Nycro
MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 6:44 AMI went to the opening (both of the first 2 showings)in our local theater last night (Theater was packed both times). My local theater, apparently, will not be showcasing it in IMAX AT ALL, so I do not know if a few of my issues with the movie would be resolved by that.
First, it was grainy, sometimes REALLY grainy. Really took me out of it at times. (Resolved, See Final Paragraph)
Secondly, the film was dark, as in AVP:R levels of shadows, hard to see things on screen at many points. It's funny since a lot of scenes too dark in the film itself were abundantly clearer/brighter in marketing trailers. (Resolved, See Final Paragraph)
Third, The tension to payoff was out of whack. At times suspense was built very well, only to have the payoff be too quick, blurry or dark to really soak it up. Other times, the build up was lacking in suspense and the payoffs really could have used better build up of tension.
Fourth, the scene cutting. It really felt like there was a great deal of scenes (30-45 minutes) that were cut and it screwed with the transition from scene to scene. It felt similar to how Warcraft was cut and all to quickly transitioned all over the place.
Fifth, Monster scene time. It seemed that the scenes which did have shots of the monsters were sped through, with them being used in payoff shots, but they were kind of a "blink and you miss it" type of deal. I felt they popped up a good number of times, but were quickly transitioned away from, or suffered from blurred screen movements or environments that were just inherently too dark to showcase the terrifying beast. It felt rather unnatural and it just didn't feel like they had the same foreboding screen presence of the original 3 movies.
That being said, as with all Ridley Scott movies, it was astounding cinematography. There were amazing scenery shots and set pieces, but felt less than due to the cloud of darkness that shadowed many of the great shots.
As a standalone film it was okay. It really felt mediocre. Not that bad, bud not that good either. As many plot holes and issues that Prometheus had, I fell it to be a stronger piece and more easily watchable than A:C.
It seems that Ridley really tried to get back to the magic of Alien, but fell very, very short - primarily because of the way it was cut. A:C didn't feel as terrifying or foreboding as the originals and like others on the forum I felt that the blood and gore was overly hyped and not delivered. It felt rushed and unfinished, and not really anything more than fan service trying to please fans of both the Original and Prometheus and only partially succeeding at both.
Wrapping things up, we get some answers and a bunch more questions that alluded to, but never delivered answers. More concrete answers and details were made available in the various interviews that have taken place over the last few weeks and it seems that it was left his way so they could film and write future installments based on how the fanbase/public at large respond to the answers alluded to. It really feels like they alluded to things going this way, but if the public reaction is negative, then they have enough wiggle room to take it a whole other direction altogether.
Alien: Covenant 2/5
Ranked in Order:
Alien 5/5
PROMETHEUS 4/5
Aliens 4/5
Alien: Covenant 3/5 EDITED 23 MAY 2017
Alien 3 (This one fluctuates, sometimes I really enjoy it and others it just grates on me) 3/5
Alien Resurrection 2/5 - Popcorn Flick
AVP 2/5 - Popcorn Flick
AVP-R 1/5 - bad popcorn flick
----EDIT----23 MAY 2017--------
Okay, I just wanted to throw an update out here.
As posted above, I saw A:C on opening night twice. I had to travel for away for a few days and due to friends wanting to watch it, I watched it an additional 2 times; one in regular and one in IMAX (friends bought the tickets so I only paid for 2 with my own funds).
I can tell you definitively, upon the third viewing the theatre did NOT have the grainy image issue that plagued my first 2 viewings in my local cinema. It was also brighter, not much, but better than the horrible quality I got at the local cinema.
The final viewing was in IMAX. Yes, it was Desaturated - I mean that was to be expected, but the picture quality and contrast was far, far better. It provided a much better viewing experience in my opinion.
Due to this alone, I am bumping it up to a 3/5. Yeah, it has some issues, but my god, in IMAX it is absolutely beautiful.
I have talked to others that have seen the movie locally and all of them that I have spoken with had issues with the quality - I have even heard some rumblings about it at several showings from 1 specific company nationwide. The poor quality in my initial viewings really took me out of the movie and killed a lot of the entertainment value from straining to see throughout most of the film. It was a truly night and day difference.
As such, I would highly recommend that people that had issues with this portion of it , try to see it in IMAX.
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