In defence of alien covenant...

sorry timmy, there is no defence imo lol just my opinion tho

Movies are subjective, what appeals to one person may not appeal to another. I love Alien: Covenant and I am in a group of 2,500 people on fb who like it for different reasons...

very true. I wanted to love AC so much. haven't looked forward to a film as much as I did AC but for me personally, other than the look of the beasts and scenery, it sucked.

AC will be considered a classic in 20 years.....especially when the first artificial intelligence comes online in the 2040's...people will acknowledge just how right Ridley was...70 years ahead of the curve! 

I've enjoyed Alien3 for the last 26 years...didn't have to wait 20 years to finally understand and enjoy it.

Alien:R is the same way....I imagine that movie will start to to pick up support and 'suddenly' be come a misunderstood classic!! lol

Alien:Covenant is like a 50's b-movie to me: 'Space colonists looking for a new home are attacked by a mad scientist and his space monsters!!'

What's not to like!

MonsterZero

2040s - 2010s = 70 years? Are you taking into account Ash? Was he supposed to have free will in '79? And how do you define artificial intelligence? Conscious robots acting as human, capable of understanding language, capable of "creating"? That will never happen in the near future. We don't understand human consciousness so how do you expect we could simulate them? Do you even understand what today is called AI and how it works? 

And Ridley ahead of the curve? What about the medieval rabbi who invented the golem myth, which inspired Capek brothers to invent the robot term, who inspired Asimov, who inspired Philip K Dick, and Arthur C larke and Kubrick, and final there is also Ridley, who sincerely did not bring absolutely nothing to the table.

And if it becomes a cult movie in the future good for those involved, but don't say that those don't enjoy it don't understand it, as if there is a hidden depth to it that only a selected cabal can access. Right.

I have watched that one before and art is subjective. Alien Covenant to me is still an underwhelming movie. Sure people can try to defend it but there are probably people that try to defend Alien Resurrection too. There are parts of it that are OK but it fails as a whole because of the lack of character building and too much focus on the androids.

MonsterZero: About AR, please no. It is not misunderstood, it is kind of bad. They got it right with Alien 1-3 but that movie is where it started to get worse.

ignorantGuy

Yeah, Ash and Blade Runner. Only really talking Alien movies...certainly not literature.

I saw this before and he hits the nail on the head. Alien Covenant is a lot more faithful to the original than what people give it credit for and it's a shame.

I totally understand AC and it has no effect on my feelings towards the movie. visually its another Ridley beaut but other than that its horrible. AR was a good popcorn movie and an understandable next stage in the franchise. AC for me hasn't really done anything for the franchise. all I saw was a fill in movie to get David his hosts/ lab rats, nothing more. im hopeful for Awakening I really am but expecting nothing ''Ridley Scott'' quality. it looks to be leading to completely trashing the mystery of the derelict and making it all about David when the whole reason RS got involved again with the franchise was to explore who the dude in the pilots chair was and his relationship with the eggs. now its about a synthetic madman whos responsible for it all? nah, ill stick with the originals and Prometheus if that's the case and wait for someone new to reboot AC and Awakening

ali81 Well, for me, it propelled the A.I. subplots of the franchise to the spotlight, solidifying their contribution to the universe instead of just being a sci-fi gimmick. It made the rest of those subplots cohesive (it explains why Call and Bishop are so fascinated by the beast and partly explains Weyland-Yutani's motives for obtaining the creature as they see it their property). It also explained why the beast was bioengineered and who did it, what Paradise is like, the stages of evolution (from Deacon to Neomorph to Proto-Xenomorph) and edges us ever closer to the famed Derelict on LV-426. The Space Jockey is still the main point of the prequels but I'm glad the narrative isn't super straightforward, you need to tell David's story to tell the SJs. It also continues the Creator/Rebellion narrative set-up by Prometheus.

Yesss, that video is excellent! I had seen it back in January or February, i'm so glad someone finally posted it here. 

Indeed. Finally now and two hundred topics before...

Patrick Explains ALIEN: COVENANT - And Why It's Great:

http://www.alien-covenant.com/topic/47359

Ati I had forgotten about this video and now remember that thread. It is nice to see it re visited. It's tough to argue with Patrick.

Thoughts_Dreams IMO, it really isn't about defending a movie- it's more justifying why it is good. I think there is a difference. For AR, it is understandable why fans would not like it, but it also had some disturbing dark scenes in its own ways that the Trilogy had not done. The caged Aliens beat down of the weakest and Ripley 8 finding the other seven iterations of herself were pretty brutal and heavy. Just my two cents.

Lawrence, I understand where ur coming from regarding the AI subplot. I love the subplot of the company being secretly run by synthetics etc but these AI subplots can be shown without making it all about David. when I watch alien and it gets to the derelict scene, I want the mystery. I want its history to be alien and ancient to us. if it going to be revealed then make it alien to us, not something one of our creations is responsible for as for me, that takes something away from the possible wonders that could have been attached and explored through the journey of discovery such as the possibility of an engineer civil war or an engineer uprising against their higher power and where the original form of the xeno fell into the mix. this is more interesting imo than just 'oh, the android did it'.

I don't see the connection between bishop and call and their relevant interests in the beast. bishop was fascinated by its simplicity and admired it for that, as being around humans had shown him that we complicated even the most minor of issues whereas the xeno isn't interested in politics, religion etc and only interested in the continuation of its species. and I wouldn't say call is fascinated in the beast. she wants to wipe them out and doesn't show any signs of fascination with it.

again, I love the backstory regarding the company and their dastardly attempts at gaining the xeno for themselves but personally, I want more alien stuff. new species of monster AND sentient beings such as the engineers. I want to know and see more of them but so far theyv been completely moth balled. we know they created a pathogen..... the rest is theory. we know nothing of their true culture and if there is a higher power and we have had 2 films already.

Patrick is right about Alien Covenant. About Prometheus too.

Thanks for sharing this Timmy the ultramorph

I personnaly think that Alien Ressurection is better/more appealing than Alien Covenant. First, because i had much lower expectations for AR than for AC, second the characters of AR are significantly better than those of AC and third i find the crazziness of Jeunet much more entertaining than the visual mastery of Ridley Scott.

Some scenes in AR such as when Ripley find out the seven other clones, or when Ripley coldly tell to the guy what he has and how he will die or the way the chest bursting of the same guy was filmed  are priceless.
I don't see any really priceless scene or character in AC.

Alien Covenant had a lot of potential which was incredibly wasted. It is insane all the things they could have done with the engineers from describing a world imprinted by their civilization and technology, to flash backs giving us an overview of both their culture and technology. Many items of Giger art could have been used for this purpose.

Now regarding the Xenomorph it is much better as either a creation of the Engineers or an ancient species way more sinister than what we could imagine.
The xenomorph is often described as a perfect organism supposedly able to rampage whole worlds.
Yet, we have yet to see anything in any movie up to now which can justify such a reputation !
Alien Covenant could have featured a flash back scene showing how powerful a fully developped/mature xenomorph can be. Because we have just see young xenomorphs up to now.

It is nice to see AR get some credit. We discussed it in a few threads last year. Here is one if interested:

http://www.scified.com/topic/43048

It's nice to know I'm a clever clogs. Because I've always loved Alien Covenant!

Apart from the Xeno vision. We could have done without that.

yea I never liked the way the xeno sees explained in either of the movies it was shown in. best left a mystery imo

Agree- best left a mystery. It looked pretty much how we see and it felt tacked on. A3 did a better job with the fish eye view.