UKC

… about how bad you thought Alien Covenant was.

I started a thread last night about this - this morning- gone… like my patience with the crew of the Covenant last night due to the relentlessly dumb decisions they kept taking…

mods- any advice about what happened? Did the system glitch, or was I zapped? 

The best approach to any of the films after Aliens is just to deny they even exist.

Same with Terminator, they absolutely definitely only made two films and then stopped.

Maybe the mods had the same idea 

Yes, I’ve managed to keep that strategy going with the Terminator films; but every so often I let my guard down with Alien. And when I do, I never fail to be disappointed, as each new one seems intent on outdoing the previous one in the level of plot-inspired stupidity the characters need to display. 
 

I must try harder in future!

I thought it had some major flaws but also a few good points. It certainly wasn't one of those films that left me angry that I'd wasted a few hours of my life.

What did you reckon the good points were? I was really struggling to find any…

Spoilers…

The first alien “rang true”, the dialogue sounded like things people would actually say, the crew followed believable protocols and when they were overridden by Ash, there was a good (or evil) reason. The xenomorph’s growth rate strained credibility, but got a pass because everything else was done so well. 
 

In Covenant none of that applied- instead it was just hackneyed dialogue eg “we need to get as close to the ion storm as we can”- “but we can’t go below 80km!”- “take us to 40km”-  “nooo- the engines cannae take it… but… lets do it… oh, seems they’re fine…”

Crew doing inexplicably stupid things, because the plot required them to- “there’s been lots of lethal aliens running round killing my crew in ever more inventive ways, I think I’ll stick my face really close to this hatching egg thing, what could possibly go wrong…?”

Even the alien-retread of the last 20 minutes didn’t manage to muster up any tension. And that shower scene- did I really just see that? 
 

Just rubbish. In fact, so bad the whole David story got dumped and the franchise has apparently gone in a different direction with the new one. Should I ignore my better judgement and watch it…?

The critical drinker is my go to reviewer now, he’s saved me hours of my time.

Cheers

Toby

Yes.  It's a shame because there was a potentially interesting story arc but they lost me early when they did what they always do when arriving on a planet with obvious evidence of biological life about which they apparently know absolutely nothing (see also Prometheus).  They take off their helmets and take a good deep breath.  Shortly after that they start peering and poking at unknown species with ungloved hands...  I recently learned the hard way you don't even do that on this planet!

Also, wasn't there some problem with a neutrino burst damaging their ship?  Neutrinos, that famously interact with matter hardly at all and constantly pass the through the earth (and us) without anyone noticing.

yes- of all the particles in the standard model to pick from, they chose *that* one…?

Though I took that bit as “plausibly technical sounding term for plot device that’s really just space magic”

(though apparently, in the right circumstances, neutrinos *could* be hazardous…. Randall Munroe can explain 😁 https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/ )

Visually impressive, strong performance by Fassbender and the ending, although somewhat predictable was genuinely uncomfortable. I agree with you on all the silly plot holes though.

looks around furtively

Romulus is not bad

Agree. Imaginative and with strong characters. Finally unsuspended my disbelief upon the appearance of the end of film baddie though. They went too far.

This is an outstanding review of Prometheus, well worth a watch - youtube.com/watch?v=-x1YuvUQFJ0&

I still use the line "Is he an expert in things that have never ever happened?" from time to time.

Thanks- I agree- outstanding review! 😄

and yes I’d heard Romulus is better than other recent additions to the series… it’s inevitable I’ll end up watching it, so hoping you’re right, toad…