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The horror scenes were fine, but who cares? It's super easy to restage a chestburster or facehugger attack. I don't think it's enough to call the film a success, especially when most of the new content wasn't even as good as the rehashed. Even so, there're only about 30 minutes collectively with any aliens at all. The rest is a lot of self-serious philosophical banter that barely feels connected to the alien plot and isn't even that fresh or interesting in and of itself. Horror doesn't exactly come to mind during these scenes, and I'd go so far as to say they make up the majority of the film.
The horror scenes didn't work for me at all thanks to the unacceptably shitty CGI. It's 2017, there's no excuse. Also, the life cycle of a xeno (and its timing) makes absolutely no god damn sense. So we're to believe that a facehugger implanted its egg in just a matter of seconds? Why does a baby xeno turn into an adult xeno within minutes? Because the scene simply mandates it (which is a sign of lazy writing).
As a die hard Alien fan, I was pretty excited for this film. I didn't hate Prometheus (it simply bit off more than it could chew). But this movie tries to take back what Damon Lindelof already set in motion and it stumbles.
But on the bright side, this movie did give us Fass to Fass. C+ for me.
I for one didn't think that the characters were "stupid". But I tink it is safe to say that, thanks in part to the trailers and webshorts, we, the audience, are smarter than the characters. I mean...y'know, when in the trailer you see Billy Cudrup peering inside the egg ....gee...I wonder what will happen?
Yeah, right. I almost wished that it was a deleted or alternate take, as a number of memorable trailer moments didn't even show up in the final film. One in particular was edited down so much I had to ask why include it at all if it is that brief and almost seems like an afterthought?
Likewise, we got to know some of the characters through the viral shorts (including the crew's original captain played by James Franco) but I still really couldn't tell you who was who, in the actual film itself with the exceptions of McBride, Cudrup and Fassbender (2x)
In fact, it kind of ticked me off how Fassbender's David and Walter had two unique voices and philosophies and most of the other characters didn't have as much depth. Again, the trailers and virals pretty much informed a handful of fans in advance who becomes Dead Meat, (including that impressive 360 POV of the white alien eating through a crew member's back)
I'm curious to see if there will be a follow up - but if there is one, I would like Ridley Scott to produce only. It's a great looking visual film, but this seemed to contradict Alien and Aliens. The only thing I can come up with is that David's expiriments were not as perfect as the Engineers, and that the Engineers created the "perfect" xenomorphs but realized that they they were too dangerous even for them.
But it seems Scott will direct the next film as well. But y'know it just occured to me---why do we need to know where the xenomprphs come from anyway? Wasn't that the point of Alien?
More and more I'm convinced that most prequels don't work. Why must there be an answer for every mystery that, when left as mystery, keeps the threat and the imagination alive?
You see, in my view all this "information" from the virals, the trailers and out knowledge of the existing franchise actually works against the film instead of for it.
Saw this last week, while in Milwaukee for business.
I was really looking forward to this, based on trailers and positive word of mouth from RT, and was actually quite surprised how negative reviews were right here.
Well, bottom line is that I was very, VERY underwhelmed to the point where I can safely say I disliked the film.
First 40 minutes or so are incredibly dull. Characterization is almost nonexistent, and to save my life, I couldn't name more than 2 or 3 or say a single thing about them. The film was "dark", as in lighting was poor. Editing was poor, as in quick cut BS, where it's hard to make out what just happened. Story was weak, and really rather pointless, IMO. Nothing stood out as memorable, and based on the fact that I didn't give a shit about anyone, it just wasn't very scary at all.
Too many characters, too many different forms of creatures, and creatures "maturing" in seconds and minutes, made this just a complete mess.
I really enjoyed the first half of the movie, but once they introduced the whole Prometheus fiasco, a lot fell apart. The writing was so forced, the story unfocused, and the structure lost its pace. I enjoyed the movie for what it was, i wouldn't buy it on Blu-ray and watch again though. However, cinematography and production design were both stunning. The shots weren't too creative, but they got the job done.
A lot of what I was going to say has been said, almost word for word.
My first thought was that Fassbender could simply be filmed reading a newspaper, and he'd make it work.
He's something else.
The main problem with this film is that it's a prequel. Like Star Wars, it's constantly undercut by the fact it's got a predetermined point it's trying to get to. Star Wars 1,2 and 3 existed just to get Anakin in a Darth Vader suit. It's fundamentally difficult to create a sense of mystery and interest when it's all already happened, and it's all just to get to some preset point.
All of these stories are just to show where the xenomorph came from...who cares? It was better when they were some unknown, mysterious entity from the deep recesses of space. Fear is about the unknown. Not knowing where they come from also leads on to..what else is out there, making it doubly terrifying. Leave it alone.
On a more mundane level, these prequels get stuck in a narrative rut..they repeat exactly the same tropes over and over again. Same scares, same characters (just watered down) using the same kind of machinery. Like the constant repetition of the Death Star in the Star Wars saga, this franchise is just regurgitating the same beats.
I enjoyed Prometheus, it was bold, went in new directions and raised a lot off questions. This film pared back all the interesting themes and went for a lame and pale imitation of Alien.
The deeper questions Prometheus asked...why did the Engineers create humans, and why did they want us dead? remain unanswered. It felt like a cop-out.
The major story weakness for me, was the lack of a spiritual dimension. There's a "religious" guy in there...though he does nothing religious, and plays no real part. The film opens with an interesting debate and goes back to the idea off humans, and their robot creations, trying to find out who created humans. As Guy Pearce says...all of this art and everything around is just a tiny nothingness to that concept.
And that was the essential problem with the film...once that aspect had been abandoned, that deep, spiritual quest, all there is is meaningless artifice.
David is a wonderful creation. A Satanic Dr Frankenstein wiping out his creators to establish himself as a God figure, but he's sorely lacking a counterpart to offer an alternative in my opinion.
It was OK, but the quest of man and robot trying to find their ultimate creators was a lot more interesting.
Having just seen the Prologue...being unaware of its existence...it seems that some of the problems with this film are clearly studio based...the studio wanting to push the film more towards Alien, and away from Prometheus.
Majority of producers don't care for the element of mystery anymore, everything has to be explained in the first ten mins.
The scene you posted is exposition city, but that and along with several other clips posted on youtube should have been in the film. Bizarre marketing.
I'm not a fan of Prometheus, but I enjoyed Alien Covenant. I expected a train wreck but I was entertained. It's a dumb horror film made with a high budget.
Having just seen the Prologue...being unaware of its existence...it seems that some of the problems with this film are clearly studio based...the studio wanting to push the film more towards Alien, and away from Prometheus.