Sixth movie in the "Alien" saga, this one was quite gripping. In fact, it was so good that I seriously considered to go back and watch the whole darn serial from the start, since I forgot lot about it and was just vaguely familiar with image of Sigourney Weaver being tortured by slimy Alien creatures. It might be that I actually never watched it and just assumed that I did. It also perfectly fits with my idea of Alien life potentially being very dangerous to humans, something that I take very seriously (just look at our own planet Earth, every time two civilisations collided, one usually swallowed and conquered another).
"Alien" movies, just like all successful series ("James Bond" for example) play around similar theme that doesn't really change with times: space ship populated with human crew usually finds a contact with Alien life and goes to search out more about it, just to find themselves completely overpowered by life forms completely different than themselves, who wants to either eat or impregnate them. It all started with director Ridley Scott almost 40 years ago, but various directors brought their own vision to franchise and actors changed with time. For this, latest sequel (prequel?) Scott comes back and he is excellent, not just as now extremely elderly (80) master of cinema but as superior artist period - what he brings to this modern-day chapter is not just spectacular visual treat but also a dark philosophy about creation of life, empty spaces and worlds devoid of any forms of life. Naturally, we don't have Sigourney Weaver anymore but completely different spaceship crew this time, with Katherine Waterston as grieving widow of ship's captain - just as Weaver before her, Waterston has to run, fight and shoot Aliens - like some futuristic Amazon, she is more than capable and we root for her. No less fascinating is dazzlingly versatile Michael Fassbender in a dual role of android - artificial intelligence at its best, that is supposed to be emotionless but it might not be so. I did have some doubts about logic of human crew stepping on a strange planet without any protection & getting all infected, but hey, this is SF movie after all and this saga has its own rules. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it so much that I watched it twice, imagine that. Designs are breathtaking and you simply must see the deserted town filled with towering sculptures carved from rock, it is something out of H.P.Lovecraft's nightmares.
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O.K. Now I have watched the whole darn "Alien" serial, original four movies + prequels, you name it, I treated myself with them all.
Perhaps it is true that for everything has to be the right time and place. Locked up in uncomfortable plane seat during 14-hour flight I ended up watching “Alien: Covenant” that for some reason impressed me enough to search for its predecessors. I actually treated myself with the whole darn serial, sequels, prequels, you name it. If there is a cartoon version, I would go for that one as well. I came to the point of wondering does my dog have alien inside, because she is constantly hungry. Going backwards, the story finally unfolded to me and now I am able to connect the dots and understand the occasional hints towards previous chapters.
No doubt, the whole purpose of this particular story is not any of the slimy alien creatures or even human crew placed conveniently on spaceship as their food but android Michael Fassbender who brings everything on higher level. Initially I was overwhelmed with all this technical wizardry to actually appreciate his role but now I (sort of) understand that Scott wanted to tie up the ends and finish story while he is still around to do it. I watched the darn thing twice and could easily watch it again, although (perversely) now I miss Sigourney Weaver and wonder what a team she and Fassbinder could have been if placed together. I started 2018 with "Alien" saga and it was unexpected thrill.
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