ALIEN: COVENANT (First Reactions from World Premiere)

[AGGAMEMNON66]

why can't they just let these franchises rest in peace?

I'm on board with you here. If you aren't going to make it the right way, why bother making it at all?

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

I liked this movie better when it was a direct sequel to Prometheus, I was interested to see how the MC and David were going to arrive in the Engineers homeworld, what the homeworld looked like, what type of culture and technology they had, the mystery of how and why they created the human race. The expansion of the Aliens universe by introducing new species like Engineers and backstory that connects to the Xenomorths.

But no, everyone had to complain about Prometheus lack of Xenomorphs, "Wheres muh Xenomorphs, wah wah!". We've already had like 6 movies and 5 videogames about Xenomorphs attacking humans, we've seen it already, theres not much else to explore there. This film just looks like a remake of Aliens, theres absolutely nothing new about this.

Ridley Scott was trying to expand the Aliens universe by introducing new races like the Engineers, the connection to human and Xenos. Possibly even adding new races down the line so that the Aliens franchise can be as rich and detailed as other expanded universes like Star Wars/Star Trek, but so much more grounded, realistic and dark.

I was looking forward to that but I feel like audiences and critics were too short sighted with Prometheus, so you all got what you wanted and the studio caved in due to Prometheus not having great results. Another movie focused on xenomorphs vs humans, more same old, no new ideas and the Aliens franchise doesn't grow and expand into bigger ideas.

I don't agree with this criticism at all. People didn't bitch about the lack of Xeno's with Prometheus -they bitched about how poorly written it was and about how dumb the characters acted.

 

[MicroBrew]

I think the whole hate for cgi nowadays is its over use. My opinion certain things work better with practical fx and certain things work better with cgi. The problem for me is when you get cgi for everything. Also a lot of directors need to be more restrained with it, often the scenes are just too over the top with too much happening and it becomes a mess

A lot of cgi is too dam obviously cgi, that's why people hate it. And stuff like Gods of Egypt is like shitty photoshop.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I don't agree with this criticism at all. People didn't bitch about the lack of Xeno's with Prometheus -they bitched about how poorly written it was and about how dumb the characters acted.

I had many criticisms of Prometheus, but prominence or absence of xenomorphs or xenomorph-like creatures was pretty much irrelevant to me.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Ridley Scott was trying to expand the Aliens universe by introducing new races like the Engineers, the connection to human and Xenos. Possibly even adding new races down the line so that the Aliens franchise can be as rich and detailed as other expanded universes like Star Wars/Star Trek, but so much more grounded, realistic and dark.

Engineers were introduced, but by sacrificing the race of Space Jockeys. Neither Ridley nor Giger thought that was a blue human in a bio-suit in 1979. That has "Lindelof with a side of Lindelof" written all over it.

 

[MMAmathwiz]

I too was hoping for this movie to be a continuation and to explain the origins of the engineers and their agenda and to see their homeworld. I didn't care about seeing more action wit the xenomorphs unless it was required to make a believable storyline , and NOT just inserting them in the move for the sake of having them.

My criticism with Prometheus was some of the plot holes and absurdity.

That's the direction they were planning to go until the studio jumped in and they ended up changing everything about Prometheus 2: name change, focus on Xenos, actor changes, plot changes. Basically the movie got cancelled and they went with the surefire money maker.

Prometheus had a lot of issues but overall I enjoyed it, visually striking, good acting by Rapace, Fassbender, Elba and it tried to lay the groundwork for the expansion of the Aliens universe. It also covered alot of themes that I am personally interested in: alien creators of humanity, the origin of Xenos and the human involvement in it.

The Engineers visually and narratively fit into this universe, they are a realistic take on advanced humanoid species. I think we won't be seeing much more of an attempt to expand and add new species to this franchise, people want xenos and thats what they'll get. Which is a shame because I felt it had huge potential.

Judging from this trailer, this is just another typical Aliens hunt humans movie, same old, predictable, no suspense. Its basically a horror movie starring Xenos, for the millionth time.

 

[MMAmathwiz]

I don't agree with this criticism at all. People didn't bitch about the lack of Xeno's with Prometheus -they bitched about how poorly written it was and about how dumb the characters acted.

Well I personally heard lots of people bitch that they didn't see xenos until the end of the movie, for them its like going to a Friday the 13th movie and only seeing Jason in the last 10 minutes.

I think its obvious at this point the studio felt that there was a lack of xenos in Prometheus and Prometheus 2, if they didn't why would they completely change course at the last minute and change the name to Alien Convenant? Why would they change their plans by replacing Rapace and Davis as the MC? Why would they change the plot from going to the Engineers homeworld to another Aliens clone on a infested planet?

Whether you didn't mind the lack of xenos the studio obviously thought that audiences minded it.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: March 6, 2017

Ridley Scott Says ALIEN: COVENANT Sequel Script Already Written, May Shoot in 2018

Ridley Scott says Alien: Covenant is a return to the sci-fi horror of the original Alien, which is later confirmed by the media which saw 20 intense minutes of footage of the unfinished movie. He sees it as one of three sequels to Prometheus that will take the saga to "the back entrance" of the original Alien.

"What we did really well on Prometheus, considering that it was a ground zero idea that was starting all over again, was I discovered that people do have an appetite for the alien and what he means and his evolution – the egg, the facehugger, the chestburster as we call them.

"People still want to see it. So I return to a little bit of that but not wholeheartedly; there's a lot in here which is new as well. Now we've gone further than that. We go from Prometheus into both worlds of the original Alien and a little bit of Prometheus."

While working on Alien: Covenant, he had the next instalment written so he is ready to keep advancing the saga.

"You've got to assume to a certain extent success and from that you'd better be ready," he says. "You don't want a two-year gap. So I'll be ready to go again next year."

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...horror-in-alien-covenant-20170222-guj8wk.html

 

[BisexualMMA]

Well I personally heard lots of people bitch that they didn't see xenos until the end of the movie, for them its like going to a Friday the 13th movie and only seeing Jason in the last 10 minutes.

I think its obvious at this point the studio felt that there was a lack of xenos in Prometheus and Prometheus 2, if they didn't why would they completely change course at the last minute and change the name to Alien Convenant? Why would they change their plans by replacing Rapace and Davis as the MC? Why would they change the plot from going to the Engineers homeworld to another Aliens clone on a infested planet?

Whether you didn't mind the lack of xenos the studio obviously thought that audiences minded it.

I think a big reason they minded it was the marketing of Prometheus. Everything about the trailer hearkened back to Alien, from recycling the music to the beats in the trailer. So it did a bait and switch on your people that just wanted to see Xenomorphs, and the larger open-minded group that was happy to see universe-expanding sci-fi got people treating alien snakes like teddy bears and an engineer with advanced technology trying to beat humans to death with his bare hands.

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

Fuck off Ridley

I want Neils Alien

 

[LATEXXX COMMANDO]

Sequel?

Covenant hasn't even came out and there's already a script for a sequel? They must really be confident in this film.

...

Hopefully it's worth one.

 

[MMAmathwiz]

I think a big reason they minded it was the marketing of Prometheus. Everything about the trailer hearkened back to Alien, from recycling the music to the beats in the trailer. So it did a bait and switch on your people that just wanted to see Xenomorphs, and the larger open-minded group that was happy to see universe-expanding sci-fi got people treating alien snakes like teddy bears and an engineer with advanced technology trying to beat humans to death with his bare hands.

Whether it was the marketing or not the end result is the same, people want xenos vs humans and expect it from a Ridley Scott movie that takes place in this universe. I saw all the trailers and personally I didn't really think it was all about xenos judging by the trailer.

In terms of the plot holes, the alien snake scene was very silly I agree. Scotts sci-fi films always have eccentric characters but I agree it may be the worst part of the film. But really you can break down several films in this manner, probably even your favorite action film.

"plot holes' is the most overused term in film critique these days. You also have to remember that the crew in Prometheus was hired by a private company, getting paid big money to sacrifice years of their life in cryo and even possibly lose their life on this mission, so they couldn't get the best crew together because of how dangerous the mission is, you can tell by the crew that its a bit of a suicide mission.

As for the Engineers fighting humans with bare hands, again I feel this is a bit of a nitpick. Any movie or scene can be broken down in this manner. How many scenes have we seen with Xenos basically a few feet from a human and they could spit acid at their face or bite their face off but instead they just slowly approach them. Its still a movie, they need chase scenes, etc. If the engineer just picks up a gun and zaps them all then its not much of a scene is it? Besides if you saw an ant would you pick up a gun and shoot it or just step on it with your foot, the engineers are physically and mentally superior to humans like we are to ants.

 

[MMAmathwiz]

Update: March 6, 2017

Ridley Scott Says ALIEN: COVENANT Sequel Script is Finished, May Shoot in 2018

Ridley Scott says Alien: Covenant is a return to the sci-fi horror of the original Alien, which is later confirmed by the media which saw 20 intense minutes of footage of the unfinished movie. He sees it as one of three sequels to Prometheus that will take the saga to "the back entrance" of the original Alien.

"What we did really well on Prometheus, considering that it was a ground zero idea that was starting all over again, was I discovered that people do have an appetite for the alien and what he means and his evolution – the egg, the facehugger, the chestburster as we call them.

"People still want to see it. So I return to a little bit of that but not wholeheartedly; there's a lot in here which is new as well. Now we've gone further than that. We go from Prometheus into both worlds of the original Alien and a little bit of Prometheus."

While working on Alien: Covenant, he had the next instalment written so he is ready to keep advancing the saga.

"You've got to assume to a certain extent success and from that you'd better be ready," he says. "You don't want a two-year gap. So I'll be ready to go again next year."

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment...horror-in-alien-covenant-20170222-guj8wk.html

I mean that basically proves that the studio wanted more xenos, he sounds like he wanted to expand the universe for the sake of the franchise and to add more variety.

The interview actually makes me hopeful though, it seems like he still has some control and will make audiences and the studio happy by adding more xenos but he will still expand on the Engineers and all the things introduced in Prometheus won't be shelved.

 

[BisexualMMA]

"plot holes' is the most overused term in film critique these days. You also have to remember that the crew in Prometheus was hired by a private company, getting paid big money to sacrifice years of their life in cryo and even possibly lose their life on this mission, so they couldn't get the best crew together because of how dangerous the mission is.

As for the Engineers fighting humans with bare hands, again I feel this is a bit of a nitpick. Any movie or scene can be broken down in this manner. How many scenes have we seen with Xenos basically a few feet from a human and they could spit acid at their face or bite their face off but instead they just slowly approach them. Its still a movie, they need chase scenes, etc. If the engineer just picks up a gun and zaps them all then its not much of a scene is it? Besides if you saw an ant would you pick up a gun and shoot it or just step on it with your foot, the engineers are physically and mentally superior to humans like we are to ants.

Re: getting the best crew together...I won't go into a laundry list of Prometheus flaws, but that just reminds me of the silliness of this crew seemingly never have met each other or been briefed on their multi-year mission until old Guy Pearce tells them what's up in a hologram when they're already years into the mission.

As to the Engineer going "hulk smash" on the crew of the Prometheus... This guy can more or less speak for me with his analysis of that scene.

 

[MMAmathwiz]

Re: getting the best crew together...I won't go into a laundry list of Prometheus flaws, but that just reminds me of the silliness of this crew seemingly never have met each other or been briefed on their multi-year mission until old Guy Pearce tells them what's up in a hologram when they're already years into the mission.

As to the Engineer going "hulk smash" on the crew of the Prometheus... This guy can more or less speak for me with his analysis of that scene.

Actually that makes more sense that the crew would be less than top quality, who is going to agree to such a suicide mission? People who have shady pasts, maybe desperate people or jobless people who are still knowledgeable in that field.

Remember that Guy Pearce basically set them all up with David, he probably wanted the crew to be a bunch of rag tag idiots because they were probably better off dead to him, he only needed/wanted David to survive.

As for the video you posted, I see videos like this all the time for every single action film. I don't enjoy watching videos like that, like I said you can break down any action movie like that.

I've never cared for critics and Youtubers opinions on movies as I disagree with them most of the time anyways. The only time I somewhat agree with critics is with serious drama films, but any action, sci-fi type of film I think everyone views them differently and is looking for different things.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Actually that makes more sense that the crew would be less than top quality, who is going to agree to such a suicide mission? People who have shady pasts, maybe desperate people or jobless people who are still knowledgeable in that field.

Remember that Guy Pearce basically set them all up with David, he probably wanted the crew to be a bunch of rag tag idiots because they were probably better off dead to him, he only needed/wanted David to survive.

As for the video you posted, I see videos like this all the time for every single action film. I don't enjoy watching videos like that, like I said you can break down any action movie like that.

Why would it be viewed as a suicide mission? It's funded by the apparent equivalent of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, and thus would be the private sector version of NASA recruiting. Why on earth would Weyland recruit a geologist from a community college? Being an astronaut is risky as hell, but nobody views today's astronauts as weirdos going on suicide missions. This was an opportunity to be at the forefront of human knowledge.

Guy Pearce was apparently selfish and ruthless, but he wasn't an idiot. Why even bring a geologist or biologist or botanist if you're going to intentionally bring bad ones and use them as cannon fodder? If the Engineer does have the information that Weyland wants and is willing to cooperate, Weyland is far better off having top notch geneticists and biologists to work with the engineer and comprehend what he has to offer.

 

[Pugilistic]

I don't agree with this criticism at all. People didn't bitch about the lack of Xeno's with Prometheus -they bitched about how poorly written it was and about how dumb the characters acted.

I remember if anything, they complained about having the proto-xenomorph in the movie.

 

[MMAmathwiz]

Why would it be viewed as a suicide mission? It's funded by the apparent equivalent of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, and thus would be the private sector version of NASA recruiting. Why on earth would Weyland recruit a geologist from a community college? Being an astronaut is risky as hell, but nobody views today's astronauts as weirdos going on suicide missions. This was an opportunity to be at the forefront of human knowledge.

Guy Pearce was apparently selfish and ruthless, but he wasn't an idiot. Why even bring a geologist or biologist or botanist if you're going to intentionally bring bad ones and use them as cannon fodder? If the Engineer does have the information that Weyland wants and is willing to cooperate, Weyland is far better off having top notch geneticists and biologists to work with the engineer and comprehend what he has to offer.

Because he doesn't want anyone but David to know his true intentions, he wants the alien tech for immortality and power and the only person he trusts is guess what: his personal android. Who else are you going to trust more than an android you created and programmed? David is physically and mentally far superior to any human, Pearce only needs David, he is his engineer, scientist, soldier, biologist etc.

Pearce is a ruthless billionaire, why would he depend on the contingency of the Engineers cooperating? Why would they even cooperate, that would actually more a "plot hole' then most things mentioned about the film. Weyland probably wanted the crew to die and David would've taken care of any loose strings, if you hire some prominent astronaut and he dies then that causes people to ask questions, if its just some expendable guy then no one cares, life is cheap in the future. Alot of these look like ex-cons, maybe they know their stuff but got fired for beating the shit out of their co-worker and now they need cash, people without families, who knows.

And again, this was a private mission funded by a private company, Pearce set it all up, kept things relatively quiet and planned out Davids actions. This movie takes place in the future, youre looking at space travel in the contex of todays world, in this future world space travel is not too uncommon. Theres probably ships being sent out all the time, this mission wasn't like the moon landing where its publicy televised and covered. Pearce has the money to do it too, in the future theres no telling just how rich one man can become, maybe even a trillionaire by todays standards.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Pearce is a ruthless billionaire, why would he depend on the contingency of the Engineers cooperating? Why would they even cooperate, that would actually more a "plot hole' then most things mentioned about the film. Weyland probably wanted the crew to die and David would've taken care of any loose strings, if you hire some prominent astronaut and he dies then that causes people to ask questions, if its just some expendable guy then no one cares, life is cheap in the future. Alot of these look like ex-cons, maybe they know their stuff but got fired for beating the shit out of their co-worker and now they need cash, people without families, who knows.

I'll grant that your scheme of trusting things to David and killing off the witnesses is not implausible. But as to Weyland depending on the cooperation of the engineers, that is 100% necessary. How was he going to force their hand? He brought no military, few weapons, and he should rationally expect to have vastly inferior technology and weaponry. All he did was walk up to the engineer and basically beg for more life.

If the engineer said he wouldn't help, what was Weyland's Plan B?

 

[BisexualMMA]

And again, this was a private mission funded by a private company, Pearce set it all up, kept things relatively quiet and planned out Davids actions. This movie takes place in the future, youre looking at space travel in the contex of todays world, in this future world space travel is not too uncommon. Theres probably ships being sent out all the time, this mission wasn't like the moon landing where its publicy televised and covered. Pearce has the money to do it too, in the future theres no telling just how rich one man can become, maybe even a trillionaire by todays standards.

Also, I don't recall the specifics to be honest, but wasn't the finding of the cave paintings done under the auspices of academia? Weyland presumably wouldn't have known to hush that up until the significance of the paintings had been determined and disseminated to some degree.