
Ian Oz
MemberOvomorphMay-13-2017 7:45 PMDo you remember that feeling that you used to get as a chid when you awoke on Christmas morning? Eagerness and excitement swept through your body as you ran down the stairs. Your eyes lit up when you saw a plethora of gifts laying nestled under the Christmas tree. Do you also remeber the feeling of getting some cool things, but not getting that one item that you truly hoped for? That sums up how I felt about Alien: Covenant.
The following take on Alien: Covenant will be more spoilery than sour milk.
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...
THE STORY
Everyone knows it already so I won't go there. Let's just say the 3rd act gets a little _________ (fill in synonyms for ODD on the line)
THE ACTORS
Each actor/actress was on point in this film. They delivered the best performance that the script allowed. Kat did a good job portraying the mighty heroine Danny. Her bowl cut finally grew on me by the end of the film. While she didn't match Weaver's Ripley and lacked the beauty and intelligence of Rapace's Shaw, she demonstrated she had the gall to be a leader. Crudup gave an excellent performance although his character was as smart as a dead moth. Carmen Ejogo was awesome as Crudup's wife who met her demise by a gnarly neomorph. McBride was legend of course. I'm sure everyone will be slobbering over Fassbender's dual synthetic performance. The real star of the film is James Franco. By golly, he will get a standing ovation for his performance. Heck, he may even recieve an Oscar.
THE CREATURES & EFFECTS
The creatures were vicious in this movie. The neomorpgh stole the show for me. If it was me personally, I would've axed the xenomorph and saved it for the next entry in the series. The neomorph is quite an interesting creature and I felt it was a bit rushed, which also made the xenomorph rushed too. I would've liked to learn more about the neomorph. The eggs and facehuggers looked absolutely stunning as usual. The xenos in this film are fast and fierce. I understand why they had to go the CGI route. There's no way practical effects could pull off how both the neomorph and xenomorph move. The CGI was good for the most part but looked a bit shoddy for the chestburster and young neomorpgh in the med lab. It's a Ridley Scott film so the sets and visuals were gorgeous. Hands down like 6:30 one of the most visually stunning movie he has producded.
GRIPES
The movie was terrifying, uncomfortable, awesome, and spectacular. There are so many positive adjectives to describe it, however, there were some major flaws in my point of view.
The gay agenda: There were scenes of dialogue between David and Walter that seemed very sexual. There was even the kiss that they both shared. Was that ruly necessaty? Demian Bichir didn't really need to be gay. Other than one scene were he says I love you to his dearly departed, you wouldn't really know the two were married. It all felt forced and not a natural part of the story. I bet this came straight from Fox studios.
Shaw: I honestly wish they did a flashback and showed Noomi acting. I understand that her story has ended, but they could have given Rapace's character one last hoorah. They did a flash back to the holocaust of the planet's indigenous society. Why couldn't they do one for Shaw. Perhaps it's just my own selfish thoughts wanting to see the ginger beauty return to the big screen. Again, just my opinion but I could've done without the Guy Pearce cameo and had a Noomi Rapace cameo. They could've showed what David actually did to her.
The chestburster: Not only was the CGI shoddy but I didn't like how when it burst it hailed to David.
Back story: The film needed an extra 30-40 minutes to slow down the pace and delve more into the backstory. Many questions are answered about the past, but many are not.
The Walter/David twist: This could've been set up in a way that was more suspenseful for the audience. My vision would have Daniels in the sleeping pod and when she would look up she would notice the hole that she made when she stabbed David with the nail.
THEORIES
My theory on how the eggs were made: David used Shaw's repoductive organs mixed with the black pathogen to create the eggs. In Promethues, Shaw and Holloway both create the Trilobite. We can all agree that the Trilobite is very facehugger-ish. The current facehuggers are smaller due to the fact they only contain Shaw's eggs and are missing sperm. I don't know? It's just my theory.
This is jumping ahead but another theory that I have is that the Space Jockey on LV-426 is not an Engineer. What if it was....David. David expressed his distate for humans. Maybe he was set to go to Earth to wipe us out and continue the original plan of the Engineers.
FINAL THOUGHT
I already watched Alien: Covenant twice. I plan to go for a third time. I feel I enjoyed it better the second time around. The first time I was in awe and trying to figure things out. My second viewing allowed me to focus a little more and I did catch things that I missed the first time around. While I love the xenomorph as much as any Alien franchise fan, I didn't think it should've been introduced in covenant yet. Being a Prometheus fan, I kind of wish Scott and the writing team followed more of Shaw's ideas. We live in a cry baby society now and when people don't get what they want they throw tantrums. People were displeased with Prometheus and wanted the xenos back. The cries have been answered, however it feels a little forced and rushed. Overall a solid film in the franchise despite its flaws.
My current favs in the Franchise:
Alien
Alien: Covenant
Prometheus
Aliens
Alien Resurrection
This is merely my own point of view. Everyone can express their own feelings. I do encourage you all to go out and watch AC in IMAX.
Thanks for taking the time to read this lengthy entry.

Tonehound
MemberFacehuggerMay-13-2017 11:06 PMGood job, Ian. I rate A:C how you have also, 2nd after A L I E N.
I was ready to skip reading your thoughts as it seems most reviews have been extremely negative, which I personally can't understand nor agree with, but I was wrong.
Oh yeah, James Franco has made me a fan. Definitive Oscar material. He lit up the screen.

Ian Oz
MemberOvomorphMay-14-2017 12:40 AMI'm glad you enjoyed it Tonehound. Haha....he "lit up the screen" Classic.

Dsparil
MemberOvomorphMay-14-2017 3:03 AMI have a feeling were going to find out the lv-426 juggernaut is ages old but the eggs weren't. Pilot was probably already dead and just a skeleton remain. David wipes out the planet with a neomorph plague. Who's to say the pilot wasn't exposed and birthed a neomorph that has long since died. The technology still intact, David uses the ancient ship to send out a bogus message and lure unsuspecting fools to the ship.
I also hope alien awakening is not about Shaw and David. I was a huge fan of Shaw and wanted her to live but she is dead. I'm hoping Waterston takes her place and goes to the engineers. It doesn't look like the planet they leave on is the engineer home world. Just a colony.
Like Ridley Scott, i feel the neomorph is played out.

Stan Winston (deceased)
MemberFacehuggerMay-14-2017 2:06 PMThis film is so much better than Prometheus. In fact, if it didn't have to dovetail back into it, then all the silly things about Alien: Covenant would disappear, and it wouldn't be too short from being a worthy cousin of Alien.
So glad Shaw is dead and probably died very badly. My irritation has finally been scratched.