Hicks/Hudson
MemberFacehuggerMay-23-2017 12:38 PMSo, I've been off the grid for awhile, and now seeing the movie, I'll give my review of Ridley's latest entry into this franchise.
It was ok. Not great, but not terrible either. The plot itself was fine until about halfway through. Again, not alot was given away DIRECTLY but rather the keen observer had to inference things more than once to actually make connections. I did this with Prometheus, so let me start with the character breakdowns:
Daniels: From heartbroken widower who is a TERRAFORMING expert, to the climactic battle with the Xeno/Proto/Whatever-morph while dangling from a harness and firing away like Vazquez (sans bandana), we got to see her great character transfor---not really. As you'll find in reading this, my issue was again pacing. Too much to tell and not enough time to do it. Daniels went from a terrified, crying character to a "I'm going to whip these people into shape. Thanks for trying to re-create "Ripley" magic.
Tennessee: To be honest, I though Danny McBride was great in this, and I was among many who, when hearing him cast, was like HUH? His character was well done, nothing out of the ordinary and nothing elaborate, just a well written and well acted part.
Oram: Eh, Dr Manhattan was great as a whiny, moody, religious captain. And if you believe that, I've got more for you.
Faris and Karine: Ah the wives. Unless you saw the Last Supper prologue, you'd never really get the friction between these two or why they acted the way they did at certain points. Just bodies to pile up for the newly introduced "backburster".
Ricks and Upworth: This movie's "Chance & Ravel", never leaving the ship didn't pay off here. Thanks for a steamy shower scene and for giving the audience a "that thing is going to put it's tail there???" moment.
Lope: Ugh. Nice nod to Apone with the cigar smoking in the beginning, but the facehugger scene and subsequent chestburster...could've been done much better.
Hallett and Ledward: Here's are Milburn and Fifield. I give Ledward some leeway here, he couldn't see the spores. Hallett...let's get as CLOSE as possible to an open little pod. Idiot.
Rest of the security team: Thanks for racking up the body count guys, you served us well.
Walter: Walter, I thought, was a good precursor to our old friend Bishop. Even the voice Fassbender conjured up for him reminded me of Bishop. I liked the idea of him having feelings but not being able to explore them, made his character worth watching.
And finally, David: Could it be that, this WHOLE TIME, that the reason for all these movies, all these deaths, Ripley's agonizing ordeals...is because of a robot that learned how to feel feelings? I think that is what we are going to be led too. Again, his acting was pretty good, not as good as Prometheus, but still better than most in this mess. Acting against yourself is difficult too. The "God" complex has set in, and he is more Peter Weyland then he may think he is now.
David being the catalyst behind the Alien the whole time now makes sense: He tinkered in Prometheus, which must have been transmitted back to Weyland(Yutani), causing them to realize they have a great chance at adding a new weapon to their bio-weapons division. They hard wire "Mother" (Muthur) on the Covenant to rendezvous with David so they can pick him up (along with some friends) and to continue his experiments (hence why at the end of the film, the Covenant Mother recognizes his voice commands and welcomes him by name). Ash was created in his likeness. This whole time, our search for our creators (which, BTW, is now a lost plot point that I'm sure we'll never get back to now) turned into the company trying to secure the Alien as a weapon (which was the point of Alien/Aliens/Alien3 and in some aspect achieved in Alien:Resurrection (if you want to count that one lol).
All in all, if you take it for what it's worth, it's not bad. The franchise is just a money machine at this point, and its screwing constantly with continuity and plot holes is just making more unwatchable.
Bring on the hate guys.
Jimbo13
MemberOvomorphMay-23-2017 1:06 PMI agree with your points for the most part. As for the money part... I dont think its gunna kill it at the box office in the states. I'm a huge Alien fan and a horror fan in general. I've seen so much horror movies that new ones don't intrigue me unless it gets good reviews. There has to be something unique about it to get me to watch. I knew this movie was gunna be lack luster when it came to the Xeno itself. Neomorphs were great and fresh and creepy. But like I've been chiming on a few topics on this forum, make the beast sexual! Like in Giger's art. How many times I've thought the Xeno would eventually rape someone with its tail or hand or mouth lol. They need to put this on screen to bring back disturbing and for the first time, a sadistic monster. Oh all the questions people will have when they see the monster impale a victim through an uncomfortable orifice. I believe in order for the Alien to return to true glory, they got to put the Giger into it and make the monster a true monster we haven't seen on screen, or something we all are scared to encounter.
colonialsoldier
MemberFacehuggerMay-23-2017 1:17 PMYes, pacing was an issue. They wasted time with the opening and they wasted time in the middle with the two Fassbenders. Perhaps it was for budget reasons, but it slowed the movie down.
Jimbo13
MemberOvomorphMay-23-2017 1:31 PMColonialsoldier at this point I dont think budget is the issue. Fox keeps cutting out footage from the theatrical cut for this franchise since it was born. They dont seem to understand that an extra 20-30 min mean a better movie which could mean a better return.. Look at their star wars franchise, some of those movies are close to 2.5 hrs, but the story has scenes that could very well be irrelevant in a theatrical cut. A:C comes in at 2hr 4min. 10 min extra footage could have made it a better movie. There are successful rated R movies too..
Hicks/Hudson
MemberFacehuggerMay-23-2017 1:52 PM@Jimbo, yeah it's not going to make Titanic money, but it'll make enough to keep pumping these out.
@colonialsoldier, my point exactly. The pace, from the opening scene to when they landed was a great pace, suspenseful and had that old Alien feel. Then, it turned into Resurrection lol. Stupid characters, quick deaths, little explanations, too many Fassbender kissing scenes, etc. I feel like Fox forgot, it's not the quantity of bodies racked up, but the suspense of who's next? Hopefully, the next one will have a smaller cast and try to make it more of a thriller like the originals, but unfortunately it's turned into the David show now.
