Chris Walsh

I’d give it 3.5 if I could. Just got back from cinema so it is somewhat fresh in my mind. I’m a huge fan of the Alien films and lore and was really looking forward to this film having seen the trailers. Spoilers below. First thing is I absolutely loved all the nods to Alien:Isolation. The emergency telephones which were the save points in the game made at least 2 appearances. Some of the scenes felt like they were putting the game on the big screen. The attention to detail in this respect, and of the whole Alien universe, was great. I really appreciated that. We always knew that Weylamd Yuyani wanted the Alien for its own questionable pursuits. Some explanation given in this film by the downed android (Rook) really tells the story of why they wanted it so badly, perhaps not so much the creature itself but what the creature could give them, the physical advancement of the human race. A negative was the speed of the Alien lifecycle. I have also noticed this in Alien Covenant. The whole process was complete in little to no time and even more, was the face hugger given enough time to do its job? It was only on its victim for a matter of minutes. I much prefer the slower and somewhat more realistic pace of the attack, impregnating and birth of the Xeno in the original Alien film. Also the fulll grown creatures in this film just seemed, slow, as in they kept giving the people too much time to get away. There was also a few too many nods to the older films. One or two references is fine but there were too many for me as a whole. I know what I said about Alien Isolation but these are subtle touches that aren’t in your face and reward the hardcore fans. However some of the likes that were borrowed from the older films felt a bit cringey. It wasn’t as blatant as AvP Requiem but it wasn’t a million miles away from it either. I’m still not sure what to make of the humanoid creature from the ending of the film Even though it made sense in some ways, in others it just felt out of place, like we were suddenly switched to watching a Resident Evil film. I did appreciate that they acknowledged Prometheus, as I did enjoy that film a lot even within its flaws and how it could have been done better. I also think it’s quite misunderstood but that’s another topic. Overall I’d say if you are a fan of the Alien films this is absolutely worth your time to go and see and it’s for the most part very enjoyable. For me it was let down a bit by what I’ve mentioned above and as well it just lacked that certain something. I’m pleased to see it is doing well at the box office and hopefully it means more Alien films in the near future. Perhaps they can even bridge the gap between Covenant and Alien at some stage because that’s the itch I personally need scratching!