Alien: Covenant Early Reactions

[The Cruentus]

I'm back from seeing Covenant. It moves too fast but I like the film overall 

glad to hear you liked it. Is it just fast moving throughout or like Prometheus where it literally feels like it's jumping from scene to scene?

Once they land on the planet, the movie overall moves really fast

The pacing is one thing I expected Ridley to get spot on this time round (The Martian was a good of example of him getting it right) especially after Prometheus.
So if the pacing is off - how has he managed to get it wrong again?
How does that work

Even veteran directors can get it wrong sometimes but considering which franchise this is, I would not be surprised if it was Fox meddling again.

David didn't create the alien, he just refined it closer to the biomechanical creature we see in Alien.

Still just as bad imo, David having anything to do with the creation or evolution of the classic original Aliens is just bad, I prefer that he just copied the Engineers and  created his own version and that's it..

[The_Foxcatcher]

Still just as bad imo, David having anything to do with the creation or evolution of the classic original Aliens is just bad, I prefer that he just copied the Engineers and  created his own version and that's it..

Very true.

[Russ840]

I really dont think i mind if David is the creator.

Although not the route i would personally take, i do believe its more fitting that te Xeno's are made and not a product of a natural evolution.

Have to wait and see how it all plays out though.

[NickisSmart]

David didn't invent the burger. He just put cheese on it.

[The Cruentus]

burger...cheeese..anything to do with the Original = bad

Better if David just created his own version

[SpeedyMaxx]

The film may not be awe-inspiring or wholly original, but I have little doubt it will be reviewed fairly well and do well at the box office. I expect it to be a solid sequel and thriller. People expecting catastrophe are naive.

[Corporal Hicks]

https://letterboxd.com/film/alien-covenant/

Couple of so-so reviews.

[Clowndog]

Well Jesse B's fits my own feelings as to what the film is going to be and it does chime with my biggest worry from Prometheus, that the editing will be a mess in whole sections of the film.

Matt DeGroot's appears to be a Prometheus fanboy complaining about other fanboys disliking it so much that Ridley moved away from the 2001 aping aspirations seen in Prometheus.

I think people may have to come to terms with the fact that Ridley never intended to properly answer the "origin of life" questions, I'm not entirely sure what truths the films could hold with any gravitas. Maybe it's best left a mystery? Especially in movies based in a universe which are more concerned with the realities of there being a "perfect" hostile Alien creature.

From all the available evidence it seems Prometheus was a vehicle to set up the black goo, David's character, putting David in the position of being in possession of said black goo and maybe a bit of "what does it really mean to be human" in regards to how autonomous David was.

[shawsbaby]

I would call The Counselor a lot of strange things, but overly pacey is not one of them.

The group goes to find the two of them, and Shaw is already deciding to head back with Charlie. The hammerpede pops out of Millburn for a jump scare and then slithers its way out of the picture. Fifield kills a bunch of redshirts and then is killed by a redshirt. There's no impact. The actual issues with Prometheus are purely structural, in that the film's second act doesn't really build on itself as much as split apart into a few threads that rejoin later.

I agree with these points - too little was made of both the sequences with the hammerpede post-Milburn and Fifield's attack on the ship - but I do think the initial hammerpede attack with Milburn [sp?] was far too brief. It could've been absolutely agonizing and skin-crawling, even more than it was. I think a part of the speed there had to do with pressure from the studio for a lighter R.

Worth mentioning though that even in the original Spaihts draft the material is pretty much scripted the same (with the exception of Milburn begging Fifield to cut his arm off, before the hammerpede reappears in his throat and between his teeth while he's alive, having burrowed into his arm). It's a question of how long to hold it.

Yep. That's another major issue with Prometheus: dramatic irony up the wazoo. Virtually none of the characters know what's happened to each other throughout the film. It's an aspect that could have been interesting in the right hands, but Lindelof's script never brought things together. So we just have isolated scenes of quickly occurring horror that don't amount to anything because the characters aren't in conversation with each other, there's no reflection on what's happened, etc.

[Pauli]

Is it conceivable that certain idea's that may have initially been developed in the early stages of a outright Prometheus sequel,predominantly ones about AI intelligence,may be rear it's head in the upcoming Blade Runner sequel ?

[John Doe]

I don´t understand how people take the reviews from other people like perfect truth. See for yourself and take your own opinion.

[SpeedyMaxx]

I would call The Counselor a lot of strange things, but overly pacey is not one of them.

The group goes to find the two of them, and Shaw is already deciding to head back with Charlie. The hammerpede pops out of Millburn for a jump scare and then slithers its way out of the picture. Fifield kills a bunch of redshirts and then is killed by a redshirt. There's no impact. The actual issues with Prometheus are purely structural, in that the film's second act doesn't really build on itself as much as split apart into a few threads that rejoin later.

I agree with these points - too little was made of both the sequences with the hammerpede post-Milburn and Fifield's attack on the ship - but I do think the initial hammerpede attack with Milburn [sp?] was far too brief. It could've been absolutely agonizing and skin-crawling, even more than it was. I think a part of the speed there had to do with pressure from the studio for a lighter R.

Worth mentioning though that even in the original Spaihts draft the material is pretty much scripted the same (with the exception of Milburn begging Fifield to cut his arm off, before the hammerpede reappears in his throat and between his teeth while he's alive, having burrowed into his arm). It's a question of how long to hold it.

Yep. That's another major issue with Prometheus: dramatic irony up the wazoo. Virtually none of the characters know what's happened to each other throughout the film. It's an aspect that could have been interesting in the right hands, but Lindelof's script never brought things together. So we just have isolated scenes of quickly occurring horror that don't amount to anything because the characters aren't in conversation with each other, there's no reflection on what's happened, etc.

I don't disagree with the weird pacing and structure, but again: In fairness, the structure is largely the same in Spaihts' original draft, before the film turns into a straight-up well-trod alien bughunt with even more anonymous redshirts than Prometheus.

I think both Spaihts and Lindelof's versions have merits and flaws. I just think certain punches were pulled along the way for certain commercial reasons, and certain narrative corners cut for the sake of propulsion - too much propulsion. Most importantly, I think Ridley (while still very talented) is too focused on proving himself to still be current and relevant to allow a lot of scenes and post-traumatic fallout to breathe longer, a la Alien. I don't think he'd let that be cut the same way today.

[gantarat]

burger...cheeese..anything to do with the Original = bad

Better if David just created his own version

maybe prequel novel might answer about David and Alien

[M_Tak]

After seeing the film, I kinda think the marketing team should really limit any new footage they allow out by now, they're getting close to showing the entire bloody thing.




David creation argument:

Spoiler

To me it seems more... He found someone else's toys and played with them

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[Samhain13]

David creation argument:

Spoiler

To me it seems more... He found someone else's toys and played with them

[close]

Spoiler

That's a little better, so he never claims to have created the creature? Does David explain why he bombed the engineers with the goo? Is LV-426 ever mentioned or shown?

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