Posted in: Fox, Movies | Tagged: alien, alien: covenant, covenant, james cameron, ridley scott, terminator

James Cameron Says Alien: Covenant Was Great, I Agree About 33%

James Cameron, if you like him or do not like him, is Hollywood royalty and when he talks, people will listen. He is also friends with Ridley Scott, director of Alien, Prometheus, and this summers Alien: Covenant. So, in a recent Facebook live interview, some people will take what he had to say about the latter film on that list with a grain of salt:

"I thought that Alien: Covenant was a great ride. It was beautiful. I love Ridley's films, I love his filmmaking; I love the beauty of the photography. I love the visceral sense that you're that, that you're present. It's not a film that I would have made. I hope I'm not spoiling this for anybody, but I don't like films where you invest in a character and they get destroyed at the end. So, I would not have made that film. I can't comment on where he's going with it, but I think he's, obviously, trying to create a greater universe around it and more backstory with the Engineers and so on. I'll show up to the next one, absolutely."

Well, I guess.

I didn't hate Covenant as much as it seems most of the people who saw it did, but it for sure had its flaws. One thing Cameron for sure gets right is that it was beautiful, it may be one of the prettiest films we will see all year. Spoilers for those of you who haven't seen it yet: I really hated the last 15 minutes of so of the film. You spend all this time with Walter and to just have him taken off the board in the most obvious way possible (how could people have not seen that coming?), that was pretty lame. And the shower scene was completely unnecessary, and the way they got rid of the xenomorph was exactly the same as they way they always get rid of the xenomorph, and on and on. The first half of the film with them landing and meeting David and the neomorph, I liked all of that (and yes I know they made stupid decisions as characters. I was still entertained).

The funny thing is that this is a completely different response from Cameron compared to what he said in January about the franchise as a whole in an interview with Vulture:

"The franchise has kind of wandered all over the map. Ridley [Scott] did the first film, and he inspired an entire generation of filmmakers and science-fiction fans with that one movie and there have been so many films that stylistically have derived from it, including my own Aliens, which was the legitimate sequel and, I think, the proper heir to his film. I sort of did it as a fanboy. I wanted to honor his film, but also say what I needed to say. After that, I don't take any responsibility.

I don't think it's worked out terribly well. I think we've moved on beyond it. It's like, okay, we've got it, we've got the whole Freudian biomechanoid meme. I've seen it in 100 horror films since. I think both of those films stand at a certain point in time, as a reference point. But is there any validity to doing another one now? I don't know. Maybe. Let's see, jury's out. Let's see what Ridley comes up with. Let me just add to that — and don't cut this part off, please — I will stand in line for any Ridley Scott movie, even a not-so-great one, because he is such an artist, he's such a filmmaker. I always learn from him. And what he does with going back to his own franchise would be fascinating."

Maybe since Cameron is going back to Terminator we can get another Alien film out of him as well…

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