Alien Covenant

..and why not?
User avatar
Dr Markus
Posts: 17670
Joined: 07 Jan 2012, 18:16

Re: Alien Covenant

Postby Dr Markus » 15 May 2017, 11:57

Well, it's a good film as a stand alone film, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't really do anything for the franchise. It tried to complicate a simple idea that it didn't need to. The best way I can describe it is, imagine one of your favorite band that were edgy and new with their first album, when now they've gone mainstream and kinda loss their shine. The twist at the end is predictable as well.. The lead character, Danny, as the cutest face I've ever seen. When she was acting sad you just wanted to give her a big hug or something. McBride did a better job at acting that I thought he would.
Last edited by Dr Markus on 15 May 2017, 12:34, edited 1 time in total.
Drama Queenie wrote:You are a chauvinist of the quaintest kind. About as threatening as Jack Duckworth, you are a harmless relic of that cherished era when things were 'different'. Now get back to drawing a moustache on that page three model

User avatar
Dr Markus
Posts: 17670
Joined: 07 Jan 2012, 18:16

Re: Alien Covenant

Postby Dr Markus » 15 May 2017, 11:57

In other news, Alien and Aliens are fucking brilliant, those that say otherwise are chatting through their poop chute.
Drama Queenie wrote:You are a chauvinist of the quaintest kind. About as threatening as Jack Duckworth, you are a harmless relic of that cherished era when things were 'different'. Now get back to drawing a moustache on that page three model

User avatar
Penk!
Midnight to Six Man
Posts: 35784
Joined: 07 Aug 2004, 20:12
Location: Stockholm

Re: Alien Covenant

Postby Penk! » 15 May 2017, 12:52

Aliens is the greatest action film ever. I love it.

Alien III is an interesting failure and the one after that is a less interesting failure. Any spin-offs I may have accidentally seen at 11:30pm on a Friday have been trousers.
fange wrote:One of the things i really dislike in this life is people raising their voices in German.

User avatar
joels344
Posts: 1304
Joined: 17 Dec 2016, 17:37
Location: Nashville, TN
Contact:

Re: Alien Covenant

Postby joels344 » 24 May 2017, 15:06

I saw Alien: Covenant yesterday evening. From a cinematography and production design perspective, it was excellent and featured some interesting set pieces and shots selections, especially while exploring the habitable exoplanet. Outside of those redeemable aspects, I found the whole experience unconvincing, dull, and seemed to the lack any substance at all. The characters were forgettable at best and featured badly written motivations, cringeworthy lines and were generally poorly developed. In fact, the most human characters in the entire film were from synthetic AI. I even have issues with many aspects of their characters as well, but this would lead into spoiler territory more than necessary for a review. This film relied far too much on jump scares, edgy horror violence, and descends into typical Hollywood schlocky action, when it attempts to remake Alien by placing a Xenomorph on the ship with no motivation or suspenseful buildup to warrant the action sequences.

I actually liked Prometheus more because that film had intriguing world building and presents ideas at least on some level. It also attempted to separate itself from the franchise. Something I've always respected that film for doing. Alien: Covenant felt like unorganized nostalgia that was attempting to modernize the franchise to appeal to the new horror fan base. Films like this make you really appreciate what a crafty masterpiece the original Alien was. Final verdict and rating, I'm giving this film a 2.5/5.
90s Cup Champion, The Prog Cup 2019 Champion

User avatar
Penk!
Midnight to Six Man
Posts: 35784
Joined: 07 Aug 2004, 20:12
Location: Stockholm

Re: Alien Covenant

Postby Penk! » 26 Aug 2017, 23:40

I just watched this.

A little message flashed up at the end of the credits saying that this film had created "15,000 jobs and loads of work hours" or somesuch.

Did all those people sit down at the end and think "well, we did a good job here"? Or did they just clock off and say "that'll do"?

I rather fancy the latter.

Wasn't the whole idea that Ridley Scott was going to create a backstory and a mythology for the Alien films? It just feels a bit like he thought that would be a fun idea, but then couldn't be bothered seeing it through properly, so is just handing in halfarsed work and waiting for his paycheque.

Some nice cinematography and set design, and a few effective scenes in the first half, when things move a bit more slowly. Overall, though, lots of waffle, no actual tension or scares, and a plot which is just based around people who are apparently qualified to crew a spacecraft doing stupid things and making stupid decisions. And a twist so predictable that I spent most of the film waiting around for the counter-twist. Which never arrived. The reviews suggesting it was a direct remake of the first film were wrong, but it does feel very much as though it was stitched together from bits of other films. I just found myself wondering why it existed and why I was watching it.
fange wrote:One of the things i really dislike in this life is people raising their voices in German.


Return to “Screenadelica”