Alien Covenant Fan Reviews

[skhellter]

Here's my review of the film:

http://nicksmovieinsights.blogspot.com/2017/06/alien-covenant-review.html

Loved the movie. Hates gonna hate.

We need to get Nickissmart to interview Ridley
and shirtless too, like in his 40minute youtube vids.
and with Goodbye Horses blaring in the background.

[NickisSmart]

On top of that, I specifically said I'm not in a position to judge because I hadn't read the whole thing.

And yet, despite not being in a position to judge because you haven't read it, you are judging me all the same. Or is "pretentious condescension" something other than judgement rendered, where you come from? You not having read my piece doesn't wash your hands of being judgmental, it just invalidates anything you say, in regards to my arguments, and ironically makes what you say in and of itself pretentious.

As for you "not wanting to be treated with pretentious condescension for any longer than [you] have to," the act of judging a book by its cover (or in my case, my article by its introduction) makes for a lazy reader.

I did, i read the first, like, 10 paragraphs

Could've fooled me, in that you fail to actually give any examples from the article.

i am not gonna put the 10 paragraphs here, is pointless

An example from the paper is not the same thing as the entire paper, itself. The fact that you think otherwise suggests that you don't know how to cite quotes. You don't provide a single example of anything that I actually wrote in my paper, except the title. Why should I think that you actually read what I wrote if you can't actually specify the contents of my writing?

Maybe rant is not the exact word, english is not my first language

Maybe not.

We need to get Nickissmart to interview Ridley
and shirtless too, like in his 40minute youtube vids.
and with Goodbye Horses blaring in the background.

A census-taker once tried to test me...

[Alionic]

Evil robot and mad scientist have both been done before in the series.

David's character is clearly the anchor of the prequel films; his whole story of becoming sentient and self-aware — and what comes with it — has not been done before in the series. Comparing the mad scientist idiot in Resurrection to David is simply disingenuous.

[SM]

And yet, despite not being in a position to judge because you haven't read it, you are judging me all the same.

No, I judged the part I read and decided I didn't want to read anymore - I'm not judging you personally.

There's really no need to continually misrepresent what I'm saying.

[Protozoid]

Alien is more effective than Covenant, IMO, but isn't as deep.

I'm curious as to what your definition of 'deep' is. Merely serving up a more complex (convoluted) plot doesn't make something deep. The fact that Alien is a monster movie at it's core hasn't prevented academics from writing hundreds if not thousands of pages of critical, theoretical analysis on the film. I can scarcely think of a movie so straightforward on the surface that is so densely packed with subtext. I highly doubt we'll see as much intellectual engagement with Covenant in 40 years outside of Youtube videos.

Yes, deep is definitely relative. I meant that Covenant strived for complexity and has a penchant for quoting lofty high art. It's more pretentious, but not necessarily as profound as it wants to be. Besides, by having the characters spoon feed us the ideas and their answers, it gives us less to talk about than Alien, Blade Runner, or Prometheus. O'Bannon called Alien a surrealist mystery. I think Covenant is a surrealist adventure movie with very little mystery left once it ends. At a glance, Alien has less obviousness depth, but for all of its chattiness and references to classical art, Covenant's isn't much deeper than Alien, if at all. Scholars will write about Covenant, too, but I doubt they will reappraise it as a lost masterpiece. At best, it will have a small following like Ridley's Legend and Fincher's Alien3. All of them are pop profound to varying degrees.

[SpeedyMaxx]

Why do we have to cite you like a term paper to 'prove' we read your online blog and disagreed with it? Would you like it in MLA format? Is there a dropbox we can submit our annotated posts to?

[Engineer]

Call's arc is in her changing attitude to Ripley.

Ash and Bishop- yep, no arc. We learn more about them, but they don't change over the course of the story.

Never mind! I retract my previous statement!

SM, Jonesy1974, you are correct. Ash and bishop did not have character arcs. I was not thinking about the term character arc correctly, and I stand corrected now. My bad! :-)

Hey SM! Quick question... I didn't stick around long enough to watch all the credits for covenant, but I was just thinking about it and got curious... did you have any sort of involvement in this film??

[Predaker]

Why do we have to cite you like a term paper to 'prove' we read your online blog and disagreed with it? Would you like it in MLA format? Is there a dropbox we can submit our annotated posts to?

Here we go. 

Point in fact, I ... find myself standing within a curious minority as Covenant is encircled and set upon by just about everyone. This includes so-called fans of the series, who should know better but clearly don't. According to them, it's neither scary nor original enough to merit any sort of praise.

Permit me the opportunity to say ... Let me be clear:

the comparison between it and Alien ... pointless.

In regards to that so-called "same universe," critics of Alien: Covenant need to realize

I sense purists presume

Prometheus ... superior ... As if.

I am confident that people will come to realize

One needs only to watch ... any slasher film ... All the more ironic it sounds, as well, when fans ... clamor for more of the same, as purists who insist

I, for one, can celebrate the classic monsters

When fans attack

How perplexing this is to me

So people fussing about David being the so-called "father of the xenomorph" can chill out.

Before people laps into apoplectic fits, maybe they should realize

Purists cry foul

Furthermore, it's not about

With Covenant, I've noticed its detractors declaring

these people ... fussing

They actually want it to be hidden, or mysterious

But people need to remember

This is because Covenant is ... not a horror film.

It is not that kind of film

if only people ... could change ... they might see it for what it is, rather than condemn it

In regards to Covenant and the misplaced ire being directed at it from all sides, I feel as though it is being delivered by critics who have "closed [themselves] up."

bonding with certain human characters ... is simply not the point ... why penalize the film for it?

To hold Covenant accountable for failing to use death to make us care about the human cast would be to miss its true aim

There's much to be gleaned if we let the scales fall from our eyes and stop trying to classify Covenant as a horror film ... and celebrate it for what it actually is.

admit it: how many of you actually knew David was wrong when he quoted Ozymandias and said Byron wrote it? Furthermore, how many of you even knew he was quoting a poem at all? ... for those of you who say these things don't belong in an Alien film, you clearly weren't paying attention when you watched Alien or Aliens.

[acidreign]

What the hell happened to this place

[HuDaFuK]

Sure it does.

In what way?

Still waiting for a reply to this.

Not being abusive, I'm just genuinely curious what you think is innovative about Covenant, because I thought it was simply rehashing things that had already been done.

[900SL]

What the hell happened to this place

Disappointment.

[SM]

Call's arc is in her changing attitude to Ripley.

Ash and Bishop- yep, no arc. We learn more about them, but they don't change over the course of the story.

Never mind! I retract my previous statement!

SM, Jonesy1974, you are correct. Ash and bishop did not have character arcs. I was not thinking about the term character arc correctly, and I stand corrected now. My bad! :-)

Hey SM! Quick question... I didn't stick around long enough to watch all the credits for covenant, but I was just thinking about it and got curious... did you have any sort of involvement in this film??

I did stay for all the credits and didn't see nothing.
(That's a 'no'.  )

[Highland]

What the hell happened to this place

Nick is smart wrote a "paper" on how Covenent is better than Blade Runner and nobody read it.

I only made 1.5 paragraphs with a couple of rapid finger flicks on the phone which I think is less than SM.

[Engineer]

What the hell happened to this place

Right.... can we all get back on topic now? This is supposed to be a fan review board for covenant, whether good or bad. Not a review of some boy's blog entry about the movie.

Call's arc is in her changing attitude to Ripley.

Ash and Bishop- yep, no arc. We learn more about them, but they don't change over the course of the story.

Never mind! I retract my previous statement!

SM, Jonesy1974, you are correct. Ash and bishop did not have character arcs. I was not thinking about the term character arc correctly, and I stand corrected now. My bad! :-)

Hey SM! Quick question... I didn't stick around long enough to watch all the credits for covenant, but I was just thinking about it and got curious... did you have any sort of involvement in this film??

I did stay for all the credits and didn't see nothing.
(That's a 'no'.  )

Lol.
So you actually liked covenant, huh? I'm honestly surprised by that! I thought for sure you'd dislike it! What about the movie did you like?

One thing I've seen a lot of, which is weird to me, are people saying the hated the film, then after a second viewing they loved it. I sort of did the opposite. I walked out thinking it was good, but not great. In the poll, I was one of the many who rated this film as a 3. But after a few days of thinking about it more and more, I find myself disliking it more and more. If I could re-vote in this poll now I'd give it a 2 or a 1.

Have you read the novel yet? If so, did you like that more, less or about the same?

[Stolen]

Here's my review of the film:

http://nicksmovieinsights.blogspot.com/2017/06/alien-covenant-review.html

Loved the movie. Hates gonna hate.

Great thank you!




Saw it again this week and enjoyed it much more than my first viewing.



I didn't like the first act the first time, because I was too excited to discover the planet, the fate of Shaw and engineers!
Now I was able to watch and enjoy this first part at its true value, and I found it really excellent! Finally the crew of the Covenant is really great: Oram, Walter, Daniels, Faris, Karine and Tennessee are very good characters.
The initial sequence between David and Weyland is magnificent, and explains the strange behavior of the android in Prometheus.
The film starts in a morbid atmosphere with the death of the captain and settlers, very good idea.
Everything that brings the Covenant to land on Paradise is perfect!



And the first act on Paradise is FANTASTIC, visually, may be the most beautiful episode of the franchise, the dark landscape of Milford Sound gives an oppressive atmosphere. A real sequence of exciting exploration, before the horror reaches its climax simultaneously with the births and massacres of neomorphs. I love the way David arrives.



The discovery of the sumptuous necropolis, wow. Then the famous scene of the flute, magnificent Fassbender. I love every moment in the temple, it lasts can be 25-30 minutes, but it is an artistic treat. What vision, what talent on the part of the artists. Decors are amazing and Dariusz Wolski's work is phenomenal, right?!

The theme of creation is admirably elaborated in Covenant.



Unfortunately the film begins to get lost with some facilities. The end of Rosenthal is rather ridiculous. And once the Alien arrives, I got bored. Too fast, not frightening. The alien is beautiful, but very badly exploited.

A shame because the first two act of Covenant are perfect, the narration is superb!



I understand why Prometheus fans don't like it, because it minimizes the role of Shaw and engineers (although these are everywhere in the film, everywhere!)
And I understand that Alien fans are disappointed, because the creature isn't the center of the movie. David is the heart of the film, it's the obvious link of the Prometheus-Covenant diptych.

But Covenant, despite a disappointing third part, is a f**king good movie. A majestic love letter to art!

My ranking changes
Alien > Aliens - Prometheus> Covenant> Alien 3> Alien Resurrection