Wow. Okay.
It's been a long night, and I've had a fair bit to drink, so let me just say this: I expected to have to spend most of the night defending this flawed but good film to my co-workers and colleagues, mostly hardened industry vets. They had seen the mixed cross-section of reviews and had expected shit.
They loved it. And I pretty much loved it too.
I'll do a much more detailed post when I'm, uh, sober, but suffice to say I found the major bugaboos people have with the film here to be relatively minor. It's easily the third best film in the Alien canon - an older friend, a grizzled film lover who is hypercritical and doesn't care much for Aliens calls it second best but I wouldn't go that far - and it's damn good.
As to the major issues others have, I'll say this:
- Shaw leaves the squidbaby/proto-hugger behind - Fine. She has clearly frozen it inside the pod when she leaves, and expects it to be contained there. Narrative shorthand in the story easily allows us to assume the crew was informed and assumed the organism was contained while they went to meet the Engineer. They have their specimen, and Shaw is alive. All's well that ends well. Until the climax.
- Janek explains exposition - Fine. He is a military vet and went inside. Their horrific experience thus far led him to put it together, and remember, Janek and his men have been watching the expedition through helmet-cams all along. They've seen it all, and he's put the picture together. The little we got of Chance and Ravel - easily as much as many of the Marines from Aliens - also allows me to buy their sacrifice, after the stuff with their 'wager' and so on. They went to the temple too.
- Vickers - I wish she'd lived. My many friends at the screening didn't care. They thought there was plenty of her and the film didn't need to be longer. They did want more of Guy Pearce sans old man makeup; that was their only real complaint. I think Charlize did amazing work, especially off Idris Elba, and I want more of both of them on the Blu-Ray.
- Millburn (sic; that's how it's spelled on his helmet) engages the hammerpede - Others had issue with it, I didn't. Millburn is frightened of giant corpses, but he is a biologist. Animal life is what he believes he knows and can understand. He also is punchy and probably a little high off Fifield's stash by that point. Fine.
- Holloway's sacrifice - Fine. Most people didn't care for him among my group, but they did think his sacrifice scene worked, and so did I.
Everyone loved David. Even more than Shaw - Noomi Rapace was great - this is David's movie, through and through; the logical extension of Alien and Blade Runner and Scott's fascination with the replicant. David, the dream-stealer, is a fully-realized character who, unlike Batty, is viable for the future, gray and ambiguous and untrustworthy but a massive audience favorite. His opening reverie is incredible, as is his material throughout the film. "Who doesn't want their parents dead?" Tell it to Tyrell and Batty, man. I wish they had filmed the Weyland dream scenes.
Also: the surgery scene, everyone agreed, was on par with anything in the first two films. I was amazed.
I am genuinely shocked and pleased. I expected to have to apologize for a lot more of this movie to my friends, and online. There are things I want more of or would've changed - more Kate Dickie and Benedict Wong, more Engineer at the end, more Guy Pearce sans makeup, a bit more rationale for Fifield and Millburn bugging out, Fifield's mutation, etc. I also frankly suspect this was the cut they tried to submit it as PG-13, but didn't get it. I think/hope there is a harder version of several scenes out there, including the Fifield/Millburn attack, and I want it. Bad.
But everyone, everyone in that theater totally bought Janek, the vet, understanding the installation; they bought his sacrifice; they understood the supposedly 'ambiguous' nature of the disaster and what had happened there. We were given just enough to understand what happened. Nobody complained. I've rarely seen a film where online fandom is so off the pulse of something.
This is going to be a hit, and it will get a sequel. It's not 2001, and it's not Alien, it has things I would change and I'm sure I will talk more about them when I'm not drinking. But it is pretty damn decent and a fine, fine addition to the canon. Third best in the franchise. Welcome back. If this film can tame a pack of industry 9 to 5ers who expected crap as well as a Friday night midtown audience, it's not going anywhere but up.
Huzzah!
