Alien: Covenant (2017) (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

So, he was also asked how they went from shaved orangutan to Giger's creature and he said after Aldrich dropped out O'Bannon showed them a book of Giger's work and they thought it was great and when they showed it to Scott he said that would work and problem solved.

I just thought the shaved orangutan story was hilarious.

I wonder what the orangutan might have thought about the process?

 

[Johnny Angell]

Are we really tallking shaving orangutans or is my epidural really kicking in?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

 

[WillG]

Not sure how credible this is, but it wouldn't surprise me

http://movieweb.com/alien-covenant-2-may-not-happen-fox-reassess-franchise/

 

[Johnny Angell]

Not sure how credible this is, but it wouldn't surprise me

http://movieweb.com/alien-covenant-2-may-not-happen-fox-reassess-franchise/

If true, this is very disappointing.

 

[benbess]

Not sure how credible this is, but it wouldn't surprise me

http://movieweb.com/alien-covenant-2-may-not-happen-fox-reassess-franchise/

Imho stick a fork in it. It's done. What a let down that movie was....

 

[Tino]

Imho stick a fork in it. It's done. What a let down that movie was....

I thought it was great and there's zero chance there won't be more Alien films.

 

[Kevin Lamb]

I saw this film once in the theater and twice now on blu-ray. I think I flat out love this movie, lol. I acknowledge that certain characters, Billy Crudup in particular, are incredibly foolish and that it does follow familiar beats of the first two films.

However allowing for both of those aspects (and I fully understand why those would be dealbreakers for many) I can't help but be totally captivated by the terrifying beauty and nightmarish dread that exists from beginning to end. And watching this film really does feel like being stuck in a nightmare to me (and yes I realize how easily that statement can be turned around to criticize it, ha!) the kind of nightmare where things don't really add up or make sense and you can't even trust your own decisions but you just know that something is after you, something that you can't quite put your finger on until it's right in front of you and you shriek and wake up.

This film captured such a state of mind masterfully IMO, and on many levels. No this movie is absolutely not a cerebral sci-fi epic, no it doesn't break the mold with its twists and turns, but it does put me in the center of the horror in a way that few films have, especially as an adult.

 

[Tino]

Looks absolutely spectacular in 4K UHD too.

 

[Kevin Lamb]

Looks absolutely spectacular in 4K UHD too.

I'll bet! I can't forsake my 3D TV just yet so I'm still running standard blu's.

I can't help but hope that Walter runs the Covenant down in an Engineer ship and saves the day. I know it'd be cheesy for him to have two false deaths but it's just so harsh to imagine Daniels, Tennessee, and all the colonists being experiments and incubators for David's nightmarish designs. Plus David *did* seem to look back nervously before leaving the necropolis as if to wonder "is he really dead...?"

And even though I prefer to keep Prometheus/Covenant and ALIEN/ALIENS as separate canons I really love the idea of the Xenomorphs being invented by a homicidal android. It makes sense as to why the creatures would be so indiscriminately murderous toward all human life and also why facehuggers would be so perfectly sized to fit on a human head.

Plus it also adds an extra level of creepiness as to why even "good" androids like Bishop would be so enamored with them. As if somehow sensing the perfect workmanship of his own kind.

 

[Tommy R]

Yes! That whole angle just totally worked for me!

 

[sleroi]

I went into this movie with very low expectations. I, like Kevin, surmised that the prometheus/covenant canon is separate from the quadrilogy canon. So I hoped that by not trying to follow the illogic of it all I could just sit back and enjoy an atmospheric, creepy tale of that really muscular alien from the cover hunting down some human prey.

Nope.

I didn't care about any of the characters. The Aliens were all overly cgi and really fake looking. The first two aliens seemed to be growing exponentially by the second, yet at different rates. The fast cutting was horrible. And the girl on the outside of the med lab was having a stereotypically female freak out episode.

Then it was plot, plot, plot boring, boring, boring. This film was neither creepy nor scary. And it was almost an hour and a half into an overly long two hour film before we got to the main showdown, and again, boring, bad editing, and bad cgi. The alien in the finale looked nothing like the one on the cover.

And the shower scene. Really.

As much as I dislike Prometheus, it was gorgeous, had some great action scenes and a fun ending. And Charlize Theron and Idris Elba.

Covenant has absolutely nothing going for it, IMHO.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I've been watching these things since 1979. I don't know why I keep expecting greatness, like what I got in '79 and '86, but I guess hope springs eternal. Covenant could have been worse, a lot worse, but meh. I gave up on this series decades ago. I suppose a stifled yawn is in order.

It's high-time we had a grand, unnecessary renaming (like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark), as we march relentlessly towards an ALIEN Decilogy...

ALIEN: Antarctica
ALIEN: Colorado
ALIEN: Prometheus
ALIEN: Covenant
[insert unnecessary installment here]
[insert unnecessary installment here]
ALIEN: Nostromo
ALIEN: Sulaco
ALIEN: Fiorina
ALIEN: Auriga

 

[Tommy R]

Don't forget the spinoff/prequel to Auriga we all want: "The Chronicles of the Betty: The Lazertta Plague"

 

[Bryan^H]

Looks absolutely spectacular in 4K UHD too.

Yes, it is a thing of beauty.

 

[TonyD]

Finally got around to seeing it.
BTW the last 6 or so pages are way off topic with all the cat talk and such.

Anyway, I did not see tis at the movies. First of the Alien movies I didn't go to see.

Saw Prometheus in a 3D Imax and liked it didn't love it.
Plenty of isssues with Prometheus.
I was able to over look some of that because it seemed like they were trying for something.

Then there's Covenant.
I felt like it was a redo of Prometheus in that all the characters did all the same dumb things in Prom.

And David is now the creator of the Alien?

There's no part of this timeline that makes sense.

It almost seems like the way they did Start Trek by starting over on a new timeline.

There are two great movies that got this all started and
it feels like they have no interest in tying any of these movies into the first two.

 

[Tino]

Finally got around to seeing it.
BTW the last 6 or so pages are way off topic with all the cat talk and such.

Anyway, I did not see tis at the movies. First of the Alien movies I didn't go to see.

Saw Prometheus in a 3D Imax and liked it didn't love it.
Plenty of isssues with Prometheus.
I was able to over look some of that because it seemed like they were trying for something.

Then there's Covenant.
I felt like it was a redo of Prometheus in that all the characters did all the same dumb things in Prom.

And David is now the creator of the Alien?

There's no part of this timeline that makes sense.

It almost seems like the way they did Start Trek by starting over on a new timeline.

There are two great movies that got this all started and
it feels like they have no interest in tying any of these movies into the first two.

Are you and Reggie twins??

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Are you and Reggie twins??

Not twins or even related...just two guys that know silly when they see it.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Then there's Covenant.
I felt like it was a redo of Prometheus in that all the characters did all the same dumb things in Prom.

So, I see this comment quite a bit in relation to Covenant but I actually did not find the characters in Covenant to be as "dumb" or ridiculous as the characters in Prometheus...which sort of set the bar at a new low. What would you say the Covenant characters did in the film that made them appear dumb?

And David is now the creator of the Alien?

There's no part of this timeline that makes sense.

It almost seems like the way they did Start Trek by starting over on a new timeline.

I agree that makes no sense unless these two new films are a reboot which does not concern itself with having to align with whatever went on in Alien. This is what I think is going on. Alien has been pushed aside in favor of creating the David tale. Plus they appear to want to sort of "expand the universe" of the Alien franchise as Ridley claims he wants it to be more like Star Wars.

I also find the other big switch is they seem to want to make these newer films more comic/silly/goofy with a heavy lean into camp.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Watched this on blu-ray and appreciated it a lot more than when I saw it in the theater. Maybe knowing what to expect helped it out a lot more. I went in to the theater hoping for a direct continuation of Prometheus, which I greatly enjoyed.

For those interested in the mythology, there are 2 extras on the blu-ray that are very nice. The first is the extended opening sequence with David and Weyland. There is only one bit of extended dialog but boy is it a doozie. As David sits at the piano, he explains the piece he is playing. It goes a very long way to explain the actions of the Engineers in Prometheus, as well as David's decision to wipe them out when arriving at their planet. This is less than a minute of added dialogue, and I have no idea why they decided to cut it out.

The second piece is called 'Advent' and is in the 'Section 42 - Planet 6' or whatever named feature in the extras menu. This goes a loooong way to fill in the gaps between Covenant and the original Alien and explains the Company's interest in getting the alien in the original film. David also refers to Daniels with a very specific term that I won't spoil here but will make you go 'Oh, shit'. Or really piss you off, depending on your feelings of how they are handling the story. I suspect they may have created this, in case further films do not ever get made.

At any rate, those two extras are not to be missed.