Normally I sigh when I read stuff like this, as someone who watches a lot of bad cinema.
Not this time.
I've seen worse films, but not many. Just Godawful in every possible regard. Even the visuals were dull.
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Alien: Covenant |SPOILER THREAD| With more Christian subtext than BvS
- Thread starter Toa TAK
- Start date
Normally I sigh when I read stuff like this, as someone who watches a lot of bad cinema.
Not this time.
I've seen worse films, but not many. Just Godawful in every possible regard. Even the visuals were dull.
Just watched. I didn't think it was bad.
Two things about the end:
Aren't the face hugger embryos in the drawer going to be easily spotted, unless only David is in charge
About the drawer, the same drawer was full in the opening of the film. And it has an empty row at the end.
Two things about the end:
Aren't the face hugger embryos in the drawer going to be easily spotted, unless only David is in charge
About the drawer, the same drawer was full in the opening of the film. And it has an empty row at the end.
MickeyPhree
Member
How is it going to be spotted when David is the only one there? Everyone else is cryo.
That's what I concluded as I typed it out.
Again, I don't think it was a bad film. I think the expectations of the viewer could ruin it. It felt more philosophical than a slasher alien flick.
It had the philosophy of a student film. All surface.
S
Steve.1981
Unconfirmed Member
Finally got around to watching this last night. Have to say that overall I enjoyed myself, although I was quite disappointed with the final third of the film.
I really like David as a villain. It helps that Fassbender is a damn fine actor, but I appreciate the time and effort that's being taken to build him as the most important character in these new films. His motivations and methods feel quite scary and unique, while remaining true to themes that have been present in the franchise since it got started. I actually like how they handled the situation between him and Shaw, leaving a lot of it unspoken and up to the viewers imagination, only to then explain some of David's macabre experiments and hit us with that one shot of her dead body. It was an effective gut-punch, and a good bit of psychological 'horror' (to think that all of Shaw's hope and her quest for answers came to nothing in the end but despair and an horrific death).
The initial sequence after the Covenant crew landed on the planet, through the first infections, up to the explosion of the lander, was fantastic. I loved how the characters were properly scared, confused and making mistakes as the blood and gore suddenly burst out all around them. That's exactly how that kind of situation should play out, and it was very well done.
On the other hand, the entire end sequence(s) was/were a big let-down for me. The Alien attacking as Tennessee picked up the survivors played out in a completely unrealistic way which destroyed any tension or excitement the scene could have had. Then the 'fourth act' back on the Covenant was far too rushed and easily tied up and so, again, devoid of any tension.
I've just accepted these films for what they are at this stage, so I'm looking for the good in them. I'm looking forward to what I assume will be the final act of this new take on the Alien franchise. It's been something a bit different, at the very least.
I really like David as a villain. It helps that Fassbender is a damn fine actor, but I appreciate the time and effort that's being taken to build him as the most important character in these new films. His motivations and methods feel quite scary and unique, while remaining true to themes that have been present in the franchise since it got started. I actually like how they handled the situation between him and Shaw, leaving a lot of it unspoken and up to the viewers imagination, only to then explain some of David's macabre experiments and hit us with that one shot of her dead body. It was an effective gut-punch, and a good bit of psychological 'horror' (to think that all of Shaw's hope and her quest for answers came to nothing in the end but despair and an horrific death).
The initial sequence after the Covenant crew landed on the planet, through the first infections, up to the explosion of the lander, was fantastic. I loved how the characters were properly scared, confused and making mistakes as the blood and gore suddenly burst out all around them. That's exactly how that kind of situation should play out, and it was very well done.
On the other hand, the entire end sequence(s) was/were a big let-down for me. The Alien attacking as Tennessee picked up the survivors played out in a completely unrealistic way which destroyed any tension or excitement the scene could have had. Then the 'fourth act' back on the Covenant was far too rushed and easily tied up and so, again, devoid of any tension.
I've just accepted these films for what they are at this stage, so I'm looking for the good in them. I'm looking forward to what I assume will be the final act of this new take on the Alien franchise. It's been something a bit different, at the very least.
Yautja_Warrior
Member
I didn't actually mind Covenant, seen much worse and it's not the worst Alien movie but it was still far from perfect and a bomb at the box office.
I just can't shake the feeling that Fox would have been better off giving Blomkamp's Aliens sequel a chance instead. It would have probably been a half decent action movie, at the very least and would have got more people into the cinema from the hype alone.
I like David as a character but Ridley seems to be far more interested in him, than the actual Aliens now, which is not really what I want in an Alien movie. Give me great characters, sure, but I still want the Alien to be the focus, not an after thought.
I just can't shake the feeling that Fox would have been better off giving Blomkamp's Aliens sequel a chance instead. It would have probably been a half decent action movie, at the very least and would have got more people into the cinema from the hype alone.
I like David as a character but Ridley seems to be far more interested in him, than the actual Aliens now, which is not really what I want in an Alien movie. Give me great characters, sure, but I still want the Alien to be the focus, not an after thought.
S
Steve.1981
Unconfirmed Member
For me the other disappointing aspect of the film was that after a promising start, it fell back on repeating the most obvious mistake that Prometheus had already made. There were silly deaths in the middle section, where characters were put in easily avoidable situations in order to kill them, which fell flat because the automatic reaction on watching the set up is, "Well that's obviously a very stupid thing to do".
The captain's death was the worst offender, I think. After everything that he saw, it was just ridiculous that he would simply follow David alone down to his creepy basement, and then look in the egg, trusting David's word that it was perfectly safe to do so.
That was really frustrating, especially after that great first sequence of the initial infections and deaths in and around the lander, which played out in a very satisfying way.
The captain's death was the worst offender, I think. After everything that he saw, it was just ridiculous that he would simply follow David alone down to his creepy basement, and then look in the egg, trusting David's word that it was perfectly safe to do so.
That was really frustrating, especially after that great first sequence of the initial infections and deaths in and around the lander, which played out in a very satisfying way.