Alien: Covenant

[Johan Larson]

The trailer looks good. And the second film in the series, Aliens, is quite possibly my favorite film ever. (It sometimes trades first place with The Terminator, depending on mood.) I want to like this movie. I really do.

But, but, but. The score for this franchise now stands at two good films, (Alien, Aliens), one OK film with a few missteps (Alien 3), and two bad films with a few good bits (Alien Resurrection, Prometheus.)

I'm having a hard time believing A:C can buck this trend, even with Ridley Scott at the helm.

[johnny1...@gmail.com]

I understand that reaction perfectly.  I feel the same way about Star Wars, the Terminator, and any number of other franchises.

I think there comes a time when a franchise has run its course, and attempts to extend it or revive it tend to end up rather zombieish.  The authors/writers age and change, the audience does likewise.  For movies and TV, the cast ages out of the roles, or they have to be recast.  The longer it goes on, the higher the chance of it going off the rails in an irreversible way.  Likewise, the longer the gap between the last installment and a revival, the harder it is for the revival to be good.

[Johan Larson]

Aaaand, they're bringing back the X-Files for another season. Let it go! Let it go, already! 

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-x-files-is-coming-back-to-tv-for-an-11th-season-1794513333

[Johan Larson]

Looks like I was right to have some doubts about Alien: Covenant.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/alien-covenant-may-be-the-biggest-disappointment-of-th-1794898330 

[Johan Larson]

76% on Rotten Tomatoes right now.

Probably not worth watching in the theatres. But it will probably be on Netflix soon.

[Johan Larson]

I finally had a chance to see Alien:Covenant. 

Ridley Scott did a lot right in this film. It looks great, there are appealing characters, and the action really moves. And through artful choices in characters, dialogue, and gear, the film respectfully references earlier films in the franchise. I was ready to give it an A- until a revolting twist ending made it a tragedy. As such, C-, unless you like your entertainment black as tar.

I'm done with this franchise. There are only two Alien films.

[Warren Ellis]

That's really sad. It sounds like it could've been good but for that twist. So what made it so terrible?

[Johan Larson]

In the final minutes of the film, after all the action is done, the heroine of the piece is about to re-enter cryo-sleep. A chance comment reveals that she has been betrayed by the android on the ship. At that point, it's too late to do anything about it; she is already in the pod and going under. It is strongly implied that she is going to end up a xenomorph-incubator with the rest of the colonists aboard the ship.

This is the woman who managed to escape a planet with an entire ecology based on the Engineers' bioweapons. She faced two (TWO!) xenomorphs on the way out, in close combat even, and beat them both. She had paid her dues; she earned her victory through heroic action. But the director threw all of that in the scrap-bucket for shock-value.

I found the ending absolutely stomach-churning.

[Johnny1A]

I haven't seen the movie but I know the feeling.  I remember a horror novel from years ago that had such a 'twist' ending, at the end, on the very last page, the heroine murders the hero.  Why?  ?????  No explanation is ever forthcoming.

This isn't clever writing, this is sloppy garbage. 

[Johnny1A]

What about Elizabeth Shaw?

Did anyone ever explain what would possess her to repair David?  I mean it's not as if there hadn't already been indications that the David droid was, ah...not functioning up to safety specs, shall we say?  Restoring David was suicidal and inexplicable.

I agree that as far as I'm concerned, the entire Aliens franchise is 2 movies, Alien and Aliens.  When they made Prometheus, they incorporate bizarre ideas that don't fit into the Aliens universe at all well, like the Engineers using self-sacrifice to seed worlds with life.  I'm sorry, that's about as sensible as a box of rocks.

I will say that all the way back in the 80s, I was pretty sure that the xenomorphs were artificial, somebody's bioweapon.  That idea doesn't bother me, but the way they seem to be going on it makes no sense at all.