Alien: Covenant (Prometheus Sequel)

Seems like Prometheus was Alien and this will be Aliens. Ridley is so sore about Aliens he's tryn to crush it still. To be honest though, I'm so hyped for this I can't say I trust my judgment too much but if we buy the tickets they'll keep making em. I'm happy to watch anything in the Aliens or Predator franchises, if we get a few duds (AVP AVP2 lol) along the way so be it. Send more angry film makes please. Ridley, Kubrick, Cronenberg, Lynch, more, more oh god please more!!! I rather a sequel or prequel then a remake any day.

Off topic a little but since I mentioned him, Lynch doing remasters is breaking my heart
 
Hmmmmmmmm.
Didn't hate it nor was I overly thrilled by it, but I did find it interesting . If anything it seemed more like a very deliberate effort to counter some of the most criticised parts of "Prometheus" ie the much lammented exclusion of the original creatures that were so solely missed by many. They were most obviously present in this trailer, so I imagine the other more "Prometheus" like elements, like the giant heads and strange statues/sculptures will appear later, rather than risk provoking a more negative respounce now.
I guess its hard to release any preview these days without showing too much of whats in the film but I can still make some educated guesses from this one.
The fact that Katherine Waterson as lead character Daniels plays a terrraforming expert means shes going to end up "revealing" alot about the biological origins of the xenomorphs and engineers based on what they discover on the planet,in much the same way as Shaw drew conclusions about them for us based on her archeological /religious background
Also, given that the planet has an advanced ecosystem (which surprised me) and is so obviously earthlike, it says to me that the engineers are exactly what we see them as first of in "Prometheus" , which is as the creators of worlds, and they seem to thrive best in earthlike conditions and the human race seems a very integral part of their eventual plans, similarly created on purpose, for perhaps very much darker reasons.
Quite why the Covenant discovers this world is up for grabs, whether its because Weyland has sent them out again (via Weyland AI's and Walter) or David has contacted them and lured them in after decades of being marooned there. I am again surprised that as colonists they appear to have only one synthetic helper though, synths would seem better if not preferable to human beings.
I'd also think that Rapace seems to have filmed her scenes separately to the rest of the cast suggesting much of her story could be told in flashback via David, and she is long gone by the time they arrive,which again is unsurprising based on how quickly the new crew appear to be so rapidly destroyed by present threats. Again I'm annoyed to see that quarantine rules are so easily ignored ,with people wandering around totally helmetless in a new "alien" ecological system (even though it looks like New Zealand (which it is !!!)) and the obvious risks from infection ,like immediately treading on fungi like alien pods and inhailing their spores but then the scientists in Prometheus were just as thick.
The colonists angle is interesting in that it reflects the Adam and Eve story in "Paradise Lost" but its whether David gets to play the part of Lucifer or not.The duality of Fassbenders two roles may play a pivitol point in the film, with David either representing a stronger independant intelligence to that of the newly created and programmed slave Walter, or exactly the opposite.Your guess is as good as mine.
But the fact he hasn't left the planet again, given that he could, is odd. He obviously doesn't warn or save the colonists early enough (given what happens) so I'm wondering if Walter repairs him if they find him later, or Shaw has done it in order to leave him capable of passing on her discovers and warnings. The fact he survives anyway hints that the engineers "biotech" processes are radically different to the hard physical human sciences that created David, which is probably why the engineer beheaded him in fear and anger in Prometheus in the first place, because as a synthetic ,he could be the ultimate threat to their plans.
Theres a huge amount to think about again. Given that John Logan did the screenplay based on multiple rewrites does fill me with quiet hope. He did after all do perhaps the best ever call back to classic Bond with "Skyfall" and was respouncible for "Penny Dreadfull" which hugely impressed me as a character driven horror TV series. But ultimately the fact that this story takes place before "Alien" and it looks like the crew are entirely and hopelessly slaughtered again, I am asking whats the real point of this, other than to retread the best parts of "Alien" and "Aliens" again. There better be something more of substance.
 
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Prometheus as a standalone movie, with no connection at all to Alien would have been great, even with the abundance of logic flaws. As it stands, it muddies up the universe in ways that are unnecessary. (The oft-made comparison of the Space Jockey origin to midichlorians is rather valid.)

From the minute that it was announced that Covenant would take precedence over NB's Alien 5, it has seemed as though Scott is trying to "steal back" the attention the series got after Cameron took over. This trailer further cements that. But one thing that will keep it from reaching the same height is that RS usually doesn't incorporate much humor into his films. And in general, there are few characters in his films that I ever end up rooting for, with the occasional exception. (The Martian actually succeeds in that area, far more than most of his other films.) Aliens works on several more levels than Alien does, not least because it manages to instill gung-ho humor while still portraying the most serious and dire horror, with characters whose fates you care about- including Burke. I predict Covenant will be suitably gorgeous, suspenseful and icky, but I really hope that the characters are more interesting than those in Prometheus, or even Alien. As cool as she was, even Ripley wasn't likeable until the sequel, despite showing her heart by risking all to save Jonesy. And I didn't care one bit about what happened to those in Prometheus.

Agreed on all counts.
 
I certainly like the feel of the trailer. I like that some of the sound FX from Alien are being used here too. I'm not terribly impressed with the weapons, the drop ship design, or the uniforms and costumes. That said, these things are less important than story. I just want the story to be compelling.
 
Send the Replicants for Heaven's sakes!...Ooops, wrong movie:behave Trailer didn't do much for me. And David is not the first David...
 
I re-cut the trailer. What do you guys think? I hid the faces/identity of the crew who gets infected.

With the re-cut: We don't know the person's face with the "back burster", we don't see the spore go in the ear or the face of the person, we don't see the facehugger attach himself to that crew member and we don't see the end shower death.

Thoughts? I feel like this drastically improves the "trailers give too much away".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgqe5kW92II
 
Much better. I wouldn't have even shown the xeno face. Just the tail.

I almost didn't include the face but I felt like we needed to see it. I was thinking as the studio director when I made this choice. I included it only to hype the fans up so they would see an actual "Alien" is in the movie. Unlike what we got in Prometheus.
 
Well the weird piano interlude in the trailer has been explained!!!
Apparently its a conversation that David and Weyland have about mankind and the creation of synthetics, and why men seem so intent on believing in many religions that have themselves created by Gods to serve a purpose.
Also, the "dog tags" hanging in the engineers ship seem to indicate Shaw has left them ( but it could also be that its some sort of memory card). Guess there are a few flashbacks in this, as its also pointed out that David is the only inhabitant on the planet when the Covenant lands.So Shaw is very likely long gone.
So far I'm pretty disappointed. I'd hoped something more complex and interesting would emerge, but this is simply repeating themes that have been done to death (ha ha) in so much other sci fi.
 
Funny you say that. I watched Blade Runner last night and it got me thinking that it would be cool if the Replicants and Alien were in the same universe.

So far Alien Covenant seems to be running the same formula as every other film in the franchise. One hero character and everyone else will die by the end in some way or another.
At least in Prometheus some of the character died with some dignity and honor (pilots). Looks like casting Danny McBride means they don't even want the ship's captain to be likeable. And IMDb shows James Franco. Dear God. What are they thinking?
 
15894439_10211426396636427_5874454029306044422_n.jpg
 
This might have been said already, but does anyone know who is handling the special effects make up/creature effects for this?
 

450px-AlienCovenant-DanielswithAUGA3Promo.jpg

I find this picture disappointing. The movie is set in the future. They've developed intergalactic space travel. I feel like the weapons should look different than modern day rifles. This is nothing but a slightly modified AUG.

While the M41A was actually 3 different "real" weapons that were cobbled together, the end result was an iconic movie gun that had a very unique look.
Funny that in Aliens, as awesome as the M41A was, it seemed to be extremely unwieldy and bulky. I feel like that's a strong contrast to what a future weapon should be. But then again, the current U.S. military is always testing weapons like the OICW that are considerably larger than what's in the current inventory, so maybe Aliens wasn't far off the mark.
 
View attachment 697215

I find this picture disappointing. The movie is set in the future. They've developed intergalactic space travel. I feel like the weapons should look different than modern day rifles. This is nothing but a slightly modified AUG.

While the M41A was actually 3 different "real" weapons that were cobbled together, the end result was an iconic movie gun that had a very unique look.
Funny that in Aliens, as awesome as the M41A was, it seemed to be extremely unwieldy and bulky. I feel like that's a strong contrast to what a future weapon should be. But then again, the current U.S. military is always testing weapons like the OICW that are considerably larger than what's in the current inventory, so maybe Aliens wasn't far off the mark.

This one?
oicw.jpg

I remember that one from the video game Delta Force: Land Warrior
 
I guess I don't have any problem with the design of the weapons. I mean, when you think about it...firearms today are largely the same as they were years and years ago. I mean, the AK-47 began development in 1944 or something like that, and it's still a very widely used weapon. That's 70+ years.

I've always kind of been of the idea that in the future things like scope improvements and such would actually be integral to the user, not the weapon itself. Things like contact lenses, helmets, visors and such would have the targeting systems built into them so that the user could have a targeting system set up that would be their preference and it would work with every weapon they have. I know, I'm kind of getting off topic there, but that's one of the reasons I don't think too negatively about the design of weapons from things set in the future.
 
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