MattM6R
MemberOvomorphDecember 27, 2016Short answer: no and I doubt it.
I expect some people will be angry that I am criticising the first film, and others may be angry that I'm casting doubt on the second. All I can say to those who have considered the many criticisms of Prometheus and dismissed them, is that we have different views. To those who are excited about Covenant, I share that excitement, but the bitter experience of Prometheus combined with the gestation of Covenant makes me fear the worst.
I won't rehash all the arguments against Prometheus here, but will just flag one small element that I think was symptomatic of many of the film's problems: Stephen Stills's squeezebox. Why was it introduced? A vain attempt to give the captain's character depth, which was otherwise entirely absent. What did it add to the film? Nothing. Where did it lead? Precisely nowhere. How did it fit into the narrative? It didn't - it was entirely pointless. What did it tell us about the mission? That the crew were a vacuous bunch of archetypes who would not have been let near such a momentous mission in a month of Sundays. In itself it was insignificant and if it was the film's main failing it would be irrelevant. Sadly it was just one of very many similar inanities.
So what is wrong with Covenant? Hopefully no more than the promotion so far and the trailer suggest. As for the promotion, the addition of the 'Alien:' in the title is a tacit acknowledgement of Prometheus's failings (which, incidentally, goes equally for the hoopla made in the promotion about the horror and the adult rating). I sincerely doubt that a film will be any good when the producers seem most focused on informing us why it is so much better than its predecessor. As for the trailer - hmm. Would there have been a shower sex scene in Alien (the 1979 original)? No, because the film was driven by character and mood rather than cliche and "aren't the actors hot?" And right there is the next problem. Covenant will apparently be crewed by a bunch of models. The Nostromo, in comparison, was crewed by normal people. I appreciate the premise is that the Covenant crew are largely (though not entirely) couples of child-bearing age, but next time you see parents dropping their kids off at school, ask yourself whether they look like the crew of Covenant. And what about the backburster? The original alien appearance was, of course, designed to be shocking. And it is highly questionable that a creature of that size could have co-habited for any time in a man's chest, let alone grown so rapidly. But with a little suspension of disbelief it was plausible. And it was shocking. And it presented the central narrative of what was, lets face it, an otherwise pretty corny film (great though it was in execution). The backburster appears to simply be a nonsensical new way of mangling the human body for the sake of column inches.
Crikey, I hope I'm wrong. But I felt good before and after paying to see Alien. I new the aim of the producers was to make money, but they also seemed intent on producing good entertainment and art. The producers of Prometheus (including Scott) only seemed interested in exploiting the franchise. Nothing else. I appreciate much of my disappointment with the latter film stemmed from the anticipation of seeing an Alien prequel (though to be fair, Scott vacillated between whether it was truly a prequel or not - in itself an obvious warning sign). But I've never felt so angry about a film's failings.
With the benefit of the hindsight gained from the Prometheus experience I have very bad vibes about Covenant. Hope I'm wrong, but I may have to wait for a home release before finding out. I'm not sure I can bring myself to hand the producers their share of the cinema admission price this time.
"Just remind yourself that this is a movie, nothing more, and if it doesn't satisfy, maybe Blomkamps offering will. "
Oh dear God NO ;)
They are giving into Fans who wanted to see Xenos in Alien, how was it made, why was there no Xeno running around killing the crew... Why did we not get to know what happened to the Space Jockey...... and what... they are Bald Big Grey Humans.... NOOOOO! and No Ripley NOOOO!
the fans who was disapointed as above, may look at AC as giving them there wish... i spoken in person to some people about the Trailer and they talking about great there is not Engineers, great we see Ripleys Mom, Great to see Xenomorphs...
Think they been eating to many of these...
One of these people was disappointed Rogue One never had Solo and Luke LOL
So even if Covenant does not do the trick for these guys.... then Alien 5 will happen and will be the biggest Fanboy Project going.... If that sells.. more than AC... then expect Alien 6 and Alien 7... and by then CGI be so good that we can retcon Prometheus to Alien with CGI Ripleys...
R.I.P Sox 01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017
How would you like to sit down to a Xmas meal, to have a plate shoved in front of you with just some vegetables slapped on ? It does’nt matter how well you present this, but you know there is something missing. You know that the vegetables are properly cooked and prepared and presented well, but still there is something missing. This is what Prometheus was. It does not really make it a bad or a good film, because you know it is incomplete and part of a bigger picture. Some meat is required and I think this is what Alien Covenant will deliver. Fans are screaming for the meat and we now have a trailer that delivers a sense of anticipation. For now the meal is incomplete and we will have to wait until the full dish is served. Only at that point will I be happy to say if either are good or bad films. Up to now everything would appear to be falling into place. Just a little more patience required.
