Alien Movie Universe

Saw it last night - spoilery-ish - UPDATED-

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Nycro

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 6:44 AM

I went to the opening (both of the first 2 showings)in our local theater last night (Theater was packed both times).  My local theater, apparently, will not be showcasing it in IMAX AT ALL, so I do not know if a few of my issues with the movie would be resolved by that.

First, it was grainy, sometimes REALLY grainy.  Really took me out of it at times.  (Resolved, See Final Paragraph)

Secondly, the film was dark, as in AVP:R levels of shadows, hard to see things on screen at many points.  It's funny since a lot of scenes too dark in the film itself were abundantly clearer/brighter in marketing trailers.  (Resolved, See Final Paragraph)

Third, The tension to payoff was out of whack.  At times suspense was built very well, only to have the payoff be too quick, blurry or dark to really soak it up.  Other times, the build up was lacking in suspense and the payoffs really could have used better build up of tension.

Fourth, the scene cutting.  It really felt like there was a great deal of scenes (30-45 minutes) that were cut and it screwed with the transition from scene to scene.  It felt similar to how Warcraft was cut and all to quickly transitioned all over the place.

Fifth, Monster scene time.  It seemed that the scenes which did have shots of the monsters were sped through, with them being used in payoff shots, but they were kind of a "blink and you miss it" type of deal.  I felt they popped up a good number of times, but were quickly transitioned away from, or suffered from blurred screen movements or environments that were just inherently too dark to showcase the terrifying beast.  It felt rather unnatural and it just didn't feel like they had the same foreboding screen presence of the original 3 movies.

That being said, as with all Ridley Scott movies, it was astounding cinematography.  There were amazing scenery shots and set pieces, but felt less than due to the cloud of darkness that shadowed many of the great shots.

As a standalone film it was okay.  It really felt mediocre.  Not that bad, bud not that good either.  As many plot holes and issues that Prometheus had, I fell it to be a stronger piece and more easily watchable than A:C.

It seems that Ridley really tried to get back to the magic of Alien, but fell very, very short - primarily because of the way it was cut.  A:C didn't feel as terrifying or foreboding as the originals and like others on the forum I felt that the blood and gore was overly hyped and not delivered.  It felt rushed and unfinished, and not really anything more than fan service trying to please fans of both the Original and Prometheus and only partially succeeding at both. 

Wrapping things up, we get some answers and a bunch more questions that alluded to, but never delivered answers.  More concrete answers and details were made available in the various interviews that have taken place over the last few weeks and it seems that it was left his way so they could film and write future installments based on how the fanbase/public at large respond to the answers alluded to.  It really feels like they alluded to things going this way, but if the public reaction is negative, then they have enough wiggle room to take it a whole other direction altogether.

Alien: Covenant 2/5

Ranked in Order:

Alien 5/5

PROMETHEUS 4/5

Aliens 4/5

Alien: Covenant 3/5  EDITED 23 MAY 2017

Alien 3 (This one fluctuates, sometimes I really enjoy it and others it just grates on me) 3/5

Alien Resurrection 2/5 - Popcorn Flick

AVP 2/5 - Popcorn Flick

AVP-R 1/5 - bad popcorn flick

 ----EDIT----23 MAY 2017--------

Okay, I just wanted to throw an update out here.

As posted above, I saw A:C on opening night twice.  I had to travel for away for a few days and due to friends wanting to watch it, I watched it an additional 2 times; one in regular and one in IMAX (friends bought the tickets so I only paid for 2 with my own funds).

I can tell you definitively, upon the third viewing the theatre did NOT have the grainy image issue that plagued my first 2 viewings in my local cinema.  It was also brighter, not much, but better than the horrible quality I got at the local cinema.

The final viewing was in IMAX.  Yes, it was Desaturated - I mean that was to be expected, but the picture quality and contrast was far, far better.  It provided a much better viewing experience in my opinion.

Due to this alone, I am bumping it up to a 3/5.  Yeah, it has some issues, but my god, in IMAX it is absolutely beautiful.

I have talked to others that have seen the movie locally and all of them that I have spoken with had issues with the quality - I have even heard some rumblings about it at several showings from 1 specific company nationwide.  The poor quality in my initial viewings really took me out of the movie and killed a lot of the entertainment value from straining to see throughout most of the film.  It was a truly night and day difference.

As such, I would highly recommend that people that had issues with this portion of it , try to see it in IMAX.

18 Replies

splatterpunk

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 6:48 AM

I rank alien, covenant, aliens, prometheus, alien 3 and I don't even acknowledge that resurrection exists.

 

What were the plot holes?

 

Personally I felt prometheus was trite and pretentious. Covenant helped clear up some problems from prometheus and actually makes prometheus a better film. I'm just curious as to what the plot wholes were?

S1m0n

MemberOvomorphMay-19-2017 6:57 AM

I didnt find it grainy or dark . The IMAX i went to seemd sharp and very clear.

 

I think covenant could of give us more answers for sure but to me it was 4/5

splatterpunk

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 7:02 AM

The theater I was at it wasn't grainy or dark either. I had no problems seeing anything. The movie theme as a whole was dark. I actually found this to be the darkest alien as in evil.

Nycro

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 7:08 AM

Going on little sleep here @Splatter, but glaring ones sticking out right now from Prometheus -

1. Millburn and Fifield got lost, even though they were being monitored via audio/video and nobody noticed until after the rest of the party returned.

2.Shaw knocked out a couple people on her way to the medpod before her C-Section, only to have nothing said AT ALL when the same 2 people were with her and the other to go meet the Last engineer.

3.  Shaw and David Left in one of the many ships after Janek rammed the Engineers' ship with the Prometheus, however the Engineer went after Shaw instead of leaving on a new ship to carry out his mission.

4. Let's go to LV-223 and land without actually vetting the place!!!

5.  Millburn:  Dead Aliens be freaking me out and I don't wanna go the way that the beacons are picking up a lifeform..Oh look, a lifeform!  I'm gonna wrassle it!  Come here cute little snake, coochi coochie coo...OW!

There were others, but I am operating on very little sleep over the last few days, so, yeah, there is that.

I didn't feel very many plot holes in A:C, nothing really sticks out there.

Maybe I could have worded it differently, I just meant that even with the plot holes that Prometheus had, I still felt it superior to A:C.

Nycro

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 7:14 AM

I touched on the IMAX part of it - The closest theatre that will be showing it in IMAX is 363 miles away from me.  Even though my local theater has IMAX, they are keeping Guardians of the Galaxy there and replacing it in one or two weeks with something else and skipping A:C IMAX altogether.

The darkness/grain issues are probably tied to regular screen viewings or maybe there was something wrong with the print that our theater received to run.

I have family back home that went to their local theater and drew the same comparisons and they went to a regular (not IMAX) screening as well.  Same goes for some Canadian friends of mine and others I've talked to across the U.S. which reduces the chance of it being a corrupted print.

splatterpunk

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 7:19 AM

@nycro oh I thought you meant ac had plot holes. I know prometheus was full of them. That's why I feel prometheus is a better movie with covenant as it fixes some of the stuff. It doesn't fix the dumbness of the crew on prometheus or the stupid stuff like them taking off their helmets and stuff like that but ac helps to clarify davids actions better.

 

Once all these films are done I want a box set of all the prequels and just alien. Looking back on aliens it seems childish and it is extremely outdated. I rewatched all the alien movies preparing for covenant and aliens just wasn't as enjoyable as it was when I saw it. Again I saw it when I was younger.

 

So let me rereank. alien, covenant, prometheus. That order may change when all the prequels are done.

 

BigDave

MemberDeaconMay-19-2017 9:32 AM

I think it depends on the Screen... the one i saw twice had a Good Clear Screen, but i agree it was a dark movie and the Tension was set up to then deliver the actual attacks to quick.

But i would think that there are extended Death Scenes that had to be cut down to get the movie to about 2 hours.

"What were the plot holes?"

Crikey.... were do i Start ;) Yep AC has a Ton of them... this will be interesting to debate them.

R.I.P Sox  01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

Dr. Curt Connors

MemberChestbursterMay-19-2017 9:40 AM

Last time I saw Alien: Covenant's rotten tomatoes score it was 77% don't know what it is currently at. I think 27% is what it should be.

BigDave

MemberDeaconMay-19-2017 9:51 AM

@Nycro

The Flaws you mentioned here are my take.

1) There was a better reason they got lost in the drafts as they both thought the other had the Map Device. My Prometheus Re-write did address a better reason than this.

But indeed the point about how no-body on the Ship noticed is a very good one.... then again Janek was more interesting in trying to get into Vickers KNICKERS and his CONCERTINA

2) Good point and a lot depends on the Timing, and how long those pair was knocked out, we can assume David never checked on them as he was going to wake Weyland up.....  and you would Logically have thought that they would have when they had awoke (Ford) had gone and told the others what has happened with Shaw and that she has escaped...

My Prometheus re-write addresses this better, but as far as the movie goes i will assume that David felt that attending to Weyland was more important... but should have sent someone to go and check.... which is what my re-write did.

3) This is another good point, a Stupid Move by the Engineer, but then i bet he was Peed! off with what happened and so he wanted to go and Kick Some Butt....

I would also say that the Engineer did not expect to encounter Cuddles the Trilobite and he would have felt confident the Humans he would find would be defenseless and so he would go and sort them out and then set off on another Ship.

4) This is correct but then what could such a thing and uncovered?  It appears the ship could not penetrate the Temple Mound...   Logically a Probe would have been better to detect the Temples...but then the Ship did pick up traces of Metal.

I think AC offers a much larger Plot Flaw as far as the above.

5) Again this was a silly scene, the drafts it was Fifield who was High on Pot and he picked up the Space Cobra and tried to get Milburn to kiss it..... again a bit silly.

My rewrite had this scene different, as Milburn finds a few worms and studies them, and then when they find the Black Goo he sees a larger one just leaving the Black Goo and goes to get it and picks it up and calls it (MOMMY) then it slips out his fingers and he goes to get it and then this is when Fifield sees the Hammerpedes... Milburn is on his hands and knees and the Adult Hammerpedes Approach him...  they hiss at him and he tries to keep it calm but keeps his distance.

Fifield then grabs Milburn and says lets get the F-k out of hear, and Milburn turns and says wait, this is the most advanced Organism we have ever found, and our Suits are almost Bullet Proof...  as he turns back to the Hammerpede it goes for him and his reaction is to grab it.... which he does so... then the Hammerpede just looks at him... transfixed .. Fifield rushes over to help before the Hammerpede then wraps around his Arm.

Just shows a bit more attention to detail would explain away such errors... i also introduced more crew and more Xeno connections.... Fifield Xeno... and Milburn Chest Buster.

R.I.P Sox  01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

BigDave

MemberDeaconMay-19-2017 9:56 AM

I am doing my review for Monday... but here is just my Score Run down...  out of 10 increments of 0.5

8.5 Visuals

8.5 Sound/Score

6.0 Plot

5.0 Execution

6.0 Acting

6.0 Horror/Thriller

6.0 Action/Drama

6.0 Overall

Prometheus Comparison

8.5 Visuals

8.5 Sound/Score

8.0 Plot

6.0 Execution

5.0 Acting

4.0 Horror/Thriller

5.0 Action/Drama

6.5 Overall

R.I.P Sox  01/01/2006 - 11/10/2017

colonialsoldier

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 9:59 AM

@splatterpunk - PLOT Hole http://screenrant.com/alien-covenant-plot-hole-prometheus-derelict-xenomorph/

I am just curious as to when the company is going to get a hold of David's mutiny and learn of the monster and then take it from there on trying to obtain the Alien for its Bioweapons Division.

colonialsoldier

MemberFacehuggerMay-19-2017 10:01 AM

@Dr Conners - you are right again.  There are been times that I have seen a low RT score and I found the movie very entertaining.  They you have high 70s for Prometheus and Covenant and it should be around a 20 to 40 range.

Dr. Curt Connors

MemberChestbursterMay-19-2017 10:05 AM

@colonialsoldier   Yeah exactly, 20 to 40 sounds right

Ash81

MemberOvomorphMay-19-2017 10:31 AM

I didn't see it IMAX last night, but I did notice that the cinematography was too dark & the coloring too desaturated/grey.  I liked Prometheus cinematography better.  For comparison the trailer for Dunkirk - shot on film - had beautiful cinematography, with detail in the shadows & good skin tones.  

I agree with your review - 2/5 for me - Resurrection part 2

oceantracks

MemberOvomorphMay-19-2017 11:00 AM

Saw it in XD at Cinemark and it was just amazing looking and sounding. Stunning really.

Nycro

MemberFacehuggerMay-20-2017 1:31 AM

I was going to give it another viewing in IMAX and see if the quality issue went away, but as mentioned above the local theatre is going straight from guardians of the galaxy to pirates of the Caribbean in IMAX and skipping A:C completely.

I guess I'll have to wait until it drops on Blu-Ray to see if it was just a screen/print issue.  But no way in hell am I spending money on a 3rd ticket to watch it regular again.  Already fooled me twice.

Something I did leave out was the sound/score as commented on by BigDave - it was good; really, really good.

Nycro

MemberFacehuggerMay-23-2017 4:45 AM

Updated, 23 May 2017

Gralen

MemberFacehuggerMay-24-2017 8:13 AM

A:C is worse then Prometheus imo. Same visual appealing scenario but story-wise it was too shallow.

I expected more about the Engineers and some screen time with Dr.Shaw.

 

Worthless movie and hopefully the last one from Mr. Scott.

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