Oh my... early word from BBC reviewer. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170505-film-review-is-alien-covenant-as-good-as-the-original (mild spoilers but nothing shocking; the reviewer is careful to avoid things you haven't seen in the trailer but is mainly talking about the quality of the script.) Not sure I need to spoiler these quotes, but definitely for people who want to keep the hope alive... Spoiler "... you have to ask whether it’s really the most stimulating use of Scott’s time and talents to churn out yet another inferior copy of a horror masterpiece that debuted nearly four decades ago. He certainly doesn’t seem to be interested in recapturing the scruffy naturalism, the restraint, or the slow-burning tension which turned the first film into an unforgettable classic. Much of Alien: Covenant is simply a humdrum retread of Alien. ... The most salient difference between Alien One and Alien Eight is how clumsy the new film is..." He does say the android angle is pretty interesting, even if it seems orthogonal to the whole, you know, alien part.
I didn't read any reviews outside of the titles or watch any trailers: the one that caught my eye this week was Spoiler "it's a great Alien sequel until it becomes Prometheus 2"
I did not have much hope for this one Prometheus was meh at best I was excited about it . . .but in the end it was not very rewatchable Rocket River
lots of positive reviews http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/05/07/alien-covenant-review?read http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/alien-covenant-review-1000832
Alien franchise gets ungodly hype, yet there have only been (at best) 2.5 good Alien movies. So weird.
Hopefully some more upticks in reviews will come, I had hope but now starting to think I might have jumped on the hype train... That just derailed from the station
well.... Hopefully it gets better late reviews (but not looking good), but I feel after the first 1 and 2... I keep holding out hope for more of the original Alien and keep getting on board only to be letdown.. re-watching the original might be a better use of time.
It won't overtake Alien (nothing will) in terms of being a better film. That's just a given. The question is will it be better than Aliens (the second best in the franchise imo). I'm going to go out on a limb and say no. I think this will rank as #3. This seems like a film where chickens are being fed to the wolves. These couples aren't fighters. I wonder if they even have any real weapons? And, they answer a lot of the questions lingering from Prometheus. But, it seems doubtful anyone survives and the answers get back to Earth.
That BBC review was pretty disheartening honestly. I will still go see it in the theaters, but my expectations have fallen quite a bit. I just hope it's not full of stupidity like Prometheus.
Alien Aliens 25% of Alien Resurrection? 25% from Aliens 3? The android in Prometheus? The end of predator where you see the Alien skull? Just trying to work out what into your .5 calculation.
What the reviewer wants from this movie clearly will shape their reviews. I am trying to stay away from spoilers. But, if this movie is 100% Alien-ish then a reviewer that liked aspects of Prometheus might not be as high on it. If this movie is 50/50 of Alien & Prometheus then the reviewer might not be as high on it if they were looking for a 100% total Alien movie. Plus, this movie isn't going to be nearly as fresh as the first Alien. My take on non-spoiler reviews is this movie has both Alien aspects and Prometheus angles. So to me, that is a BIG win because that's what I want. I was hoping for a mix. I'll be seeing this one in the theaters.
Currently at 79% for 39 reviews on RT. Has a chance to hit the 80's or fall to the 60's but we know it's not going to be a train wreck. I'm stoked for this film even if I haven't seen the original Alien from beginning to end. I liked Prometheus and if it's everything I've read so far that it's a baby of both films, I'm definitely checking out Covenant.
If I get some more Prometheus story building, combined with some genuine Xenomorph action, I will be a happy man. The first 2 are classics, and clearly a notch above, but I've pretty much enjoyed all of the Alien movies except 3. I probably would have liked that one too if they hadn't decided to flippantly kill off characters.
3 was 50% david ducking fincher. Resurrection was 100% trash. All of the whedon pre-firefly heart was wiped clean.
3 gets a 65% from me. Plus when you read the film as a metaphor for HIV it kinda elevates the material. Still a mess but a real good mess.
That's fair enough, with the right expectations. What I loved about the original (and partly the 2nd and even a little bit in the 3rd) is there were characters you could see as real people. I mean, in the first one, you can just feel the frustration of these people trying to earn a slim paycheck as part of this enormous space corp. And you automatically could sympathize with them. It made everything more terrifying. From what I can tell, this one will be more just about the action and some exposition about ideas/concepts. And that's great if it's what you're after.
