Alien Covenant Fan Reviews

[DoomRulz]

So I gather this thread and the community as a whole has been going nuts with opinions on the film ranging from it was great to what the Hell was Ridley thinking?

I thought it was decent at first. The first hour which was all about exploration was nice because that's what I enjoy the most in a space-centred film; exploration and learning new things. But the problems started to crop up (at least to me) as early as

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when buddy removes his earpiece for literally no other reason than so the virus can float inside his ear and infect him. It was so obvious it was done purely for the sake of moving the plot forward.

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Everything went downhill after that, the most egregious of issues I thought was

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how the Alien's gestation cycle has now gone from what, two days in Alien, 15 minutes or so in AvP, and instantaneous in Covenant and hell, even the film can't be consistent. The first chestburster that comes out of dude in the spacecraft is a youngin' but then later on, the one that comes out of Oram is already a subadult!

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The reintroduction of David made me optimistic at first because I thought, "Great, now we can tackle the questions from Prometheus." Well obviously that didn't happen because we learn that

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Shaw is dead (likely because Noomi Rapace couldn't come to terms with the studio on a pay cheque)

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, and David is a homicidal maniac because...he has daddy issues. And apparently he's bisexual too. f**king, what?! Those of you  who have seen the film know which scenes I'm referring to in this regard. I literally threw my hands up in the theatre and asked, "What?"

Farris was a complete moron. I'm sorry but there was no reason for her to

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lock Karine in the medbay. All it would have taken was a couple of seconds to open the door, quickly let Karine out, then lock it again. Alien is contained at least for a few seconds and it would have avoided the disaster that soon followed.

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Much of what happens to forward the plot once they land on the planet seems to happen only because the characters are behaving in stupid ways. Come on, just look at

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Oram's interactions with David. Oram couldn't have made it any more obvious that he didn't trust David one bit yet he somehow believes him when David says the egg is perfectly safe.

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.

SiL said to me that he felt the only reason the Xeno was in the film was because fans whined about no Xeno in Prometheus. I fully agree with that sentiment. The Xenomorph's presence is forced in and the uber-quick gestation period was obviously done that way because, well, you can't really have a chestburster scurrying around on the planet now can you, while it takes 40 minutes for it to grow into a subadult like in Alien.

[Ulfer]

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One of the problems of the movie, linked to the reprisal of the formula of the other Alien movies, is the fact the main story on the planet happens in a few hours.
It would have been great to subvert this usual scenario : it would have permitted to have more believable duration of gestation of the creatures, and more scenes of exploration, most notably ones that could have given some clues about the Engineers' starship and city.

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[DoomRulz]

The film would have to be either longer or ended up being a rehash of Alien, with the landing on the planet being right off the bat. Fans would have complained even louder.

[Ulfer]

Er, one some levels, it is a rehash of Alien. 
As for the duration, where is the problem with a longer movie for a great audience ? Interstellar was 169 minutes and was well received, and I don't know people who found the theatrical editions of the LOTR movies too long. Give me a great movie, well realized, and the duration won't matter - OK, I'm not a great example of the usual film watcher.

[0321recon]

As for the duration, where is the problem with a longer movie for a great audience ? Interstellar was 169 minutes and was well received, and I don't know people who found the theatrical editions of the LOTR movies too long. Give me a great movie, well realized, and the duration won't matter - OK, I'm not a great example of the usual film watcher.

When the film ended, I wanted more. It's a good movie, though its obvious it was edited to an inch of its life. Seeing some of the stuff that was cut on YouTube, hope someone tells Fox or Scott to do an extended cut. 

[DoomRulz]

Er, one some levels, it is a rehash of Alien. 
As for the duration, where is the problem with a longer movie for a great audience ? Interstellar was 169 minutes and was well received, and I don't know people who found the theatrical editions of the LOTR movies too long. Give me a great movie, well realized, and the duration won't matter - OK, I'm not a great example of the usual film watcher.

So then like The Force Awakens, it's proving that the Alien universe is limited in its scope and there isn't room for expansion beyond what we get in novels, comics, and fan fics. In that case, let it die.

[Ulfer]

@DoomRulz :
It's not a proof. Scott and his team have made choices and have gone to that direction. It does not prove that there would not be potential for more.
Nothing constrainted Star Wars VII to be the film it is. Nothing imposed that there would be another Death star alternative, that the first planet seen would be desertic and Tatooine-like, that many elements would look a bit too much like variations of what was already known, that there would be too much easter eggs (imho : it felt even more strange since Rogue One was to be made, a movie that is built upon nostalgia, but rightly so, and seems more imaginative to me than Episode VII !).

But choices were made and/or there were directions by the studio, in the context of an industry that mostly wants to play safe with established franchises and sagas. In the SF genre, I liked these last years Interstellar, Gravity, The Arrival, movies that are not part of a franchise, much more than Star Wars and Star Trek new films.

There is a problem with the tendance to do mainly prequels, sequels or reboots, that is sad when the films in question are too much derivative, of subpar level, or unimaginative. Alien Covenant is a mixed feelings experience for me. But I see the return of this problem, with Scott's changing his mind and saying : "You wanted aliens ! So you'll get some !"

[DoomRulz]

@DoomRulz :
It's not a proof. Scott and his team have made choices and have gone to that direction. It does not prove that there would not be potential for more.
Nothing constrainted Star Wars VII to be the film it is. Nothing imposed that there would be another Death star alternative, that the first planet seen would be desertic and Tatooine-like, that many elements would look a bit too much like variations of what was already known, that there would be too much easter eggs (imho : it felt even more strange since Rogue One was to be made, a movie that is built upon nostalgia, but rightly so, and seems more imaginative to me than Episode VII !).

But choices were made and/or there were directions by the studio, in the context of an industry that mostly wants to play safe with established franchises and sagas. In the SF genre, I liked these last years Interstellar, Gravity, The Arrival, movies that are not part of a franchise, much more than Star Wars and Star Trek new films.

The studio, writer, and director made the choices they did because they know that something too different would not be well-received by fans and something too familiar wouldn't be well-received either. As much money as TFA made, and as well-reviewed as it was by critics, the film has more than its fair share of critical fans who felt the plot was too familiar. If the studio isn't willing to take risks and stick to what fans are used to seeing, what's the point? It does prove the universe is limited because there isn't anything new to present. Perhaps that's what Covenant is trying to break but based on what we were given, it doesn't look like it's working.

[Gash]

Er, one some levels, it is a rehash of Alien. 
As for the duration, where is the problem with a longer movie for a great audience ? Interstellar was 169 minutes and was well received, and I don't know people who found the theatrical editions of the LOTR movies too long. Give me a great movie, well realized, and the duration won't matter - OK, I'm not a great example of the usual film watcher.

Return of the King's protracted length was interminable. I thought it was quite well known for that.

[Mr. Clemens]

Return of the King's protracted length was interminable. I thought it was quite well known for that.

Oh? I've never seen the theatrical cut of that film, but I happily eat up the extended edition.

Mind you, I've (obviously) only watched it in the home. I suppose if you really had to take a leak, watching Hobbits cry for ten minutes would be a bit of a strain. 

[Ulfer]

The studio, writer, and director made the choices they did because they know that something too different would not be well-received by fans and something too familiar wouldn't be well-received either.

You're speaking about fans, which is a limitation : fans represent a tiny fraction of the audience.

There is also the fact of how you consider the movie.
I've watched numerous times Jurassic Park and Star Wars when I was a kid, with much pleasure. And I found that Episode VII was extremely disappointing, and I don't even speak about Jurassic World. It felt like variations of already known things, in a less good way.
I'm of those who expect originality. The problem with many prequels or sequels today is that they've got little of that. They tend to play safe, even with new things, and that's why I, like others, go less and less often to watch this kind of great cinematographic productions. Last week, I've watched at home The Wailing, a really well made movie (imho) by Na Hong-jin. It's not an "author film" (in French we say un film d'auteur) for a tiny audience, but a movie for a great audience, and it still is beautifully done and clever.

Return of the King's protracted length was interminable. I thought it was quite well known for that.

Interminable ? I don't think so. And I'm a Tolkiendil who does not like much Peter Jackson's films (above all the Hobbit ones, though).
If the story is good and requires it, if it needs to be 150 minutes, so be it. Maybe it's less attractive for the cinema or the industry as a whole. But what I want is a good and an ambitious movie, not a lesser one that can be shown 20 times a day in a great cinema.

What is funny is that when I've watched ROTK at the cinema, the crew of the cinema had utterly forgotten our room. There was a little intermission, but the operator had gone away and we had to wait at least 30 minutes for someone to come and make the film go on. 

[Gash]

I'll be perfectly happy if the blu-ray has an extended cut. If they calm things down before the storm on the Covenant that would be fine. I can just understand why they felt the need to keep that last part pacier.

[HuDaFuK]

If the story is good and requires it, if it needs to be 150 minutes, so be it. Maybe it's less attractive for the cinema or the industry as a whole. But what I want is a good and an ambitious movie, not a lesser one that can be shown 20 times a day in a great cinema.

Case in point: Ridley's Kingdom of Heaven. Butchered theatrical cut was crap, the extended version is superb.

[Hubbs]

Haven't seen the film, sounds a bit divisive so far. This guy is making complaints but his points seem to be very good to me.

[Ulfer]

Case in point: Ridley's Kingdom of Heaven. Butchered theatrical cut was crap, the extended version is superb.

Thus alas it's an underrated movie. I find it good and efficient with the extended version, even though I prefer the first part of the movie than the second, I guess. I've watched this version several times, with pleasure.

sounds a bit divisive so far

Yes, it's divisive. But also there are several ways to consider the movie. I mean, you don't rate it the same way if you're just expecting a fun moment with variations about Alien's ideas and tropes, with a bit of Prometheus elements added in the mix, or if you've maybe too great expectations about a saga that you would like to go beyond what has been done up to now.
The fact is I bet there are some persons who wanted just a distracting experience but were not so hyped by the movie, for several reasons.