Alien: Covenant - Do The Prequels Harm The Original 1979 Film? (Review/Analysis)
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- Disclaimer: Alien is my favorite movie. Biased opinion incoming...
Ridley Scott's Alien prequels, which consists of Prometheus and the recently released Alien: Covenant, both shed light on the origins of the Alien and serve as a backstory to Scott's original 1979 classic.
Yet despite admirable ambitions, neither is able to capture the magic of the earlier films. Covenant in particular is extremely divisive, not only in terms of the quality of the film itself, but for the direction it takes with what it reveals about the Alien's creation.
In this video I discuss my own personal reaction to Alien: Covenant and assess it's quality in comparison to both Prometheus and the original Alien, as well as explain why I am not particularly fond of where it takes the Alien's origins.
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Footage Used:
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Alien 3 (1992)
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
Prometheus (2012)
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Jurassic World (2015)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
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Please watch the video through its entirety before leaving a comment. This is not a rant on how terrible Covenant is, nor is it a glowing endorsement. These are my thoughts/opinions on Covenant, as well as Prometheus, which I try to present in a thoughtful and nuanced way as best I can. Thank you in advance.
Good video, I shall watch more of your work!
Appreciate that!
Imedias Rez I agree with everything you've said & my comments to that point are up & down these threads. They literally took the Alien out of Alien & insodoing have defiled the original. But it matters not. Its tanking in China. It needed between 370 & 400 million just to break even & its sitting around 205 million worldwide. Not all the bluerays & premium tv contracts in the world can save it now. Alien will be going bye bye for a long time until it resurfaces, probbably as a reboot of the original. Im done & so is this franchise
Imedias Rez one correction: Ridley Scott did not create Alien, so he didn't ruin his own creation. Dan O'Bannon, the true creator of the franchise died in December, 2009. He wasn't available to give Scott any input and truthfully, Scott didn't use O'Bannon's backstory for their origin, of which he was aware of, so Scott would have probably ignored him.
I don't consider that Covenant ruins the franchise at all as I really like the David character, but Scott really needs to give us better written characters. The crew in the original film was far smarter and they lacked the more educated background of the Prometheus and Covenant crews.
Alien: Covenant sucked😐
How the fuck do u not have more subs? This is literally the EXACT reasoning of why everyone hates this film! While it's not a bad movie, it definetly fucks with the lore of the Xenomorphs. Some people would put it this way:Ridley Scott: "I'll do the fingering"
Alien Mythos: "NOOOOO"
Ohhh my...
Great analysis. I have seen Covenant. As an atheist, I find these great "religious themes" to be a real drag. The religious elements of Alien 3 were used as effective plot devices to drive the story and to explain motivations and to set patterns of behaviour. They did not attempt to ask "big questions".
Prometheus and Covenant suffer from failing to really tell us anything about the Engineers much. They don;t really have any roles as such, which is a real let-down.
Neither movie has a single scene as compelling as any of the ones from ALIEN 1,2,3 that you intersperse your videos with.
That single scene you show, where the xeno uncoils itself in water behind Newt blows both of the new movies out of the water in a few brief moments. It contains more tension and drama than the other 2 movies put together. We care about Newt. Fuck, we even know her name.
I think the captain being religious was the worse of everytihing else. Purely because they didnt build up to it, it was just I am a man of fatih. OK thats fine, and maybe in the 70s 80s that would have meant something, but in this society of many faiths he would have been trained or warnned with the treat of dismissal to keep his religious beliefs out of the work place. If this is happening now in 2017 I can't imagine that it would even be something he would let come out of his mouth in whatever year covenant was set in. His subordinates would have immediately been like WTF are you on about. We arent going there because of your "beliefs"
AMEN!
I think Alien Covenant shouldn't have ever happened. I loved Prometheus despite it having the "smart people doing insanely dumb sh*t". But it was taking the franchise in what seemed like an really unique and interesting direction. Then Ridley decided to troll the fans and possibly the studio and made Covenant. I don't mind David being the creator of the Alien. But I mind the Xeno being turned into essentially a big dumb bug. A mindless animal that, like Brandon said in the video, showed no sign of any terrifying intelligence and was dispatched quickly and easily by the crew of the Covenant. I am morbidly curious where Ridley takes the next film, if it ever happens, but I think overall if you enjoy the original films, skip Prometheus and Covenant if you're having a franchise marathon.
I agree👍
You hit the nail on the head when you said that Alien needed no backstory or larger picture because it was a very simple concept that was expertly executed on all aspects of production. I can understand fan's desires for more films in the franchise, and honestly Ridley Scott's lofty aspirations for these prequel films are quite intriguing. However, the differences between Alien and this prequel trilogy is very similar to those found in the Star Wars prequels, which share one common element - a prestigious filmmaker receiving all the backing he needs. Lucas created the original Star Wars climbing uphill in the snow (the same can be said about Alien and Jaws), but once all barriers and challenges were removed, there was too much power in one man's hands with no push back, and garbage came out. I believe Scott has developed such a name for himself as being the man who created Alien that Fox gave him all the funding and leeway he needed, and subpar films came out of it.
I think the biggest misstep was not creating different alien creatures, totally unique from the Xenomorph, and new Alien worlds. The film series could have been a sci-fi horror anthology; Exploring dark corners of the universe, and building upon the cosmic horror of the original film. With Giger or a like-minded artist designing the creatures and the setting, and an imaginative script (for example, the original Medieval planet concept for Alien 3) the Alien franchise could have been incredible. I feel they missed a really good opportunity to expand the Alien universe.
blame fox not Ridley. he wanted to create a series of movies about the mythos of man's creation in the alien world. the xenomorphs were never intended to be front and centre.
IndianLover4you69 exactly ✌️
But fans are also inpatient to wait what wanted mr said
The man is like 70+ years old. He has gone senile. I would rather have Alien 5 by district 9 director with Sigourney, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, and whoever played Newt back. I don't know if it would have been good or not but still would take that over Prometheus and covenant.
I think it’s time for Ridley Scott to take a break.
We have Alien 3. How could we have that crap happening ?!
Guys, remember what Ash told Ripley when she read special order 937 at the MUTHER chamber: There is an explanation for all this you know.
It clearly that this is the idea from the beginning, an Android of WY created or has a role in the creation of the Alien, WY already knew everything about it regardless if David made it or the Engineers which I hope we gonna see in Alien Awakening, Ash was trying to tell Ripley about this but she didn't gave him the chance to explain (which kept the mystery going for fans!).
Trestan Emperor they knew about it but needed dumb nobodies to locate and bring it back. even in aliens the colonial marines were the B team. David transmitted a file he uploaded to MUTHER aboard the covenant; sent back to WY, so its now canon.
Ash had a complete meltdown, i presume due to a conflict in his programming as shown in covenant with Walters progamming.
The original implies Weyland knew there was an Alien ship out there. They never imply an android created the xenomorphs in a silly supervillain plot to destroy the world. Weyland may just have picked up the transmission so deliberately diverted the Nostromo crew to investigate.
There's only one Prequel I know that is not only good but better than the original movies: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Galahad however leone never considered those movies to be siblings rather than he reused characters. I saw it mentioned in some documentary on tube
Brilliant Analysis. I have to agree with you on every point. The same criticisms can be applied to the 2011 The Thing prequel which serves more to undermine the classic 1982 film rather than reinforce it, especially the element of mystery. Alien and The Thing(1983) are still my all-time favorite sci-fi/horror films.
My idea for an alien tv-series is as follows: It takes places just before the events in the first alien movie and happens on a planet near where the nostromo spaceship
is shipping ore.Weyland-Yutani is on the planet and have terraformed it for years,when they discovers a cave with lots of xenomorph eggs.
One of them get's infected and a xenomorph is born. It turns out to be a queen,and a lot of the Weyland-Yutani humans are infected and then
a war breaks out.All the humans on the planet are wiped out and only a few manage to escape in a spaceship.Then they nuke the planet from orbit.
Then Weyland-Yutani regrets the decision and a hunt for the xenomorph begins.They get a tip that there's a crashed spaceship on lv426 and sends
the robot Ash on the Nostromo spaceship.But they are informed that the mission has failed and that Nostromo has gone missing.Then Weyland-Yutani get's
a tip about an xenomorph on Fiorina161 and sends a team of researchers there.They finds a surviving prisoner that is impreagnated and a queen is born.
Weyland-Yutani then wants to use the xenomorphs on the planets where the engineers are located because they want the technology to seed planets with life.
They also want the elixir that provides humans with prolongued life.After they have managed to give birth to a flock of xenomorphs,they drops them
on an engineer planet and causes everyone of them to die.Then they get hold of the blue elixir that gives
prolongued life.But several ships with engineers that where away from their planet when Weyland-Yutani wiped the
population out,pursue them and manages to get the elixir back,but gets trapped on the planet where both parties
crash.Then a battle takes place and the crew from Weyland-Yutani gets the elixir that gives them prolongued life
for thousands of years,but they are now trapped on the planet,with no means to get anywhere.But then
they see a light aproaching,but is the spaceship friends or foes ?
Nah these films don't bother me. I actually enjoyed Prometheus and Covenant for what they are.
When Prometheus introduced the Black Goo, people seemed pretty fine with the idea that the Xenomorphs were a creation of that Black Goo. And Covenant didn't change this idea. So the Alien is indeed still Alien. David didn't create it from nothing. It's pretty evident that these or similar creatures have been created long before that.
It's still a terrible movie though
@@alexyoutubechannel8175 And as always your reply never adds anything to the topic.
Ridley lost his touch to be honest. He mumbles in interviews and doesnt answer questions properly. I dunno, i prefer Cameron!!
My biggest problem with what Scott wants to do is have the androids be the focus of the franchise, what's the point of calling it "Alien" if it's about robots?
My personal take on Covenant and Prometheus is that David didn't create the Xenomorph, he just copied what the Engineers had already done.
The title Alien still makes sense, the Xenomorph was created by humans, but the Alien could be the engineer, and it ties the films up a bit, as even in the first movie the company already knew about the Xenomorph
yes it cheapens the original and takes the mystery of the original and give us plothole in its place!
Great video!
I only like Part 1 and 3.
The "prequels" never clicked because I hate the look of "modern" movies which symbolize a regression in style and skill compared to what was has been created in the past by talented people.
Every time i watch Alien again i have the feeling that this was the accidental success of an idiot. Covenant wouldn't be much a problem if it wasn't done by Ridley Scott. Finally one of the last eternal classics is compromised to death. Decapitated.
Postscriptum: Covenant feels worse like hearing Whitney Houston on her last roadshow
They answered questions that shouldn't be answered. I couldn't put better myself.
i love alien, love aliens, alien 3 a bit bemused, but i like it as a stand alone movie! better without the swearing!!!!, prometheus i came out of the cinema, niether blown away or dissapointed!!! and the more times i watch it the more i like it!!! alien covenant i just couldnt get my head around it!! . i think i would have preferred the prequels to have concentrated on the the alien spaceship and its origins and the spacejockey race, and not touched on the xenomorphs at all!!! but i thought thats wahat ridley scott wanted to do!, also like to sat that ridley is a fantastic director who has made some amazing films throughout his career!!! . the batman.
That was an interesting analysis, thank you. The difference in quality between the prequels and the original is so astonishing that, like others, I am starting to think that Scott was not responsible at all for the masterpiece that "Alien" was. Probably, it was mostly Dan O'Bannon, the script writer. No amount of studio interference can explain why the prequel's characters act so stupidly.
This is my strongest complaint about the prequels. No matter how interesting or "big" the ideas Scott was trying to present in the movies are (and, for me at least, they don't seem to be worth of attention, because they are nearly incompatible with what we know about the world already), if the characters act so unrealistically, it is quite hard to take "the meat" of the movie and its intellectual content seriously.
After Covenant, the franchise is now completely dead, certainly from the canon standpoint. I do not believe 20th Century Fox will ever allow a retcon of the prequels.
you knocked it out of the park. The name 'Alien' is irrelevant, because the xenomorph as we know it is indirectly created by mankind.
1. Aliens
2. Alien
3. Prometheus
4. Alien 3
5. Covenant
6. Alien: Resurrection
I’ve been saying this, more or less exactly, for so long now
I love this movie and just don’t understand Alien fans. I think it’s a great entry in the series.
excellent video. 100% agree with all you said. but one question stands: when prometheus was released everybone complained there wasn't enough alien on it. now covenant there's too much. what would be the perfect next alien movie?
No body complained about that. Ridley made it vague himself by saying is was and WASN"T a prequel. (DVD commentary of the film he says this and in interviews leading up to the films release.) He confused people right out of the gate as to what the film was and whether is was part of canon or not. He didn't put Alien in the title, but used the same text opening from Alien. He said it wasn't about the Alien, but then put a giant mural of the Queen along with face huggers inside the structure they explore.
And now somehow David is the creator of the Alien from a derelict ship that had a fossilized engineer in it and where the Engineers had a mural of something that hadn't been created yet. There's these problem with the script because Ridley is changing it on the fly, not because there's some deeper meaning behind it.
7:01-7:21 except Jurassic world and the force awakens are both better than the alien prequels. Plus the force awakens and Jurassic world are both nostalgic thrill rides done right
i just pretend that these two ridiculous films never happened and have no intention of ever putting myself through the torture of watching the utter pretentious, confused bullshit contained within so for me they haven't ruined watching the films that came before
This review is generous in terms of nicely saying alien covenant is shit. But the final conclusion is that alien covenant is shit. So the review got it right
I think Scott might be not as guilty as we like to think. It´s very much possible FOX harrassed him so much that he decided to damage the brand Alien in order to force that FOX will not use it anymore and ultimately sell it to someone who treats it better. For example to Oats.
you are so right!!!
I Think It's Safe To Say I'm A TRUE Fan Of The "ALIEN" Movie's along with Both Prometheus & Covenant, Seeing As The Genius of the Artist H.R. Geiger's ALIEN Design & Of These Movie's Is UNdeniable & Will Stand The Test Of Time...And I Theorize IT WILL BE A VERY LONG TIME Before Were ALL Blessed With Another 200 Plus I.Q. Super Genius Level Artist Who's Focused Into utilizing the Janus Process, is Divinely Inspired, All while walking on water like Jesus Because That's What It's Going to Require for another Artist to Create a More Definitive Brilliantly Designed ALIEN relative to H.R.'s Zeno. So Yes, I Kinda Like ALIEN. Regardless of That I Most Certainly Respect the Idea's and Relative Point of Perspective of Another TRUE ALIEN Fan. Even if Their Overall Critique regarding Prometheus & Covenant is Mathematically negative rather than Positive. That Being Said This Fan's negative Review is Exceptionally & Intellectually Stated and is 99.9% Accurate to the Point of Abstract Truth. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VERY VERY RARE EXAMPLE OF A HOW TO ACCURATELY & INTELLECTUALLY PRESENT A Movie Review.
"Aliens" was the best👍
They way I like to see it and the way they might make it fit together is David did not create the Xenomorphs , they from planet Proteus (also known as Xenomorph Prime). The Space Jockeys visited Proteus and used Xenomorph DNA to make Chemical weapons ,the black Glue ,Which reacts to contact with Flesh ,David was simply experimenting and refining , but the history of Xenomorphs and Engineers go way back before Humans even existed
Ummm......YES. The greatest movie monster/mystery was CREATED BYYYYYYYY...............a butt-hurt Earthican robot from the past.
Scotts faced similar problem like Fincher before . Too many interests in production studio, his own, fans...
No way Covenant is worse than Resurrection
covenant did to prometheus what the last jedi did to the force awakens. and both did to alien 1 and 2 what the star wars prequels did to the original trilogy.
the best we can do is just ignore everything after alien 2.
Strongly disagree with that comment on the Star Wars prequels. They really aren’t that hard to understand. Episode 3 is a masterpiece. Can’t tell me otherwise.
it's not that they are "hard to understand", they are not. but episodes 1 and 2 are horrible. episode 3 is good and it feels like that was the one lucas wanted to make.
Pelger I disagree with them being horrible. I don’t think they are assessed(generally speaking) in a fair or well-rounded manner.
I don’t believe it’s accurate to compare these prequels to the Star Wars prequel trilogy ; one is complete and one isn’t yet
: the prequels actually didn’t take anything from the lore of Star Wars - as there’s definitely some cohesion in regards to the direction and the narrative.
Whether you like episode 1-2 or not is up to you but I don’t think it’s a fair to compare it to the Alien franchise.
Prequel trilogy. Still need a third one. This is a protomorph
Good channel dude. Subscribed!!!!!!!!!!!!! Geiger created Alien.
Appreciate it!
I didn't like Alien: Convenant😐
Yes, it does. Because it turns one of the most mysterious and terrifying monsters in movie history into some fucking stupid religious symbolism. We already had PLENTY of sexual symbolism is the first movies, we don't need anything else.
I think you can watch Alien 1&2 as a duology and ignore the rest.
Excellent analysis
I love David
The new films seem much more mature. You feel like this is what actually Ridley intended in the first place
I wholeheartedly agree. It felt to me like he was re making the original, now that technological advancement allows
It was complete rubbish
It might not be a perfect movie , but at least it better than all those rehashed superhero movies we get every week now.
Was it though..? I'd rather see another cliché superhero movie than a terribly disappointing prequel to a great, classic film.
I also hate how many Spider-Man films we're getting. The upcoming film seems alright though. They probably revealed too much in the trailer... idk, we'll find out.
I terms of ambition and originality, yeah, I'll take Covenant over yet another super hero movie. Unfortunately the execution was all over the place.
Yes Prometheues and Covenant destroy the alien mythos.
I liked alien covenant...
Both AVP movies > covenant.
Sees the title
The worst alien movie is alien 3.
But yes you are right alien covenant sucks
Honestly alien 3 is better than resurrection imo
That camera work and dialogs are just too comedic to be taken seriously
Nothing wrong has been done by Alien; Alien was always a story about evolution, and Alien Covenant is the evolution. David's story of attacking hierarchy and wanting to end the universe is very logical, and fits with the implications of the 1979 film. The original sequels to Alien were bollocks, including Aliens, but the prequels have evolved into something very relevant and powerful. Prometheus was a very average film, but Alien Covenant is a masterpiece
*raises hand*
Mr. Cullen, how is it a story about evolution when Ridley's dumbass explanation is that some android (with an amazing actor that can't find good roles) CREATED it which is the exact OPPOSITE of evolution.
And no, the original ALIEN has always had a HEAVY sexual theme and the fear of having a horrifying organism forcibly put inside you without consent=rape.
ANd no, Covenant is a below average movie created with predictable scares and plot twists that would make Shamalyn cringe. Tell me, would a masterpiece have a alien model that has it's spines go through a floor when it goes down a ladder. That's a telltale sign that nobody gave a shit when they were editing the movie.
I remember when Prometheus was in production Scott said that it would explore the engineers and would tell their story. He did want to keep the alien a mystery and even left confusing elements as to the aliens origins. The wall carving, the black goo. The studio still wanted an alien so the Deacon was added at the end. To me it looked like the engineers were experimenting on the alien and trying to weaponize it until it escaped and bread, killing them all bar one. The black goo is harvested from its DNA. David is merely trying to recreate the alien in his image by adding the insect like life cycle and eventually making it biomechanical.
A lot of people wanted answers to the aliens origins and that's what mostly drove them mad about Prometheus. Scott just wanted to touch on it and move on with Shaw and David's quest. Now as you said due to fan backlash we got Covenant. I don't mind it as I knew from the info online, that it would try to please Alien fans more than Prometheus fans. Unfortunately it missed the mark and showed us a lot of what we've seen before. Scott is trying to please the studio and the fans, but like you said with all of these existential questions you can't fit all the answers into one movie with your traditional Alien theme.
In all fairness he is trying to build a universe and it needs time to grow. But we need some established, grounded facts in this universe before it can branch off into different possible connecting storylines. Hopefully Awakening (if it gets the go ahead) will do this and answer a lot of questions that have bothered fans for so long.
In hindsight I might even prefer the mystery in Prometheus over Covenant because while it was somewhat frustrating, at least it kept the mythology open and mysterious, which keeps in line with the Lovecraftian tone of the series. It's suppose to be confusing, why wouldn't it be? We're just a bunch of simple minded fools mucking about where we don't belong.
Hey, maybe that's why the characters are portrayed like juvenile delinquents...
True, there still has to be some mystery. I hope that David is just tinkering with the Aliens DNA trying to achieve what the engineers did, claiming to have created it himself. That it was extinct and is getting resurrected (excuse the bad pun) by David. He did learn a lot about the engineers in 'The Crossing'.
I also think why the characters are kinda careless is because they rely on their technology too much. they have an arrogance due to their achievements and are so sure of themselves that they don't do proper scans. Now we know that some vital scenes related to this were cut. Walter checking the atmosphere for contagions before the crew left the shuttle. I think that Scott is trying to portray man's arrogance and foolishness with this but to the audience the characters come across as dumb. He did it twice (Milburn) so it must be deliberate.
That's a good point about the technology making mankind arrogant. That's probably what Scott was going for. I think it just needed to be done with a bit more subtlety and less cliched and stereotypical. Do we really need people going off alone for no reason just so they can be killed? Have them be competent but arrogant; it would make them sympathetic while still keeping the "arrogance of man" theme.
Totally man, he needs to be careful with this for Awakening. He does listen to feedback and when they are working on the script it has to be taken on board.
I enjoyed covenant more than I enjoyed alien resurrection
Also, it breaks the Timeline. Before, Predator, the Alien Quadrilogy (and AVP combining both franchises) were set in one timeline. Now, with the prequels contradicting everything, we have 3 seperate universes
Covenant also kind fucks up the continuity of the franchise. Remember how the Space Jockey was fossilized and the ship it was on had hundreds of Xenomorph eggs? If David is the one that created the Xenomorph, then how did the eggs get on a crashed ship that's thousands of years old?
Bruinsbiggestbear maybe we will find out in the sequel
That line of reasoning is never been excepted with any other film franchise. People said the same thing when Prometheus came out, and look how that turned out. The idea David created the Alien makes about as much sense as if Luke's father was Leia.
x5 CiNEMA how????
Because the eggs in the derelict from the original film were old, very old. The engineer was fossilized into his chair he had been dead so long. The mural in Prometheus contains the image of a Queen with facehuggers depicted in the corners; a mural that couldn't exist if the Alien hadn't been created yet. Even the poster art for the film is completely impossible since it has engineers being killed by a horde of Aliens, something that never happened, since the Alien didn't exist until the crew of the covenant arrived.
It's a monumental oversight on Ridley Scott's part because he thought it would be cool if David made them instead of the engineers. (Both ideas of which I think were stupid, but thats not the point) So again, the idea David made the Alien makes zero sense. Its why people are upset with the film.
I never thought that Scott would be such a simple minded guy, he seems to be unable to cope with story creation. When a simple minded guy tries to be intellectual you get things like that, somehow philosophy for the poor.
He still does not understand the Alien core myth and probably will never, it's far more than 'something cool', it's the appeal of the 'great unknown', a world beyond everything what mankind is familiar with. Giger's biomechanical design created new perspectives. Where are they gone ?
no, i loved it. the cgi was a bit dodgy in small xeno scenes. it had everything the complainers wanted. now we can get back to the serious storyline of space jockie origins of life biological AI. what happened to shaw. durring Prometheus i got lots of answers as to where they came from which was confirmed by covenant? 1 is humans create the specific alien which is in the AI 'DOS' or code. the space jockey was an engineer from a ancient race who are split into groups where some were sacrifice/ religious/ war sects. then there is the idea of humans and religion, why would a race of beings want to destroy us around the time of jesus. alien was a seed set by HRGiger that was modified by james cameron. done to death by the other movies directors in the franchise (so allowing anyone but Ridley hasnt worked?
i like alien 123 & 4 directors cuts, especially 3, just the beginning and end really p*ssed me off.
Covenant completely undermines the original. It also shrinks the universe by having everything linked so much. It was like a bad fanfic. The Xenomorph doesn't need an origin. Why can't it just have evolved somewhere? Making the space jockey just a humanoid in a space suit is so unimaginative. Linking SPace Jockeys, Xenomorph and the human species so much makes it all seem rather mundane.
To me, Prometheus doesn't just have "issues", it's an inexcusable mess of a movie that uses the worst, most dishonest writing trick out there: posing questions without knowing the answers, to create a plot that seems intellectual, allegorical and mysterious on a very superficial level. It's the "Lost"/Mistery Box bullsh*t J.J. Abrams style, lazy and downright offensive for the viewer's intelligence. I can even understand bad dialogue, characters and plot structure, 'cause I always assume the writer tried his best, and failed; but this I can't tolerate, 'cause it's intentionally lazy and manipulative.
Nah, it's average but I respect the concepts Ridley is exploring. Ridley's work is interesting to interpret. You can tell it's a story told by an aging Ridley. the first Alien is a young Ridley that delivers insanely good horror with inspiring protagonist. Prometheus is an aged Ridley playing with concepts that interests him in his seasoned age. I respect his work on it's own terms as the art it is.
I am sick to death of people jeering off scott . The alien franchise was born from dan obannon, including giger as monster designer. Scott was a hired gun. He did a great job, he was never the creator.
I can think of no way to make this movie worse. It is a shit storm of unparalleled shitstormyness. It feels completely disjointed from the franchise and almost like some fast and the furious fan got his hands on the rights and went rogue
You are hundred procent right in regards of the first part of the movie. I thought it was epic and then Dvid shows up, from there it turns more or less to crap
It´s *Giger, not Geiger. Geiger was a german physicist.
i think Ridley Scott ruin alien
When it comes to the Xenomorph's wild behavior and lack of biomechanical features, as well as David continuing his experiments at the end of the film, it's safe to assume that this isn't the classic version. It's more of a proto xenomorph. Close, but not quite there. I'm pretty sure when we see the classic in the next movie, it will be far more menacing
Yes, that thought has crossed my mind, and I can accept that, but I still think the film did a poor job making both the Neomorphs and proto-Xeno scary and menacing. I don't get a sense of intelligence behind them.
Yeah, they weren't nearly as scary as in Alien. Hopefully they do better in Awakening. Great video though. It's nice to see a more constructive and thought out critique of this film.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it :)
Plus, the mural I'm Prometheus depicts the classic xenomorph alongside facehuggers. It basically confirms that the aliens already existed beforehand.
It's ironic that the prequels seemingly attempt to give the Alien lore a more Lovecraftian theme and yet miss the core ingredient of what makes that theme horror: fear of the unknown. It wasn't until I watched the new movies that I realized just how Lovecraftian the original Alien already WAS before they tried to explain everything, and that only makes me appreciate it more.
Yeah, the original Alien is VERY Lovecraftian, I love it!
Alien: Covenant its pice of crap
ALIEN 1-3 is my greatest obsession. And everything after 3 is where I pretend they never happened.
There is nothing Alien about resurrection, Prometheus or covenant.
I like what he was trying to do as a sci fi film but they shouldn't be included with ALIEN.
Oh and not to be super nit picky because I agree with this and your Alien3 reviews , but it is geeger. Not g(I)ger he got very offended when he received his academy award and got called Giger instead of Geeger.
Yes those movies are trash
Well this is a bit of a coincidence. I released a video the other day dealing with some of these same issues but from a different angle. Great video, you importantly assessed the prequels in their own right with some of their ambition in terms of the interesting connotations of the philosophical thematic stuff coming to light. But I agree wholeheartedly that the movies just didn't really need to be conceived in the first place.
Yeah, Covenant's "big reveal" about how the alien came-about IS terrible, indeed. I think it's safe to say that it's not really the film Ridley wanted, though. Guess we'll never know the exact truth of all the studio/committee pressure on him and maybe better just give him a pass, as it were....
Perhaps the latest films can be perceived as its own continuity? I know it's not how they were envisioned but think about it. they reinterpret old elements, sports a new aesthetic, and as it currently stands, completely strays from the chronological timeline, I think of these movies as the ALIEN equivalent of the new planet of the ape's films. A stealth reboot if you will.
so did you like the movie or not or just like between like heh i dont hate it
Overall I'd say it's average, an ok movie uplifted by solid atmosphere, set design, and special effects (except for the actual Aliens, which look worse than any other movie in the franchise. It's not that the CGI is bad, Covenant just relies on it too much)
Imedias Rez okay
I thought the alien xeno CGI was actually quite good especially in terms of animation and as well as textures. It was the neomorph things that looked terrible, in fact the whole neomorph thing really ruined the film for me and as someone else analysis of covenant showed they harm the xenomorphs as it ankles them less special and negates the need for an egg, it makes the xenomorph not the perfect species.
I agree with just about everything here.
okay when did this happen in the movie? 1:29????
So glad I missed Alien Covenant at the cinema.
I guess I am a minority as I enjoyed Prometheus for what it was.
I enjoyed prometheus as well and I went to the cinema specially to see Covenant, it was ok but the stupid people and poor scripts really detract from the experience. I just don't know why he could;t have done prometheus 2 but have some aliens in it.
I don't know about Alien, but the Star Wars prequels harm the originals for sure.