoji_hugging: [ insert popcorn & coke emoji here!]
 

I_dont_care

Member: Rank 1
From the trailer it looks as though they've sent some sort of "Adam's Ark" onto this planet inhabited by the alien "virus". Supposedly, they're there to "start a new world" or populate the planet or something. If this is the case, why would they send a gay couple who wouldn't be able to have children? I mean, they can have chest bursters (apparently, someone in this film will have a "back burster") but not human children. I have a feeling the film may stink.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Adam Savage Tours the Alien: Covenant Set in New Video




Director Ridley Scott is a master of envisioning sets that become characters unto themselves. He’s an old school director, for the most part, who takes audiences into his world thanks to practical sets, built from scratch, that his actors can interact with. While Alien: Covenant does include its share of CGI effects and details, from what we’ve seen so far, it’s no exception to the Scott style of utilizing practical sets. Now, in a new featurette released online, we can see just how practical we can expect the film to be.

Former Mythbuster Adam Savage visited the Covenant set to see what goes into to bringing the world of Alien: Covenant to life for his Tested video series. The video gives new insight into the world being created for the film, in addition to offering a brief lesson on the history of cinematic set building. Viewers are taken inside the Dreadnaught spacecraft, last seen in Scott’s Prometheus.

Though used in Covenant’s predecessor, Savage reveals that the set had to be rebuilt from scratch, which was no small undertaking. The detail revealed by the video is incredible, and gives a close-up glimpse of the control panels and the famous engineer’s chair, which first captured imaginations in 1979 with Alien, then known as “space jockeys.”

A lot of these are details you’d never notice, but which add to the overall feel of the film. Savage comments on the hard work being done by the set hands and how it deepens the experience of the film.

“Everyone here is getting ready and weathering this thing. They’re all adding different textures and layers to it. All the stuff that I’ve done in weathering my small props, it’s really almost the same process. The trick is to add color, to add texture that doesn’t necessarily pop to your eye but helps bring the details out. It helps to add layering and weathering and, really, a story. If you just paint it one color it just looks like a single object. But when you add that weathering, you are adding more of a narrative to that object.”


While the video doesn’t go into detail about what the specifics of that narrative might be, it’s awe-inspiring to see the work going into bringing this chapter of the Alien saga to life. It’s part of how Scott approaches his films as a director, and that translates to the screen in the form of impressive visual storytelling. Even in a film like Prometheus, which was panned by critics and fans, was often stunningly beautiful, which was a credit to the set design on that film.

Hopefully the hard work pays off on Alien: Covenant, which continues to build a bridge between Prometheus and the original Alien. With what we’ve seen so far, the film will, at the very least, look amazing. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments as they arise.



 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Alien: Covenant First Reactions Praise Ridley Scott’s Latest

The early reactions for Alien Covenant are in. In only 14 days, the aliens are back. Alien: Covenant is coming to theaters, telling a part of the story of what happened between the events of Prometheous and Alien. The combination prequel and sequel certainly has fans of the franchise excited
There is also a brand new group of human characters for the audience to care about and root for – all the while knowing that most of them are almost certainly not going to make it.

The early reactions to Alien: Covenant have come to Twitter, and they are highly positive.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Alien: Covenant First Reactions: It's Better Than Prometheus


It's been five years since Ridley Scott returned to the cinematic world of Alien with Prometheus, a movie that was poised to be something truly special. A prequel to one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. But it didn't quite live up to the expectations that many of us had placed on it. Now, Ridley Scott is back once again with Alien: Covenant, a movie that looks to deliver in the way that Prometheus didn't and, if the first reactions to the movie are to be believed, those who were let down last time may want to make room in their schedule for this one.


The world premiere of Alien: Covenant recently took place in London and, while full reviews of the movie are still under embargo, some social media reactions have surfaced. Lucky for fans of the franchise who are hoping this is going to be more in line with the original Alien, the reactions are mostly positive and promise the movie is scary and better than Prometheus. Here's what ComicUniverse's Jordan Samuel had to say about the movie.



"#AlienCovenant is definitely better than Prometheus, bringing back the needed horror into the franchise. Deadly beautiful and mysterious"




In fairness to Prometheus, the movie has found an audience in the handful of years since its release. Also, even just based on what we've seen in the trailers and other promotional material for Alien: Covenant, it is clear that Prometheus really set up what is going to happen in this movie. So even if you don't like Prometheus and you wind up loving Alien: Covenant, it will have probably been a necessary evil, so to speak. Here is what JoBlo Editor-In-Chief Paul Shirey had to say about it.



#AlienCovenant is an intense, strange and nightmarish continuation of the franchise. A great companion to Prometheus & the Alien mythos. Bloody, odd, mysterious and a staggering picture of madness at times. Horrific in unexpected ways. #AlienCovenant"



One of the many issues fans had with Prometheus is that, despite being part of the Alien universe, it didn't really seem to have many ties to the actual Alien lore. Even the marketing campaign sort of downplayed the connections to the franchise. That has been far from the case for Alien: Covenant. The title, the posters, the trailers, all of it have been leaning heavily on classic Xenomorph action and lots of tension, blood and scares, which is what many want from an Alien movie. So it should be nice for those looking forward to this movie that it sounds very much like those promises have been delivered on.

Alien: Covenant stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, James Franco, Noomi Rapace, Billy Crudup and Demian Bechir. The movie was directed by Ridley Scott and is set to hit theaters on May 19.
 

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Alien Covenant reviews: First reactions from premiere - it's 'HORRIFIC, nightmarish'

ALIEN: COVENANT premiered in London last night - and the early reviews are in from fans who were in attendance.

Although verdicts from legit movie critics remain under embargo, nothing can stop those who were in London last night for the big launch from tweeting their thoughts.

And it seems the response is mostly good - with most agreeing that the film improves on Prometheus.

“#AlienCovenant is definitely better than Prometheus,” @JordanESamuel said, “bringing back the needed horror into the franchise.

“Deadly beautiful and mysterious Ridley Scott brings back the series to its roots! Visuals are top notch a complete win in IMAX #AlienCovenant.”


User @scifiedcom said: “#AlienCovenant was without a doubt very #Alien. Lots to ponder! Expect a detailed write up in the coming days!”

“First impressions. More satisfying than Prometheus. Last act little messy re: the Aliens. Loved the cast and characters,” @_CorporalHicks wrote.

One moviegoer, @Arcticninjapaul, wrote: “#AlienCovenant is an intense, strange and nightmarish continuation of the franchise. A great companion to Prometheus & the Alien mythos.

“Bloody, odd, mysterious and a staggering picture of madness at times. Horrific in unexpected ways.

“Can't elaborate too much more. I dug the film & there's lots to chew on & too much to spoil. You'll have to see for yourself.”


Appearing on tonight's The Graham Norton Show, star Michael Fassbender joked about an alternate ending he had had in mind for the film.

“I saw it a few days ago and it is really good," he said in recording for tonight's programme.

“I thought it would be great for David to be dancing on the disco deck of the ship as the credits are rolling.

"I thought it would be rather funny to go for a Napoleon Dynamite thing for the character but Ridley didn’t go for it!”

Promotional materials for the film have certainly spooked, and received a largely positive reception from fans of the franchise.

The picture stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir and Jussie Smollett.

It’s out in the UK on May 12.
 
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