It has its moments. David Jonson shines. There’s an element of how neurodivergence is viewed by society in Andy, on who it sees as a burden or unsettling, and he plays both sides excellently. There’s a creative zero gravity sequence showing Alvarez is finding new ways to play with the formula. But these things fall by the wayside buried under winking references, echoed shots and lines, and worst of all some grade A Rogue One/Flash shit. The climax is oddly enough examples of both. I somewhat admire committing to bringing in all the franchise, even the Prometheus side, but the design and CGI falters and it still has too much of that Disney and fan energy of holding onto the IP instead of creating something new or at least something new with it. I’d take the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 any day, and I’d even put Prometheus a cut above this one, flaws and all. This is more solid than Covenant but is similarly cocooned in the past without Ridley’s ambitious, almost spiteful Prometheus elements even if they didn’t work. I had a decent time, but I still think maybe it’s time to just let Alien rest. They definitely should’ve let Ian Holm.
Review by JCVIP 5BlockedParentSpoilers2024-08-18T21:46:39Z
It has its moments. David Jonson shines. There’s an element of how neurodivergence is viewed by society in Andy, on who it sees as a burden or unsettling, and he plays both sides excellently. There’s a creative zero gravity sequence showing Alvarez is finding new ways to play with the formula. But these things fall by the wayside buried under winking references, echoed shots and lines, and worst of all some grade A Rogue One/Flash shit. The climax is oddly enough examples of both. I somewhat admire committing to bringing in all the franchise, even the Prometheus side, but the design and CGI falters and it still has too much of that Disney and fan energy of holding onto the IP instead of creating something new or at least something new with it. I’d take the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 any day, and I’d even put Prometheus a cut above this one, flaws and all. This is more solid than Covenant but is similarly cocooned in the past without Ridley’s ambitious, almost spiteful Prometheus elements even if they didn’t work. I had a decent time, but I still think maybe it’s time to just let Alien rest. They definitely should’ve let Ian Holm.