Alien: Covenant

[highvoltage]

Am I the only one who vastly prefers the first to the second?

Original Alien is the perfect horror flick. Moody, atmospheric, fanstastic composition and art direction - absolutely gripping to the very end and genuinely terrifying. 

Aliens.... missed that mark for me. I get that it's an action film, but I don't think I have ever been as thoroughly disappointed by a film that I had such insanely high hopes for.
On reputation, I expected it would be at least as good as the first... and it doesn't come close for me. It just feels like a lot of other 80's action/sci-fi movies and the cheese factor is a bit much.

Anyway I was looking forward to Covenant (as someone who enjoyed Prometheus) and I hope to enjoy it despite the mixed reviews.

[bucketfoot]

8 minutes ago, highvoltage said:

Am I the only one who vastly prefers the first to the second?

Original Alien is the perfect horror flick. Moody, atmospheric, fanstastic composition and art direction - absolutely gripping to the very end and genuinely terrifying. 

Aliens.... missed that mark for me. I get that it's an action film, but I don't think I have ever been as thoroughly disappointed by a film that I had such insanely high hopes for.
On reputation, I expected it would be at least as good as the first... and it doesn't come close for me. It just feels like a lot of other 80's action/sci-fi movies and the cheese factor is a bit much.

Anyway I was looking forward to Covenant (as someone who enjoyed Prometheus) and I hope to enjoy it despite the mixed reviews.

Yeah, I absolutely loved Aliens (actually saw it 1st) but Alien is easily the better movie.

[RONIN]

I liked Prometheus (despite the lousy characters) and wanted to see a follow-up to that movie. I'm a bit bored of the "aliens" and enjoyed the new direction.

Should I see Alien Covenant? Is there enough continuation of the Prometheus story to bother? Loved the Shaw character and the engineers in Prometheus.

[appetite4illusions]

9 hours ago, RONIN said:

I liked Prometheus (despite the lousy characters) and wanted to see a follow-up to that movie. I'm a bit bored of the "aliens" and enjoyed the new direction.

Should I see Alien Covenant? Is there enough continuation of the Prometheus story to bother? Loved the Shaw character and the engineers in Prometheus.

I guess it depends on what you're looking for in this movie. As an "Alien" movie, it's very weak. It moves so fast that there is no time between Alien's bursting out of people and litterally the next moment, being fully formed monsters that are climbing the walls and hissing. There is zero sense of dread or momentum to the creatures, it's more like "we've only got thirty minutes with these things so they need to do everything at once."

As a continuation to Prometheus? It doesn't care about Prometheus, certainly not the engineers, certainly not Shaw, who is probably the most horrific cadaver that I can remember seeing in film. It cares only about David and David's narcissism. 

If you can put all that aside, a fair number of people actually did enjoy it, but you're better off knowing what you're going to get and what you're definetly not going to get.

[Powerage5]

On 5/22/2017 at 8:35 PM, highvoltage said:

Am I the only one who vastly prefers the first to the second?

Original Alien is the perfect horror flick. Moody, atmospheric, fanstastic composition and art direction - absolutely gripping to the very end and genuinely terrifying. 

Aliens.... missed that mark for me. I get that it's an action film, but I don't think I have ever been as thoroughly disappointed by a film that I had such insanely high hopes for.
On reputation, I expected it would be at least as good as the first... and it doesn't come close for me. It just feels like a lot of other 80's action/sci-fi movies and the cheese factor is a bit much.

Anyway I was looking forward to Covenant (as someone who enjoyed Prometheus) and I hope to enjoy it despite the mixed reviews.

I completely agree. Alien is arguably my favorite movie of all time - it's an absolute masterclass in photography, design, suspense, and exposition. Aliens, while a very good action film, completely missed the mark of what the first one is about. I read an article a few weeks ago claiming that despite all the 3/Ressurrection/AVP crap, that Aliens is actually the worst thing that ever happened to the franchise because it opened the doors to delivers sequel that couldn't compete in terms of suspense and horror to the original. There was a bit more to it, but I think that's an incredibly accurate description. I mean, it is definitely my second favorite in the franchise, but it's still a massive step down from the original. 

 

As for Covenant...I had mixed feelings, but generally speaking I liked it, albeit not glowing over it. I think the biggest flaw is the pacing - it was far too slow to get started, and not in a good suspense-building way like Alien. The characters were generally underdeveloped, much like Prometheus. The CGI was a bit dodgy at times. And yet, I enjoyed watching it. It's a fun movie, which can't really be said about any other film in the franchise. Without thinking about it too much, I'd say I rank it behind Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus, but ahead of Ressurrection and 3. 

[Dan H.]

The first Alien is my favorite film, and one of the greatest ever made in sci fi.

Everything it tries to say, it says perfectly, and thats a rare thing in films. In fact nearly every scene is a beautiful screencap and completely flawless except for a few B-movie shots of the stupid Alien costume man at the very end. Its gorgeous, and nothing about it is annoying or distracting except for those few moments at the end.

I think Aliens is a great movie, but it just reeks of action schlock (the dialogue alone is only saved by the performances, and with a lesser director would be laugh out loud ridiculous. All the "army men talk" is so far out of place from the first film) and is so obviously wearing its influences. The other problem is that it is the same plot as the first film, and as Powerage said opened the doors for not only future blunders in the franchise, but blunders in blockbuster films for years to come.

Kinda feel the same way about Terminator v T2. The first is clearly the far superior film, yet everyone likes the excellent but not nearly as good sequel better.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Dan H.

[Silent Jay]

I liked Prometheus way better.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Silent Jay

[rocknroll41]

Upon re watching both Alien and Aliens, I do think I'm starting to like the first one now more than the second, but only by a hair!

[appetite4illusions]

Aliens feels like Cameron's poorest aged film. Even T1, which has that grungy aesthetic and shoe-string budget, feels a bit fresher. Perhaps because T1's limitations were its charms, but Aliens just feels like it has arthritis when I watch it now. 

[ZoSoRose]

I love Aliens' look. I think the world and set design are brilliant and it still feels realistic to me.

[rocknroll41]

16 hours ago, ZoSoRose said:

I love Aliens' look. I think the world and set design are brilliant and it still feels realistic to me.

Yeah LV-426 looks great in Aliens

[appetite4illusions]

I think what most stands out about Aliens today is the 'Vietnam' aesthetic that Cameron based the Colonial Marines on. It was a hybrid of Vietnam and Starship Troopers. Not only in the soldier's hubris and ineptitude, but in the look.

With warfare being what it is today, Vietnam aesthetics are pretty far removed from where we've come. It makes Aliens seem older than it should.

[rocknroll41]

11 minutes ago, appetite4illusions said:

I think what most stands out about Aliens today is the 'Vietnam' aesthetic that Cameron based the Colonial Marines on. It was a hybrid of Vietnam and Starship Troopers. Not only in the soldier's hubris and ineptitude, but in the look.

With warfare being what it is today, Vietnam aesthetics are pretty far removed from where we've come. It makes Aliens seem older than it should.

That's a good point. The original Alien doesn't have that sorta problem because it's simplicity and self-contained feel make it pretty much timeless. It can't age. The only dated thing about the first one is the interface screen of the Mother computer, but that's a pretty easy detail to look passed imo.

[Silent Jay]

• Audio Commentary by Ridley Scott
• 12 Deleted and Extended Scenes (17m 58s)
• 5 Featurettes: Meet Walter (2m 19s), Phobos (9m 8s), The Last Supper (4m 36s), The Crossing (2m 32s), Advent (6m 40s)
• Master Class: Ridley Scott (55m 25s)
• Theatrical Trailers
• David’s Illustrations
• Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
• 4K Blu-ray: Dolby Atmos

[31illusions]

Got to watch Covenant. Boring movie. It's basically a 2nd act in a 3 part story arc. It would have been fine as a stand alone movie (if there wasn't like 7 previous films) It had no story progression, no character development. They're on their way to a remote planet, and at the end of the film they are back on track to the planet. So you can forget this movie ever happened except for the last 4 minutes, which is the only surprise in the whole film. Thumbs down.

[rocknroll41]

Fox wants to "reevaluate" the franchise, so it looks like a Covenant sequel won't be happening (thankfully):

http://collider.com/alien-covenant-2-status-fox-ridley-scott/

[maynard]

Covenant was a bad movie. 2 hours of nothing happening basically. It's a shame Prometheus made no money. A sequel to that story would be much more interesting than Covenant. 

[Graeme]

On 16/08/2017 at 7:31 PM, rocknroll41 said:

Fox wants to "reevaluate" the franchise, so it looks like a Covenant sequel won't be happening (thankfully):

http://collider.com/alien-covenant-2-status-fox-ridley-scott/

I guess I'm naive, I didn't realise that Covenant had "effectively killed" Blomkamp's film, I just thought it was coming out before it and extending the wait... Gutted. I want justice done and Alien 3 canonically nuked from orbit. Hopefully Fox's "re-evaluation" looks into this idea.

[rocknroll41]

1 hour ago, Graeme said:

I guess I'm naive, I didn't realise that Covenant had "effectively killed" Blomkamp's film, I just thought it was coming out before it and extending the wait... Gutted. I want justice done and Alien 3 canonically nuked from orbit. Hopefully Fox's "re-evaluation" looks into this idea.

Yeah I hope Blomkamp's film gets resurrected. Weaver can still pull it off, and yeah Alien 3 and 4 need to be erased. Hicks and Newt should be alive, and Michael Beihn should play Hicks again. 

[RussTCB]

On 8/23/2017 at 10:10 AM, rocknroll41 said:

Yeah I hope Blomkamp's film gets resurrected. Weaver can still pull it off, and yeah Alien 3 and 4 need to be erased. Hicks and Newt should be alive, and Michael Beihn should play Hicks again. 

I one of those people that has a soft spot for 3, but I like your idea overall.

[The Glow Inc.]

What this franchise needs is a reboot that focuses on suspense and horror.

The creature has so much potential to be more than just a space-bug...As much as I love Aliens and the Queen design, I think it did the series a disservice in the long run because it made it okay for sequels to be less scary than the original masterpiece.

I don't care about bug-hunts. Please bring back egg-morphing and the androgineous / rapey creature that has no dumb origin backstory.

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

Finally got the dvd and watched it last night.

Loved the evolution of the "alien".

Good sequel to Promitheis and good prequel to the original Alien movies.

I had a few questions, but I think Scott purposely left somethings unanswered for you to decide.

I have decided the only good android was Lance Hendrickson's character in Aliens. The other ones were all bad. lol

Good movie overall.

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

On ‎5‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 6:05 PM, highvoltage said:

Am I the only one who vastly prefers the first to the second?

Original Alien is the perfect horror flick. Moody, atmospheric, fanstastic composition and art direction - absolutely gripping to the very end and genuinely terrifying. 

Aliens.... missed that mark for me. I get that it's an action film, but I don't think I have ever been as thoroughly disappointed by a film that I had such insanely high hopes for.
On reputation, I expected it would be at least as good as the first... and it doesn't come close for me. It just feels like a lot of other 80's action/sci-fi movies and the cheese factor is a bit much.

Anyway I was looking forward to Covenant (as someone who enjoyed Prometheus) and I hope to enjoy it despite the mixed reviews.

I loved Alien, but I thought Aliens too had more action and was like a runaway train.

Alien had more suspense because we didn't know anything about the creature or what it could do. Aliens we were all like Ripley knowing the creatures and what they were capable of. The soldiers didn't have a chance. Ripley is one bad ass and the Lance android rocked too.

I felt very bad for the Alien in Resurrection. Being part Ripley and alien creature it didn't have a chance of surviving either.

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

On ‎2‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 4:42 PM, Powerage5 said:

This one takes place between Prometheus and Alien. 

Yeah, I thought it was a very good movie to have in between those two.

I was trying to figure out if Alien Covenant lead into Alien or Aliens as I think it could have gone either way if you think about it.

I know Alien was filmed way before Alien, but I wonder what could have happened to the David character?

On ‎2‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 7:53 AM, appetite4illusions said:

James Franco started as a serious dramatic actor then traded in his shoes for a comedy-card. Now, when I see him try and slip those thespian shoes back on I'm like "Nuh-ah, dude. You did The Interview."

lol and don't forget the time he worked on General Hospital.

[luciusfunk]

I tried watching this the other day. While I've never been a big Alien fan, I have watched all the films (minus the AVP movies). I didn't like it. I thought Prometheus was better.