Alien: Covenant (Ridley Scott, May 19th 2017) Movie • Page 15

Sorry - it usually takes me about two years to get around to seeing anything these days. For me it was better than I expected it to be only because it came after Prometheus which is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life and does not work on almost any level whatsoever at all. The best thing I can say about Prometheus is that Fassbender is good in it as David and it has some very pretty shots in it. That's it. Aside from that it is a movie that is fundamentally flawed from a foundational level that makes the absolute wrong choice at literally every single creative step.

I know not everyone likes Rogue One but when you look at the behind-the-scenes stuff that went on during it's production there was a really strong chance it was going to come out as fucked up and nonsensical as Prometheus.

There were a lot of times while watching Covenant where I was enjoying the hell out of it, which is something I cannot say for Prometheus at all.

As other people have pointed out, Ridley Scott is one of the best in the business at pointing the camera - but I think it says a lot when the weird little marketing video / prologue things are more interesting and compelling than the actual film they are supposed to get you interested in.

 

I’ll never understand the hate for Prometheus.

 

I love Prometheus, despite its flaws. Hate this tho

 

Prometheus is right up there with the most I have ever been disappointed in a movie in my entire life. Phantom Menace probably takes the cake, then the Hobbit movies, but Prometheus is probably third. I don't think Prometheus has anything to it other than flaws.

 

It’s dumb fun for me. This is just dumb

 

Prometheus has gorgeous visuals that still stand up with anything over the past 10-20 years, the score is amazing, the idea of the engineers planting life and then maps subconsciously being painted all over the earth throughout time is interesting, and the character of David is possibly the best character in all of the Alien franchise.

That’s just off the top of my head.

 

I'd have to go back and listen to the score. I don't think I usually pay a whole lot of attention to scores. There were definitely some gorgeous visuals, but I thought there were equally as many, if not more, in Covenant.

 

Rogue One is my #1 Star Wars film

Fight me

 

100% agree. One of my least favorite theater experiences ever.

 

I hate it. ALOT.

 

The plot of Prometheus made no sense, but visually it was a pretty stunning film. The shot of the ship entering the planet alone was incredible

 

Which part of the plot didn’t make sense?

The engineers were our ancestors from millennia ago and they planted life on Earth that grew and subconsciously left maps back to find them on one of their home planets, so we go and find them.

 

Prometheus > Covenant

 

Funny, Friday’s kill count was this film

 

I was not expecting renewed discussion around this movie haha. I didn't love it. Didn't hate it. The David/Walter dynamic was great and I did really like a lot of the horror elements (creature design especially). I don't have much desire to revisit it though.

 

Love them or hate them, I think both of these prequels generate enough interesting discussion that people should give them positive credit for that. Usually if something truly is a shit movie, then it's just like "eh, it's shit" and then move on and nearly nobody cares to defend it, but they're not like that.

 

As much as I disliked this, I would be excited for another Alien movie. Sooner or later a prequel/sequel has to be good - right?

 

We already got 2 great prequels, so sure!!!

;)

 

I say keep bringin' us more of them

 

I want at least one more to tie up loose ends, but this movie didn't do too hot at the box office right?

 

I think both of them underperformed. I’m sure the studio isn’t eager to put up hundreds of millions for a new one.

 

esp now that that studio is Disney lol.

 

Okay, I just rewatched most of Prometheus. Dinosaur Dish is right about the score, it is great. The visuals are very strong as well, but I'd argue that they are just as strong in Covenant.

The film starts out very strong, fantastic even, although I do feel that Peter Weyland's 2023 Ted Talk (featuring Guy Pearce without makeup) absolutely 100% should have been in the film. I feel it should have been right after the title, before Shaw breaks through the cave. It had to be in somewhere though. The scenes with David alone aboard the ship are amazing. The film completely falls apart for me as soon as they reach LV-223 and the rest of the crew wakes up.

I don't think the film sells the idea that Weyland would even fund this mission in the first place, which the Ted Talk scene would rectify, and also the idea that all of these people signed up for a mission that they have no idea what it even is and don't find out until they get there is UNBELIEVABLY STUPID. Asking the audience to buy that is so unbelievably dumb and it breaks the rest of the movie for me. I'm not able to suspend my disbelief after this scene and as a result the admittedly very stupid actions of all the characters from this point on repeatedly take me out of the film. And almost every single thing every character does from this point on is beyond stupid. They arrive at the planet and do no research or recon of the surface whatsoever? They happen to land right next to the temple that would have been their main objective to find all along? (This insane coincidence is more of a problem with the movie itself and not any one character.) The captain lands the ship based on where the wacko scientist guy tells him to and not a place where they decide the ship has the greatest chance at remaining safe and structurally sound?

I am not going to nitpick every single dumb thing that happens in the movie, because honestly there are thousands and many, many people have already done a better job that I can online doing just that since the movie came out. Pretty much from the point that it becomes clear that the crew do not know what the mission is I stop buying anything that happens on screen.

The biologist petting the snake thing is one of the most egregious examples, but just the whole way none of the crew exploring the planet show any understanding of the idea that life could be viruses, that there could be all sorts of small or invisible to the naked eye things on the planet that could be catastrophic to the human body to come into contact with aside from just a crazy snake that is obviously going to bite the hell out of you.

I agree that both Prometheus and Covenant should get credit for inspiring conversation. Prometheus for me though is a fascinating misfire that had some really neat ideas but just doesn't work as a movie. Trying to be objective I think it's the result of two wildly different takes on the story by two very different screenwriters being jammed together by a extremely visually talented filmmaker who is not overly concerned with assuring that the story is conveyed to the viewer and who only gives a shit about one character and one character only, David.

 

I'm liking that post and will be back to read and address it! Work is too busy for me to dig in right now, haha

 

Well considering how rich Disney is, I think they might be more willing to take a chance on another Alien movie or two