When Isolation was announced I really disliked the idea of having Ripley’s daughter be the protag, facing xenomorphs. Because I didn’t really want her character to be defined, and especially not in the same manner.
I was pleasantly surprised to find it a great experience though, and nicely expanding on the universe for its own needs. Game could’ve been compressed 10-20% shorter too without losing much.
One of the few games this gen that actually kept me on edge, the sound design + Xeno prowling…!
I tried going in on this film’s own terms, but the script isn’t hot and the characters, although not as bad as in Prometheus, are still too ridiculously dumb proportional to the responsibilities they have (they’re caretakers to 2,000 colonists and over a thousand embryos). Also the fan service is embarrassing. It’s distracting enough that the score lifts from both Alien and Prometheus wholesale, but you also have a main character playing the theme song to the previous movie on a musical instrument too.
I could almost get past the completely underwhelming new origins behind the alien, they were never going to achieve anything that could do justice to the sense of mystery that was so crucial to the horror of the first film, but when you’re a franchise that owes so much to someone like Giger, you really should step up your art design and the Engineer necropolis just looked uninspiring and bland.
It’s occasionally beautiful and occasionally mean but the rest is filmed like a pig and its cynicism just tanked it for me. It’s a pointless brand revival and it wasn’t nearly gothic enough (or had enough Jurassic Park vibes) to make up for it.
I did find it amusing that they pull an Alien³ on James Franco. Also how gratuitous the shower scene was.
Is it possible to write the script off as a schlocky pulp novel homage? I’m willing to forgive some stupidity if it’s in service of delivering a solid genre experience.
It really is astonishing how well it turned out, especially considering the daughter angle.
I think as far as adaptations go for the medium of video games, it’s a major standout. I find it more useful to look at it that way rather than as a sequel. If a film had been made out of the same material it would have felt like a poorer rehash and I’m not convinced the sense of escalation would have been pulled off either.
i still wanna see this, so i watched Prometheus again last night for the first time since seeing it in theaters and it’s both better and worse than i remember. for every scene with legitimately great production design, world building & tense gross horror, there’s an equal or greater amount of Actually Bad B-Movie stuff, with the last 20 or so minutes being super goofy.
I think i still like it just barely more than Aliens
Some MRAs got really mad about these analysis videos, so they’re probably alright.
Sure hope he still plans on doing Alien³.
I finished my replay of Alien: Isolation last night and I still found it thoroughly enjoyable and surprisingly, really well paced. Once you know what’s coming it doesn’t feel that stretched out and the setpieces it builds up to are sound. I really appreciate the apocalyptic finale with its eerie and, oh ho, isolated mood.
Everyone you know is dead, you’re all alone on a station swarming with lithe monstrosities and your final chance of safe haven quickly turns into a choice between a death in the cold, indifferent void of space or at the hands of its brutal avatar. Roll credits.
I was going to get the ultimate edition with the DLC because I think it would work better if it wasn’t a billion hours long (or just ended after you get rid of the first alien) because it’s downhill from there. I’m pretty interested in seeing how little DLC episodes go.
I liked Covenant, better than expected overall! Yes there are some glaringly more dumb than probable bits (similar stumbles to Prometheus), but I felt they didn’t detract from the smarter and well thought out parts.
With the scattered expectations and marks this movie tries to hit, not much comes a true surprise or shock, however things are compelling enough. I’m still reviewing the actions of David and the Engineers in different ways. At this point I feel the craft and ideas are strong enough to make this “new trilogy” worthwhile.