BREVIEW: Alien: Covenant @ The Mockingbird – midnight 11/12.05.17

Words by Ed King

I thought there’d be more people here. I thought there’d be more Aliens; apart from a beautiful but woefully unsupported bust on the counter, this could have been any other bar on any other night – complete with the ‘80’s New York drunk’ that staggered by the pumps. Where’s a murderous Xenomorph when you need one. But it’s a shame; this was a pat on the back idea. I thought more people would have shown up to agree.

I loved Alien, and, as teenage appreciation took hold, Aliens. Tonight is my Star Wars. I’ll probably say something similar when the new Blade Runner is played on screen, but for tonight I’m childish with excitement. Plus the writer and professional (excuse) hat I wear gives me carte blanche to pick, this, to, fuck (did I say, ‘excuse’?). And with pen in my hand that’s what I set out to do.

I don’t. At least, I don’t step by step. My overriding response is ‘job well done’; they give the studio what they want in the last twenty minutes, but my knee jerk is ‘good save’. It brings the de facto blue collar slaughter in line with an elevated premise, or question at least. Like a Scotameron baby ran away with the notebook. I watched Prometheus on Sunday, for the second time, and the infantile handling of any even remotely acceptable narrative (let alone the garrulous approach to inter-planetary anthropology) made me curse. And made me curse Ridley Scott. Which just felt wrong, and a little like an overzealous school teacher. But also right, like an overzealous school teacher. And whilst I enjoyed it more than the first time, when you sit down you to write Covenant

So, bog standard, everyone dies – quicker than you’d think, later than you’d think, and eventually as you’d think. Good luck with that. The Engineers get a satisfactory, albeit a film in itself, explanation. And the beauty of twisted morphology gets a lovely slide by slide. Although various crisp fucking audience members (it’s all I can imagine they were doing to create such a sound) were apparently less than impressed. But they stimulate snacks; not my bastion of reasoned opinion.

Better script writers tie up some of the fumbled loose ends from Prometheus, whilst allowing for a (possibly self defeating) start to the final in this triptych. Whilst Michael Fassbender takes what Ian Holm started and marches one more step down the macabre, bleeding Lawrence of Arabia into the mind of a genocidal killer. Like Lawrence of Arabia. There’s also a warm nod to the first ship’s overriding/controlling computer, as well as the ship drops in the second. Not overdone, but a handshake to homage.

We are given a starting point. We are given an end. Alien: Covenant delivers a well carried, and narrative following, plot. And I promise you Charlize Theron won’t say “…father”.

I’m re-engaged with the franchise now, but when you’ve sent the body blows that were Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection you’ve still got some apologies to make. But Alien: Covenant serves as the film Prometheus wanted to be, but for some reason wasn’t. If they nail Round Three we’ll all be golden.

So feel safe, go and watch Alien: Covenant – you’ve got just under two weeks to see it at The Mockingbird. There are some great set pieces and Michael Fassbender does his work, twice, with aplomb. Just switch yourself down during the penultimate twenty minutes. But back up for the last five. Enjoy.

DROP IN T MINS 20… 19…

Alien: Covenant (official trailer)

Alien: Covenant (extended trailer)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX7URpWBNKE

Alien: Covenant will be screened daily, except on Sunday, at The Mockingbird Cinema & Kitchen until Thursday 25th May, For more from The Mockingbird Cinema & Kitchen, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.mockingbirdcinema.com

For more on Alien: Covenant, visit www.foxmovies.com/movies/alien-covenant

BPREVIEW: Alien: Covenant @ The Mockingbird – midnight 11/12.05.17

BPREVIEW: Alien: Covenant @ The Mockingbird – midnight 11/12.05.17Words by Ed King

At one minute past midnight on Friday 12th May, Alien: Covenant will be screened at The Mockingbird Cinema & Kitchen, in The Custard Factory.

Out on general UK release from 12th May, this special late night/early morning screening will be Birmingham’s first chance to see the latest film in the Alien franchise.

The ‘build up’ will start in The Mockingbird front bar from 10pm on Thursday 11th May, with people taking their seats to watch Alien: Covenant as the clock strikes twelve. Tickets are priced at £9.50 – available for advance purchase from 26th April.

Alien: Covenant will be further shown at The Mockingbird from 12th to 18th May, with four daily screenings at 12:40pm, 3:15pm, 5:50pm, 8:25pm. For direct event information, including full venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Something’s are a good idea. Whoever decided to schedule a screening of ‘the latest Alien film’ at midnight, as we enter the first minute the UK is licensed to see it, deserves a hearty pat on the back.

Seldom does a sci-fi franchise accumulate such a polarised audience; from the brooding genius of the 1979 Alan Dean Foster adaptation, to the fast pace farce that was Alien Vs Predator, the H.R. Giger inspired Xenomorph has been talked about for nearly forty years. So come and see the new film before anyone else in England, a week before the USA/Canada, then walk home through a pitch black empty city. And at 3am on a weekday in Digbeth, no one can hear you scream…

Although technically Alien: Covenant (or Prometheus 2, as it was called before a working title was attributed) is not a direct descendant of the original Alien. It’s the side spin-off from the Alan Dean Foster narrative, BPREVIEW: Alien: Covenant @ The Mockingbird – midnight 11/12.05.17which focused on the zenith of evolution’s apex predators, human hubris and why the two should stay pretty well away from each other.

Ridley Scott, the director who brought Foster’s first novel to the silver screen and who’s been at the helm of the franchise, wanted to move his Alien away from the horror genre –  to explore the existential conundrum of who, what and why? Prometheus was born, no pun intended, with the ill fated crew (a constant throughout all the films) whittled down through their own decisions or predilections, as The Engineers (or ‘Gods’) destroy one of their creations with another. Why are we here…? To get the fuck away from here as quickly as possible. And stop asking questions.

But with any good existential crisis, some questions were left unanswered – enter Alien: Covenant. Scott’s latest film follows a unit of terraformers and colonists, like the unseen mass on LV426 that had been systematically impregnated and ripped apart in Aliens, as they travel a decade in stasis on ‘the first large scale colonization mission’ aboard the good ship Covenant. What is their mission? To recreate the Garden of Eden. Cue a happy collection of blue collar couples adrift in deep space, the obligatory alcohol, hope and excitement, an android who’s a little too quiet for comfort and everyone into suspended animation… Oh look, there’s a planet; trees and everything. What could possibly go wrong..?

BPREVIEW: Alien: Covenant @ The Mockingbird – midnight 11/12.05.17Due to a bit of a high brow backlash from the Prometheus storyline, i.e. not enough blood, Alien: Covenant has reportedly returned to the more slasher based approach to horror. But it’s continuing the tale nonetheless. In Alien: Covenant some of the cast have even resumed their roles from Prometheus – with Michael Fassbender portraying both the solo surviving android (David) from the former and the oh-so-helpful ship’s companion (Walter) from the latter. So there’s a palpable attempt to tie the stories together, with Ridley Scott and crew already in pre-production for Alien: Awakening – the final piece to this dystopian triptych. There’s even talk of three more films to follow, picking up where Alien Resurrection left off.

But for now all we have are garrulous online chat rooms and marketing hyperbole – until the bells chime twelve on Friday 12th May. That and a couple of trailers to start the balls rolling. What’s the Alien like, who will be first for the face huggers, is the new android a goodie or a badie? Questions…

My guess, Occam’s razor, nearly everyone will die.

Alien: Covenant (official trailer)

Alien: Covenant (extended trailer)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX7URpWBNKE

Alien: Covenant will be screened at The Mockingbird Cinema & Kitchen at Midnight on 12th May, with a ‘build up’ in the front bar from 10pm on 11th May. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Alien: Covenant, visit www.foxmovies.com/movies/alien-covenant

For more from The Mockingbird Cinema & Kitchen, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.mockingbirdcinema.com