Amph On Earth, Everyone Can Hear You Scream: The Prometheus / Alien Discussion Thread (Romulus)

So, I enjoyed this overall (the opening scene and ending probably makes it worth it- and the overall ride there is pretty good, barring a reset for the finale. I think it's weaker than Prometheus on the whole (but then I liked Promethetus) but isn't bad as Prometheus 2 (seriously, at some point Prometheus is just going to get "Indiana Jones and the"'d with an "Alien: Prometheus" title). Like, the characters were more fleshed out in Prometheus but the Covenant characters act more competently. The action is aggressive and it's gorgeous to look at.

Also, can we just have Michael Fassbender play every role in a movie from now on?

Some negatives and observations:

Spoiler

1) Answer questions before asking new ones! I've long said that the final verdict on Prometheus cannot be made until a sequel to it provides the answers to the questions it raised and that it would ultimately be judged upon those answers. Here, we effectively do not get any answers to those questions- only a continuation.

What was the ultimate purpose of the Engineers? Were there two factions? Why did they create us? Why did they want to destroy us? Why were they welcoming the Juggernaut back?

None of that is answered- we only know why David eradicated them in the present, not their motivations in the past. And now we have questions of what is David's end game? We know he wants to stop humanity from continuing, but how will he do so from the colony planet? Now, perhaps it is Scott's intention to answer all of the above in the next film (or whatever the final film ends up being), but that's putting a lot on the plate to answer in a single film. It runs the risk of making the same mistake as Lucas when he got to Episode III.

2) NO MORE AIRLOCKS. EVER! They managed to add something badass to this one, granted, but that's the third time they've used spacing to kill a Xeno (possibly the fourth if you could the death of the Newborn in Resurrection).

3) An Alien 3 sin: Killing Shaw offscreen between films. Have you learned nothing from the Newt/Hicks controversy?

4) Environmental suits on alien worlds! For fracks sake, use them! Keep them on! You cans till have monsters or accidents rip them and allow infections without making people seem stupid or careless.

Beyond that it's smaller details that could be explained down the road: How do these Xenos gestate so quickly (even compared to the "purer" Prometheus creatures? Why do they not have a chestburster snake stage now but do have one later and instead pop out fully formed here? It's kinda funny that the AVP films might actually answer this a little by suggesting the Yautja could induce a quick gestation for their purposes, despite these newer films ignoring them.

I did like the Alien POV shot- it makes it look like a normal POV looking through a translucent shell, which ties into the human-like skull underneath the smooth head of the original creature.

Also, there was a little cameo by the Deacon amongst David's work so at least there's another connection there.

 

Looking forward to seeing this this afternoon with the son in law. Daughter isn't really interested, but how much you want to bet she goes with? lol

 

Took in $36m this weekend- compared to Prometheus's $51m. But AC also cost $30m less so if the worldwide total% favors international to the degree Prometheus did (almost 70%) then AC should do pretty decently on the whole.

 

It was ok, totally predictable, but at least not terrible.

 

Spoiler

My current theory is that something will happen that requires David to get more of the virus (perhaps a final act by the crew of the Covenant), so he returns to LV-223 to get more/steal another Juggernaut so that he can produce more eggs in order to hit Earth.

However, intervention by the jumbo space jockey scuttles those plans and crashes on LV-426. Then David either sets off the warning beacon that will eventually lure the Nostromo to it or manages to send a message to the company informing them about it, knowing they'd search for it eventually.

 

It's really not that confusing, unless you mean specific dates and the various viral promos.

Spoiler

-Prometheus prologue/seeding Earth
-(AVP backstory, if you count them)
-(Predator & AVP films, if you count them)
-Prometheus Weyland TED talk promo
-Covenant prologue/birth of David
-Prometheus David sales promo
-Prometheus
-Covenant David/Shaw backstory "I have become Death."
-Covenant Walter promo
-Covenant Last Supper promo
-Covenant
-(Awakening/next film)
-Alien, Isolation, Aliens, Colonial Marines, etc.

EDIT- if we're talking specific dates:

-1987: Predator
-1997: Predator 2
-2004: AVP/AVPR
-20XX: Predators
-2018: The Predator (presumably)
-2089-2093: Prometheus
-2104: Covenant
-21XX: (Awakening)
-2122: Alien
-2137: Isolation
-2179-2184: Aliens, Alien 3, Colonial Marines
-2379: Resurrection

 

The more I think about it, the more I want to do a Quest's Qut merging Prometheus and Covenant into one film...

Spoiler

Still open with the Prometheus prologue but then use Covenant as a frame story, starting with them already meeting David (or possibly their descent to the planet- either way, dropping the solar sail damage sequence).

Insert the birth of David, Drop the archeology of Prometheus and jump to the debriefing. Let Prometheus more or less play out (maybe intercut some more of Covenant in the middle as things are revealed but saving Shaw's fate until we're done with Prometheus. End with the escape from the planet on the cargo loader but cut the alien aboard the ship and just go to the David reveal. Boom.

You can use

Spoiler

Weyland's visual age

to ballpark the time between the prologue and Prometheus.

Aliens was LV-426 (aka Acheron), the same from Alien but different from LV-223 from Prometheus.

 

Yeah, it's a different Juggernaut in Alien/Aliens than the one that crashed in Prometheus or the second one from Prometheus that now crashed on "Planet 4" in Covenant.

Spoiler

Now that I think about it- they never say why the Juggernaught crashed in Covenant (other than David's lie to coverup Shaw's death).[ it was still airborne and functional when he deployed the virus bombardment.

 

Spoiler

I think the pod scene was in that prologue clip they released online for Alien Day- it might not have been in the final version of that sequence in the film though.

EDIT- yeah, here it is: