Alien: Covenant (2017)

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LelekPL wrote:I'm starting to fear that since I loved Prometheus, I'm gonna dislike this film.
If your main interest in this film is because it's a Prometheus sequel, then you will most likely be disappointed. Especially since
the reveal of what happened to Dr. Shaw feels like a huge disservice to her character.

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I also love the original Alien so maybe there's a chance I might like it.

I'm going to the marathon tomorrow. I'm still super excited. Even if I don't like Covenant it will be the first time I see Alien and Aliens in the cinema.

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LelekPL wrote:I also love the original Alien so maybe there's a chance I might like it.

I'm going to the marathon tomorrow. I'm still super excited. Even if I don't like Covenant it will be the first time I see Alien and Aliens in the cinema.
Yeah, hopefully you'll get more out of it than I did. Although I should warn you that in terms of pacing, it actually felt closer to Alien: Resurrection to me than any other Alien film. There's little build up and suspense, and when the creatures starting appearing, it all happens so fast as people are dying left and right with a lot of over the top gore.

I went to an Alien and Aliens marathon event for Alien Day last year, seeing them on the big screen was absolutely fantastic! Especially Aliens, which had the audience cheering and roaring with applause several times.

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LelekPL wrote:I also love the original Alien so maybe there's a chance I might like it.

I'm going to the marathon tomorrow. I'm still super excited. Even if I don't like Covenant it will be the first time I see Alien and Aliens in the cinema.
Wait, what. Where?

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Multikino and Helios chains both have marathons tomorrow. Multikino's is a little better because it starts with Covenant (and then goes with Alien, Aliens and Prometheus), while Helios ends with Covenant (starts with Prometheus, Alien and Aliens). I'm shocked you didn't know it.
TomsWindow wrote:Yeah, hopefully you'll get more out of it than I did. Although I should warn you that in terms of pacing, it actually felt closer to Alien: Resurrection to me than any other Alien film. There's little build up and suspense, and when the creatures starting appearing, it all happens so fast as people are dying left and right with a lot of over the top gore.
This honestly sounds terrible. Damn it. Maybe it's good my expectations are now very low, though.

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Alien: The Force Awakens - far, far more than I expected - with a dash of 'what if James Cameron directed Alien'.

But that isn't to say it isn't well done and I didn't like it - because it is very well done, hell maybe even a better put together film than Prometheus except for maybe the cinematography (I honestly don't know why Scott did this approach, except for maybe bashing us over the head with THIS ISN'T LIKE PROMETHEUS BUT LIKE THE ORIGINAL except Prometheus was closer visually to the original than you think?). And overall, as 'wrong' as it may seem to say, it's probably way too fun for its own good, Scott absolutely indulges in it, hence the Cameron/Aliens comparison (the tone is way closer to that) - exhibit a: that infamous shower scene capping the red-band teaser is even more hilarious here.

The characters and ensemble cast are brilliant, all far far easier to get on board with compared to Prometheus (thanks to the couples idea) and I appreciate Scott and the writers equalising things out between them in terms of emphasis. Performances were very good, just what you need - and of course Fassbender steals the show once again. And Kurzel's score is absolutely fantastic, blending Goldsmith references with own chilling original material effortlessly.

Don't want to say too much about the story....it's definitely like The Force Awakens in terms of repeating plot beats from the original in places, but thankfully Ridley injects it all with that Cameron-esque tone and overall 'steroids' that makes it all feel fresh-ish. But IMO it's the fresh elements - the Prometheus connections and the like - that I enjoyed most. Without saying too much - what they decide to follow-up on from Prometheus works and makes absolute sense in the grander scheme of things, of course-correcting this 'prequel franchise' back to Alien instead of being its own thing like Prometheus was. In fact the only problems I have are to do with the larger direction this takes and the familiarity of it all (and a flashback which kinda feels out of place), but I enjoyed it all so much in spite of that, and - again, cinematography aside - it's so well crafted that I cannot fault it. Very interested to see what curveball Ridley throws next with this.

8.5/10

and P.S. to close off the Prometheus comparisons - I'm torn between which one I like more....because Prometheus' flaws compared to this are offset by the potential it has to take the franchise in a whole other direction, a direction Scott and co decided not to take.

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So it's what I hoped this won't be. A good film but a turnaround in the franchise. Let's go back to our roots.

Extremely disappointed especially since he fucking confirmed it he did it because of "the fans". Pretty much proves Ridley is extremely weak when it comes to his own ideas.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this. If he backed down on the expansion of the universe then why the fuck he wants to do 2 more sequels to Covenant?

Actually, given his track record with Blade Runner where he needed 25 fucking years to finally make the definitive cut because of previous studio interference and so on... I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually the studios telling him to get rid of the Prometheus expansion because "people on the internet don't want it".

I honestly hate internet sometimes. Because this is what happens. It's just too much power and it can easily interfere with someone's work. And when it comes to art it's really crushing because regardless of what one might think, a lot of artists DO CARE about word of mouth (even if they shouldn't and they're trained to not do so). And a lot of rushed decisions can be made today based on internet "feedback".

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So over the course of this weekend, I watched every film in the Alien franchise in preparation for this movie [You can see my recap here: https://rendyreviews.com/revisit/the-alien-franchise]. Though I know this is the direct sequel to Prometheus, this is still an official Alien movie. An Alien movie by director Ridley Scott? The man who bought us the original?


As Ridley Scott gets older and his direction skills advanced through the ages, so does his VFX team. The CG of the new types of aliens are effective to the film’s action violence. There’s so many new types of death the film establishes that is gloriously gory. At some times it may get laughably dumb how people die, but then it gets surprisingly creative.


(https://rendyreviews.com/movies//alien-covenant-review)

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Alien or Prometheus, whichever it is closer to, I'm game.£

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RIFA wrote: I honestly don't know how to feel about this. If he backed down on the expansion of the universe then why the fuck he wants to do 2 more sequels to Covenant?
.
Because you can still do these, in this more familiar direction, rather than expanding on the Prometheus/engineer side of things. And yeah I will say that I wish we got a straight Prometheus sequel rather than this course correct

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