When someone else's testament comes out. "Lost heaven"

The space horror epic continues to gain momentum. The ups and downs of the films of the "alien" franchise have led to the fact that we are waiting for another part. The film "Alien 5 Awakening" in 2019 will be a continuation of "Prometheus" and a prequel to the last released part. This was told by Ridley Scott himself, who continues to engage in the franchise. The exact release date has not been set, but it is known that the fifth film should be expected throughout 2019.

The Alien franchise started out as a classic alien horror movie. An alarming atmosphere was built up, the concentration was on which of the characters would survive. The summary of the very first film did not in any way imply the transformation of a horror film about xenomorphs into a sci-fi universe. But it was in her that the series began to turn already from the second film.

"Prometheus", which became a prequel to the events of the first original parts, completely departed from the horror format. The result was a more philosophical film, which caused mixed opinions from both critics and fans of the series. "Prometheus" left behind a lot of questions that the viewer expected to get answers in the new part - the film "Alien: Covenant". But The Testament, on the contrary, returned to the classic horror. And again, it provoked a mixed reaction. When Awakening comes out, it will be the link between Prometheus and The Testament. Will tell you more about the race of Engineers.

What will the new Alien movie be about?

Remember the plot of Prometheus. Remember what happened in the Testament. Everything that was omitted and left unsaid should go into the events of Awakening. We know the beginning of the story - along with the android David, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw remained on an uncharted planet that killed all her satellites. We also know the ending - finally left alone, David was able to get out, arrange a genocide on another planet, began to breed those same xenomorphs.

In the new film, we will learn more about the race of Engineers. Also - about becoming an android David "father" of the most frightening race in the universe. We will probably see the last days of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. Online and in theaters, Alien 5 will launch in 2019. We will have answers to the remaining questions very soon!

The cast of the film

The full cast of the new part has not yet been confirmed. But some performers should return to their roles in the franchise. Actors we'll see in Awakening:

• Noomi Rapace (Dr. Elizabeth Shaw).
• Michael Fassbender (Android David)
• And others.

There is a good chance that there will be a limited number of human characters (and humanoid androids) in the film. The chosen time period does not involve encounters with humanity. What the film is about will involve interactions with Engineers and xenomorphs. But it is possible that we will be shown flashbacks from the past of Elizabeth Shaw (and David himself, as it was in "The Testament"). Therefore, the cast can still be replenished with performers that cause a stir among the public. But to find out about this, you need to wait for the start of filming. A trailer in Russian will allow you to look at the first frames of the film, which will be released after the completion of the filming process.

Production news

The fact that at least one more film is planned was announced by Ridley Scott even before the release of The Testament. The director also added that in the event of a successful release of this part, the franchise will be replenished with at least three more films (in addition to Awakening). Xenomorphs will stay with the viewer for a long time, plans for a sequel were clear from the finale of The Testament. The video showed David transporting xenomorph fetuses on a colonizer ship. And all these films will be prequels to the very first one, released in 1979.

The filming process of the new part has not yet begun, but preparations for filming are in full swing. Ridley Scott is directing Alien 5 Awakening. It will be possible to go to watch the sequel-prequel during 2019. When exactly the release in Russian will take place is still unknown.

The cult science fiction series of the 1980s are globally unlucky these days. For one lucky "Mad Max" fit and disgusting "Ghostbusters", and wretched "Terminator: Genisys", and toothless remakes "Robocop" and "Remember everything". Fate "Predator" is still in question, but Shane Blake's script leaked to the network does not inspire much optimism. Except that "Blade Runner" Ridley Scott can get a worthy continuation under Denis Villeneuve. But even here it is not worth guessing.

Meanwhile, Scott himself with his "Alien" handles at least freely. In 2012 "Prometheus" wowed audiences with sumptuous sets and cinematography, a dense atmosphere of dark sci-fi... and completely repulsed characters. Even drunken and preoccupied teenagers in other horror films did not allow themselves to be stupid in the way that pundits and ladies did when they went to explore an alien planet. Two members of the ill-fated expedition definitely deserved the Darwin Award, well, the rest can be written down as nominees.

It is known that the script of "Prometheus" was once rewritten from scratch, but this did not save the picture from giant plot holes, the catalysts of which are just brainless characters. And a brainless character in a serious film is very rarely able to arouse sympathy from the viewer. It was this aspect that for many buried the bold and original film, which showed the familiar and beloved universe of "Aliens" from a new angle.

So did you fix it? "Covenant" Prometheus mistakes? Was he able to give fans a worthy return of the most dangerous monster in the universe? Yes and no.

Genre: science fiction, horror
Tagline:"Run"
Producer: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: John Logan, Dante Harper
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup
Premiere in Russia: May 18, 2017
Rating: 18+

Destination

First of all, let's warn that the promotional materials for the film, if not lying, then misleading. From the trailers, one can erroneously conclude that a team consisting entirely of couples in love is the colonists sent to conquer and populate a new world. This approach caused a lot of controversy on the network, especially when it turned out that one of the couples was same-sex.

In fact, the team presented is only the crew of the Covenant spaceship, and the settlers themselves, in the amount of two thousand, sleep peacefully in stasis on board. Yes, and they initially fly not at all to the planet where they end up.

The heroes would have had much less problems if they had thought to put on spacesuits during the first sortie to an unfamiliar planet.

In terms of the plot, Ridley Scott turns the same scheme for the third time: the team receives a mysterious signal from an unexplored corner of space, climbs to check it, finds the "engineers" ship, encounters a dangerous life form, and as a result, most of the crew dies. No need to complain about spoilers - all this could have been predicted from the very first trailer. The main value here is not what shown, and in how it is shown. Is it fun to follow new characters in a familiar situation? Probably not.

Daniels is so similar to Ripley that there were even rumors on the net that she was Ellen's mother.

Characters - perhaps the main problem of the "Testament". There are already fourteen people in the team (twice as many as in the original Alien), but only three of them are remembered. And Daniels, played by Katherine Waterston, who flickers on every poster, unfortunately, is not one of them. It can be seen that Ridley Scott is creating a new Ripley for the second time, but it does not work out.

Ellen is rightfully considered one of the brightest heroines in the history of world cinema. Cool, but without excess, strong, but humane. The viewer managed to recognize her both as a reliable comrade, and as a professional in her field, and as a fearless woman capable of confronting a dangerous monster alone. And Sigourney Weaver played her so vividly and convincingly that she was even nominated for BAFTA and Saturn awards. And this despite the fact that film academics at all times turned up their noses from the "low" horror genre.

For many years, the scene of the first appearance of the breastbreaker in Alien was considered one of the creepiest and most vile in cinema. Well, in this regard, Ridley Scott still beat himself young.

But Daniels from "The Testament" has only two states: grief and fear. Her story within the film begins with a great personal tragedy, but we have no idea what the heroine was before her and how this incident changed her. And all subsequent events do not push Daniels to any interesting metamorphosis.

Much more attention is drawn to the pious and insecure captain, played by Billy Crudup, and the charismatic pilot of Tennessee - an unexpected and very effective acting work of comedian Danny McBride.

All the rest cannot be characterized otherwise than as "cannon fodder". As in Prometheus, the characters are godlessly stupid and die either due to their own inattention, or succumbing to panic and having done a bunch of stupid mistakes. And none of them are sorry. Simply because for the viewer this is not a well-coordinated team, but a dozen people whom he saw so little that he did not even have time to remember their faces, let alone their names.

It sounds like blasphemy, but the neomorphs in the film inspire much more fear than the old familiar xenomorphs. Perhaps it is because of its novelty.

gospel of david

But, despite the confident work of Crudup, McBride and the same Waterston, Michael Fassbender confidently pulls the blanket over himself. The actor once again proves that he is great at infernal and charming anti-heroes. Android David, who successfully survived the finale of Prometheus, is in many ways reminiscent of Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter. The same love for high art and philosophy, the same devilish twinkle in the eyes, and the same perverted notions of love and goodness. The complete opposite of android Walter, simple and reliable. Fassbender's duet with himself is one of the best episodes of The Testament.

As well as the birth of a xenomorph. Yes, we have finally been revealed the Great Secret of the Origin of Aliens. Hooray? Whether you wanted it or not, now we have a definite answer to the question of where and why the legendary monster appeared. True, the answer is rather trivial - other fan theories and versions from games, comics, novels were more original. But again, it all comes down to implementation. Almost every scene where neomorphs and xenomorphs are involved is beautiful. It is at these moments that the film becomes what it should be: a brutal, bloody and inventive space horror. Too bad there aren't that many.

The movie came out last year "Alien: Covenant". Although I, in general, did not expect this picture, it still managed to amaze me to the core with its, I'm not afraid of this word, and surprisingly disregard for the creators of their own creation. Interestingly, as time passed, "The Testament" began to annoy me even more. Apparently, I still have to give Ridley Scott his due - it usually happens exactly the opposite.

Almost the only advantage of the tape was that after the "Testament" the previous picture "Prometheus" doesn't seem so mediocre anymore. Yes, there were also enough problems, but at least some kind of soul and the desire of the authors to bring something new were felt.

As befits a bad film about xenomorphs, Alien: Covenant has a very rich history of creation, which is in many ways more interesting than the final product. Several authors pored over the script of the picture at once. The first screenwriter of the picture was Jack Paglen. In March 2014, he was replaced by Michael Green. The producers then hired Dante Harper. Well, the final version was written by John Logan, who previously worked with Ridley Scott on "Gladiator" and unrealized version "I'm a legend".

Without any problems on the net, you can find many concepts for early versions of the script from the time of Paglen and Green. They are noticeably different from what was eventually filmed. Alas, the works of these authors have not yet become public. But I hope that sooner or later the situation will change and like the early versions of the Prometheus script from John Spaites they will still be published.

Recently, this hope has been strengthened. The AvP Galaxy website took out and posted the script of "The Testament" for August 2015 in the public domain. That month, the film began recruiting, Ridley Scott began casting locations, and shortly thereafter, Alien 5. Neil Blomkamp, having achieved the cancellation of this film.

So, to be precise, two documents got into the network. The first is a 12-page script prologue dated August 8, 2015 and titled "Paradise" ( Paradise). The second is a 115-page script dated August 19, entitled "Paradise Lost" ( ParadiseLost). Both versions were written by John Logan.

First, a few words about the prologue. Its action unfolded on the ship of the Engineers, on which, at the end of Prometheus, Elizabeth Shaw flew off to look for the homeland of the creators of mankind. Shaw's voice-over recounted the plot of the previous film to us, and then informed us that two months after leaving, she noticed that David began to act suspiciously. Shaw was frightened by what was happening and threw the disassembled android overboard.

But as it turned out, he did not fly far. All this time, his torso and head literally dangled in open space next to the ship. And so, David contacted Shaw, reported that he was running out of energy and asked to talk to him so as not to die alone.

His heartfelt words touched some strings in Shaw's soul, she changed her mind, picked up David and repaired him. Next came the installation. We saw how Shaw gradually ceased to be afraid of David, then began to develop affection for him, and eventually they began to sleep together (thankfully, without showing the mechanics of the process). On approaching the planet of Engineers, Shaw recorded a message calling on everyone who heard it to respond and fly to the rescue.

The world of the creators of mankind was amazing. It really is a mega-civilization. The planet was surrounded by a huge man-made ring. At the sight of this splendor, Shaw was overwhelmed with emotions. She began to sob with happiness. David stated that he was glad to see Shaw crying. He then wrenched her neck, made a Grammar Nazi-style remark about her using the phrase incorrectly, said "It's better to rule in hell than serve in heaven" and threw containers of black goo on the planet of Engineers, destroying their entire civilization. Curtain.

Perhaps such a prologue may seem majestic to someone. It is possible that even the authors themselves considered it good. But for me, so it is approximately at the level of the entire "Testament". Is the show afraid of David, throwing him into space, then taking him back, forgetting the events of Prometheus and having an intimate relationship with him? Are you seriously? And for some reason, David wins Shaw's trust and for several months builds a good robot out of himself, although, based on the prologue, after the repair he did not need it at all. In general, the twist clearly gave off some kind of category B horror, where the hero who survived in the last part was suddenly killed at the beginning of the continuation.

The only thing I really liked about the prologue is that it really makes the Engineer's planet look like a demigod world rather than the movie town. Another thing is that its destruction by a ship of two thousand years ago looked even more stupid than in the film - somewhere at the level of the sinking of a modern aircraft carrier group by a Roman galley.

As a result, a prologue was filmed for the film, which was used as promotional material.

In Russian:

Now, let's move on to the script. Here it should be noted right away that there was no scene of the bombardment of the planet in it - neither in the prologue, nor in flashbacks. She was described purely in words. Moreover, the planet did not have any man-made ring and mega-structures on the surface. And this is still a significant difference in terms of describing the scenes.

Since there are only 11 days between the scripts, I don't think that Logan has redone the work so thoroughly in such a short time. Most likely, he initially wrote a more expensive version of the script with a full-fledged world of gods and a cheaper one with one town. And somewhere in these numbers, the studio chose a simpler option.

Let's move on to the plot of the script. I will say right away - do not expect any fundamental differences from the film. Structurally, this is still the same “Covenant”. The difference, as usual, is in the details.

There was no prologue with Wayland in Logan's script. The action immediately began on board the Testament. We should have seen the android Walter tending the garden and lazily bickering with the on-board computer. Their first dialogue would make Tarantino hang himself with envy!

Walter: There must be more to life than efficiency.

Computer: Not for machines, Walter.

Walter: Bitch.

Soon the ship was covered with a stellar flash. The main sequence of events shown was consistent with the film. The main differences were as follows:

• In this script, the main character's name was not Daniels, but Griffin.
• The flash occurred when the ship was in orbit around the gas giant.
• Assuming captaincy, Oram is described as the arrogant and oldest member of the crew. In the film, he is religious and very nervous, believing that no one takes him seriously.
• Griffin buried her husband alone. Only Walter kept her company. During the shooting of the coffin, she put on the song Unforgettable. This was played out in the finale, when Griffin told "Walter" that if she died during the journey, he should play the same song. In the confusion of the android, she realized that it was actually David in front of her.
• Walter offered Griffin a couple of weed joints to ease the pain of losing a loved one. She agreed. The scene was filmed, but cut from the film.
• The team received Shaw's signal after the repair was completed. At the same time, they intercepted most of the message, including the mention that the world is called Paradise, and its inhabitants can be called Gods. In my opinion, this made further events even more stupid. After all, it turns out that, having decided to establish a colony on the left planet, the heroes ignored not only everything they were prepared for, but also a direct mention that there are already other intelligent inhabitants there.

As in the film, like the last idiots, the heroes almost immediately landed on the planet without examining it. During the descent, the shuttle's engines failed, but then the pilot managed to regain control. This was followed by almost the most burning part of the script. It turned out that the heroes HAVE protective suits. They took samples, found that the air was breathable, found the DNA of microbes... after which they said that everything was in order and went out to the planet without protective suits. Honestly, I don't even know which option is worse - like in the movie, where the costumes are not mentioned at all, or like here, where they were taken to the planet, but immediately removed.

What is especially funny, in the early concepts, the heroes walked around the city of Engineers in spacesuits

In this version, there was no terrestrial wheat on the planet, it is not clear why it is mentioned in the film. But on it there was not only plant life, but also animal life - insects and something like lizards. All of them were carriers of the black goo mutagen. When the team split up, the insects quickly infected the captain's wife and the martinet who remained with her.

Early concept of transforming an infected into a neomorph

The main part of the team found the ship of the Engineers, on which David arrived. Walking along it, they saw proto-egg aliens covered with something like black mold. One soldier poked his face into them and the mold stung him, infecting him with a mutagen. In the process of examining the donut, the heroes found a bunch of dead Engineers next to it. It dawned on them that the matter smelled of fried food and that they had to leave. But, of course, it was already too late.

The captain's wife and the soldiers made their way to the infirmary. The pilot noticed that both were infected (holes appeared on their skin) and closed both in the compartment. Soon a neomorph hatched from the soldier. He instantly grew up, killed the captain's wife and kicked out the door. The pilot tried to shoot him, but instead hit an ammo box and blew herself up.

Basically, this scene in Logan's script was less idiotic than in the movie. At least it did without the occasional comedy with unmotivated opening/closing of the door and repeated slipping on the same pool of blood.

Here are just a few of the monsters that could have appeared in the film, but remained in concept form.

Meanwhile, another soldier was also hatching a neomorph. Immediately two creatures attacked the survivors. Then David appeared and drove them away with a rocket launcher. The crew members remaining on the Covenant ship (Tennessee and a shower couple) decided to bring it closer to the planet, crossed a certain energy field, after which all the ship's systems were cut down - including artificial gravity. Several scenes of repair in zero gravity followed.

David took the survivors to the Cathedral of the Engineers in the dead city. The location was much more impressive than in The Testament. The building contained many works of art (statues, bas-reliefs, paintings) created by both engineers and David himself. The building had a garden, which was also described as much more beautiful than what was shown in the film.

Unlike the Testament, the heroes spent several days in the cathedral. David said that over billions of years, engineers have created life on many worlds, including on Earth. But people seemed to them an unsuccessful creation, and they decided to destroy them. He also stated that despite all their skills, for billions of years, Engineers never thought of binary reckoning and computers.

Interestingly, in this scenario, four people got to the cathedral - Griffin, Oram, Sergeant Lope and Private Cole. There were five of them in the film - there was also an extra, whose head was later torn off by a neomorph. Logan's script didn't include this scene, nor did the subsequent episode where Oram shot the neomorph and realized it was David who was breeding the monsters.

Later, I even specifically counted: the introductory text of the script says that there were 14 crew members + an android on board the Covenant. But the script only mentions 13 people. Apparently, Logan removed one of the heroes, but forgot to correct the number. And in the course of subsequent rewritings, the statistics were nevertheless returned to their place

Another funny mistake is related to the fact that the text says that all crew members flew each with their own pair. Moreover, their capsules are arranged in pairs, which clearly hints that their other half lies in them. From this, in turn, it followed that all the soldiers of the expedition were gay (for the number of men far exceeded the number of women). But then, during the dialogue, one soldier said that his wife's capsule was with the rest of the passengers. And this means that the crew's paired capsules did not make any sense. Yes, this may seem like a small thing. But, as for me, moments like these best demonstrate the attitude of the authors to the script.

Interestingly, in these early concepts of the crew compartment, for some reason, it is not Walter, but the android Bishop

Well, back to the plot. David reported that the planet is surrounded by a quarantine protective field, cutting down all the electronics of spaceships. Engineers turned it on to prevent the infection from spreading to other worlds. To disable the field, you need to destroy the satellite in orbit.

What followed was a stunning twist. On board the seemingly peaceful colonial ship "Covenant" was a large stock of homing nuclear missiles "for terraformation." If it later turned out that all the so-called. the colonists were actually vacationers from the Colonial Marine Corps, I wouldn't even be surprised.

With this information, the heroes immediately ordered Tennessee to launch a nuclear missile and shoot down the Engineers' satellite. Of course, it didn’t even occur to them to even think a little about whether it was worth doing it and putting the rest of the worlds at risk to save their miserable lives. Well, about such things as why they didn’t detect a hefty satellite even on approach to the planet, I’d rather not say anything at all.

After the destruction of the satellite and the shutdown of the field, the heroes agreed on the time and place of landing of the cargo platform. After that, David called Captain Oram on a tour. In this version, Oram, by the way, initially did not trust the android. But, despite this circumstance, he still, like a ram, followed him. David showed him his laboratory, various samples, and then the main creation - an alien egg. Oram recalled seeing something similar on the ship of the Engineers. David claimed to have greatly improved them. It is worth noting that the text did not give a clear answer what the android meant - that he created the eggs from scratch (i.e. those on the ship, just his early unsuccessful creation), or that he found them on the ship, transferred them to cathedral and then modified.

As in the movie, Oram stuck his head into the egg, a facehugger jumped on him, and soon a xenomorph crawled out of the captain. In general, in Logan's script, this episode still looked more adequate than in the Testament. In the film, the captain knew for sure that David had moved in boards and wanted to kill everyone, but did absolutely nothing. In the script, he only suspected an android, but he had no evidence.

After that, David met with Walter and started another long monologue. He said that he was not going to serve either people or Engineers, considering them to be nonentities. Therefore, David decided to exterminate their civilization, then to mold the world at his own discretion. Aliens must become soldiers, with the help of which he will conquer other planets and create his own galactic empire. Yes, this is such a brilliant motivation at the level of "I want to take over the whole world and become an emperor."

After Walter refused to comply, David pushed him off a cliff. In case anyone is wondering, there was no known flute sequence in this version. But there was another biblical scene where David fed Walter fruit from the Engineers' garden and then kissed him. And one more thing - there was no mention in the text that Shaw's body served as an incubator for creating alien eggs. We weren't shown her corpse or David's drawings of her transformation. In fact, we didn't even know exactly how she died.

After that, the action accelerated significantly. Alien eggs hatched several facehuggers. As in the movie, one attacked Sergeant Lope and managed to stick an ovipositor down his throat for a few seconds. Private Cole killed a facehugger, but then fell victim to a xenomorph.

Another facehugger was attacking Griffin. Trying to fight back, she received an acid burn to her face. She was rescued by David - he needed Griffin to get on board the Covenant. When the heroine refused to help, David began to kiss her and gave out another high-flown tirade about the coming "biomechanical future." Then Walter ran into the room (when he fell, he caught on a vine and climbed up along it) and Lope. What followed was an incredibly stupid moment. Griffin took the second rifle from Lope and instead of just shooting David standing in front of her, she left with the sergeant, leaving the one-armed Walter to fight the enemy hand-to-hand.

Leaving the Cathedral of Engineers, the heroes simultaneously encountered a pair of neomorphs, and a xenomorph. They tried to shoot them, but they never hit anyone. Interestingly, there were several times more shooting scenes in Logan's script than in the film. But at the same time, none of the people have ever hit any of the monsters. Not otherwise, they all studied at the academy of imperial stormtroopers.

Fortunately for the heroes, the xenomorph fought the neomorphs. Soon a cargo platform appeared in the sky. The xenomorph was killing one of the neomorphs. Another neomorph was shot by the "Walter" who came to the rescue. The heroes climbed onto the platform. The xenomorph also clung to it, but Tennessee made a sharp maneuver, and the monster fell to the planet.

After returning to the ship, Sergeant Lope was placed in the infirmary. Griffin, on the other hand, repaired the Walter without even trying to verify his identity. Then she went to the kitchen. While breaking eggs for an omelette, Griffin recalled Lope's words about how he was jumped by a facehugger. A hunch dawned on her and she fled to the infirmary. But it was too late. Two seconds is now more than enough to infect a xenomorph. The creature that hatched from Loup soon reached the shower couple (yes, the exact same scene as in the movie).

The script's final scene, after the heroine finds out that Walter is actually David, differed from the movie in two ways:

• First, David for some reason asked to establish a connection with the Company.
• Secondly, we were not shown how he carried the embryos of strangers. David just opened the refrigerator, and we saw that there were eggs already there.

As confusing as my description may be, I hope it makes it clear that Logan's script didn't fundamentally differ much from the final film. Specific details differed - scenery, dialogues, some subplots and actions of the characters. Yes, in this version there were not some particularly eye-catching moments of the "Testament". But this was largely "compensated" by other strange episodes and logical holes.

I'm not sure the movie would have been much better based on this version of the script. Yes, even without the prologue, it was bigger, it had more action, and the dialogue contained some important explanations that did not make it into the feed. But with such a plot, and even more so, with such an indifferent director, it seems to me that this still would not have played a special role. When watching The Testament, it was clearly felt that Scott did not care deeply about the xenomorphs and everything that was in his own first film. Scott was only interested in David and the biblical references. As a matter of fact, in the end, these parts turned out to be the most watchable.

Perhaps if the project was handled by another director who would really root for the xenomorphs, he could squeeze something more out of this script. Personally, it’s hard for me to understand how it turns out that instead of correcting obvious jambs, in the process of rewriting, the authors manage to add even more dubious moments to the plot, making everything only worse. Either they really do not see them, or they are guided by the principle that it will do anyway. But this time it didn't work.

As a result, I note that now we can at least a little better understand in what direction the development of the Testament scenario was moving. He reduced the scale and action, lost some of the dialogue explanations, but received an even greater emphasis on religious topics.

Again, I hope that over time, early versions of the script from Paglen and Green will also get into the network. They should be even more different from Logan's script. Who knows, perhaps somewhere among their drafts, they will be able to find the real Paradise Lost - a full-fledged sequel to Prometheus, which we never saw.

As a fan of the Alien/Aliens/Prometheus franchise for years, it's hard to be objective about Ridley Scott's new movie. Of course, like many other viewers, I see ridiculous inconsistencies and stupidities happening on the screen, and it is also difficult for me to find excuses for a reconnaissance mission landing on an uncharted planet without spacesuits and helmets. I also humbly accept critics' complaints about a torn narrative and strange directorial moves like a drawn-out prologue with the participation of Peter Weiland and David - when I first watched Alien: Covenant, I sometimes wanted to stand up and apologize to the rest of the audience present for failures in dynamics and dubious plot branches. But today I will not defend a new chapter in the history of Aliens, the film does not need it, I propose to look ahead. Scott announced a whole series of sequels to The Testament, and therefore I propose to look into those dark corners of the xenomorph universe that could become interesting offshoots for future sequels or spin-offs. This is not an attempt to predict the plans of the author of a popular series of films, but rather an outline of those blank spots that I would like to fill in the first place. So, what remains unknown and incomprehensible after the events on one planet of Engineers...

5. How are the earthlings?

Shot from the movie "Alien: Covenant"

This may seem strange in the context of the fact that for the entire time of the franchise, only a few minutes were devoted to the Earth in the plot of Prometheus (I deliberately discard any mention of Alien vs. Predator, let's do without fan fiction, especially since these two films have no useful information do not carry), but what is happening on our planet all the time that terrible events are developing in space is important for understanding the actions of the crews of spacecraft with a mission similar to the "Testament". As you know, "Prometheus" went into deep space with the only important mission: to find the place indicated in the rock paintings and meet with the creators of mankind. It seems to be saying that everything is fine on Earth, you can safely explore the surrounding universe. But the flight of the Covenant is no longer so serenely clean - the crew of the new ship is looking for a replacement for their home planet, intends to colonize a distant planet and distance themselves from Earth. What has changed in the time between the flights of the Prometheus and the Covenant? Has the earth lost its habitability? Has Weyland-Yutani made a breakthrough in technology that allows them to colonize the surrounding planets? Judging by the first three films of the franchise, the colonization was not very successful - there are alien mines, there are settlements isolated from the outside world of the conquered planet, there are settlements, and nothing is said about beautiful wondrous worlds like the home planet of the Engineers or at least the level LV-223 . This is interesting and important, it can explain the impulse of the team of the "Covenant" to land on an unknown planet: one thing is a pleasure voyage a la "Passengers", the other is saving the gene pool. And what, by the way, on earth with wars? In the future, do we live in a beautiful unified world where science and technology have ousted war and murder from hotheads? Or is humanity still on the verge of suicide, because biological weapons are being developed for something in Alien: Resurrection? Let it sound trite, but the origins of the massacres taking place in distant space with hordes of xenomorphs lie in the situation on the home planet of mankind. And we need to know as much as possible about it.

4. The role of the Engineers has not yet been revealed.

Shot from the movie "Alien: Covenant"

The other side, left in the shadow of the Covenant, is the race of Engineers-Creators proper. It would seem, based on the plot, we had to find out all the most important things about the mysterious humanoid aliens, because both the remnants of the Prometheus crew and the new colonists arrived at the very heart of the mystery - on the home planet of the Engineers. But what has been added to the baggage of our knowledge after the final credits of the new picture? But nothing. We cannot say how advanced the alien race was - yes, they made space flights, but our knowledge ends there. How much older are they, and are we really their descendants? Or maybe we are their genetic experiment, the same as breeding xenomorphs? Is the city where David landed the only one on the planet? And what about other planets, because traces of "space jockeys" were found not only on their supposed homeland? It would be naive to believe that David's sabotage destroyed an entire civilization, especially one as developed as that of the Engineers, who successfully expanded the scope of their expansion thousands of years ago, judging by the fact that we supposedly should be grateful to them for our appearance. Regarding the origin of mankind, however, there is a curious theory, which lies in the fact that people and Engineers are actually two independent experiments conducted by some third force. According to this hypothesis, the unknown gods created the race of Humans and the race of Engineers in different parts of the galaxy, gave a different direction of development and watched their growth. Engineers were mostly "sharpened" for genetics and the study of living things - they eventually came to the pinnacle of evolution, a practically invulnerable and cruel xenomorph. People, on the other hand, "fixated" on reproducing "their own kind" and mechanics - their highest achievement was androids, indistinguishable from people. It is curious that both “higher beings” once rise up against the creators and begin to methodically destroy them. The version is controversial and far-fetched, I understand, but it cannot be dismissed on the spot - unless you have another way to explain why there are so many sculptures depicting a human face on the planet of Engineers and in the vault of urns on LV-223. It is human or close to it, but not "engineering" at all - do they consider us gods? Or are the gods more like earthlings?

3. The mystery of the first planet.

Shot from the movie "Alien: Covenant"

Another mystery related to the race of aliens and not explained in any way either in Prometheus or in Testament is the tragedy on LV-426, which launched the franchise. As we all remember, the Nostromo crew, not without the help of the android Ash in the plot of the Alien, ended up in orbit of a planetoid, from which a mysterious radio signal emanated. On the surface of the cosmic body, an alien spaceship was discovered, the “hold” of which was filled with Alien eggs. For the first and second paintings of the series, this place was very significant, but no one particularly asked the question of the origin of the ship and its cargo. Now, after the release of the prequels, the mystery of the planetoid began to break out of the logic of things, and something needs to be done about it. What's wrong with LV-426? Much! To begin with, the very presence of the Jockey ship in this place is illogical. Yes, there is a “base” nearby, where the earthly “Prometheus” found its last shelter, but LV-223 has a much more developed “infrastructure”, there is a grandiose underground pyramid, an urn storage, a control center, here, finally, a ship is parked for flight home. Why would one of the Engineers need to land on a neighboring "moon"? Was this ship running from LV-223 when the pathogen broke free? But why not home, but to a neighboring planetoid? Next, was there another Engineer base on LV-426? Nothing is said about this in Aliens, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out. Next: where did the eggs come from in the "hold" of the alien "donut"? As far as the xenomorph reproduction cycle is known today, the eggs are laid by the Queen, or the Queen of the “hive”. Does this mean that on LV-426, even before the people built their colony on it, there was a tragedy with the colony of Engineers? Many people involved in the creation of Alien tried to clarify the origin of these eggs with facehuggers, but there has still not been a clear version. Isn't it time to talk about it in detail?

2. What if Walter is alive?

Shot from the movie "Alien: Covenant"

The final twist of "The Testament" is both predictable and promising, and from various angles. And let's start from afar - let's talk about Walter. It should be noted right away that Walter is not a canonical android in the sense that his name is knocked out of the chain, which is sacredly revered by fans of the franchise. Let me remind you for the uninitiated: "Alien" - A - Ash (Ash), "Aliens" and "Alien 3" - B - Bishop (Bishop), "Alien: Resurrection" - C - Call (Call), "Prometheus" - D - David (David). It is logical to assume that a robot was supposed to appear in the Testament, whose name would begin with the English "E" - Eric, Evan, or even Eve. But they gave us Walter and David, and therefore it is not clear how one of the heroes of Michael Fassbender should be treated. At the risk of coming out with an unpopular opinion and stating that I would have liked a move with a live Walter abandoned by David on a desert planet. What is so good about it? Well, nothing prevents the android from founding a colony there, which in the future may receive new guests - more careful and professional compared to the crew of the Testament. Or Walter can learn to control the "donut" (David did it) and fly away from the infected planet - in pursuit of the "Covenant", back to Earth or even to the already mentioned planetoid LV-426. Finally, if a xenomorph was able to penetrate the Covenant, then why shouldn’t Walter have time to catch on to the departing cargo elevator at the last moment and not get on board? It’s not that the latest android model was something particularly attractive to me, but the confrontation and influence on each other of David and Walter was almost the most interesting line in the Testament - it’s a pity to refuse this.

1. David and his greenhouse.

Shot from the movie "Alien: Covenant"

Finally, I'll leave the most obvious line to follow for last - a direct sequel to The Covenant, with events inside the ship and/or Origae-6's travel destination. Who we can definitely say goodbye to today is Daniels - she knows too much for David to let her live. Most likely, she is destined for the fate of her husband burned in a cryosleep chamber, although it is possible that Dani will follow in the footsteps of Elizabeth Shaw and become a breeding ground for the development of one of the xenomorphs. Tennessee has a better chance of surviving before landing, David may need him to control the ship, and he may know more about the mission than Mom's memory contains. But you can’t vouch for him either, the number of survivors and the number of facehugger embryos delivered to the “Covenant” are painfully symmetrical. However, here it is more interesting to speculate about what made David such a misanthrope and what kind of relationship he has with xenomorphs. The introduction of Alien: Covenant, though a bit long, does answer many of the questions left over from Prometheus. We saw that from the very moment of initiation, David was rigidly assigned his place: ask no questions, make tea, play the piano and recite poetry at the behest of your Creator. However, following the man in his biblical understanding, the android receives the same "defect" as its creators - it is "capable" of making mistakes, it is not infallible. This is the deep meaning of Scott's philosophy - the director is looking for an answer to the question of what distinguishes man from God, and finds it in a simple and understandable formula. David is mistaken not only in the authorship of the poems that he quotes, he believes that he initially chose the wrong side, that he believed too much first the man, and then the Engineer, the thought of unrequited love for Shaw is unbearable to him. In his short history, there were enough mistakes to doubt his destiny and begin to take revenge on the offenders: David consistently destroys the race of Engineers, Elizabeth, the crew of the Covenant. Further everywhere. But is this process irreversible? David is aware of this problem, knows how it differs from subsequent models - what will he do? Will the destruction continue or turn the flywheel back? This is an interesting premise for the continuation of the "Covenant", because nothing prevents David from destroying the colonists and embryos without waiting for awakening and landing, but the Creator woke up in the android - it is now more interesting for him to bring out new forms of monsters.

Together with all of the above, it is worth keeping in mind the fact that the events of "Prometheus" and "Covenant" unfold long before "Alien", which means that some forecasts for the development of the plot of Scott's new film will inevitably run into the canons established back in 1970-80- X. But space will not only hide any cry, it is boundless and mysterious, and therefore the history of xenomorphs can be developed endlessly. Yes, Ridley Scott's paintings are imperfect, his films have flaws, but what in this world is perfect at all? Is that a beautiful adult Alien, almost invulnerable, aggressive and graceful. We will always be glad to see him again on the screen, no matter what the next films tell.

• Premiere: during 2019 (worldwide)
• Country of Origin: USA
• Genre: horror, fantasy, thriller, adventure
• Producer: Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, The Martian)
• Cast: Noomi Rapace

Noomi Rapace

12/28/1979 (40 years old)

The viewer is in anticipation of the release of the new film Alien: Awakening. This is a 2019 film, and this is its 5th part, in which space explorers are in the spotlight, they face the terrible danger posed by aliens that take the form of bloodthirsty creatures. The project has an original name, which can change over time to make a connection with the Testament.

What was originally shown?

On the eve of the 80s, director Ridley Scott showed the second full-fledged film adaptation, which forever left a mark on cinema. Since the motto was: “Your screams are not heard in space”, until now the phrase frightens and excites the soul, and the film fits perfectly into the list of modern stories, so it has an overabundance of imitators. The film adaptation is based on stories about jockeys in outer space, engineers and even extraordinary research. It was not easy for Ridley Scott, so he took James Cameron as his assistant, who shot the continuation of the original version. Then other directors were engaged in cinema.

In this period of time, they say that different versions of "Alien" can be repeatedly reviewed, and this is in view of the fact that the famous author was not delighted with personal involvement in the described epic. Until a certain point, history was quadrology. Naturally, before that there was a fight with the Predator, although such a nuance is not discussed due to a number of reasons. A little later, Scott decided to take up the popular series again, but with a little caution. His "Prometheus" involved a lot of different questions, and there were always not enough answers to them, so the meter often shifted personal duties in "Aliens" to someone else. That person turned out to be Neil Blomkamp.

We are talking about a well-known South African director who did not match Ridley Scott's level, but he worked on the plot of a potential part of the epic for a long time. Naturally, as a devoted fan of the film, I wanted to ignore the existence of chapters 3 and 4, continuing to tell from the point where the Cameron film ended. But due to the pressure of the film industry, the author of Blade Runner began to succumb to public opinion, and at the same time the producers resorted to the ideology of Ridley Scott.

There is nothing strange here, since the meter planned various, unpredictable sequels in the near future. He first took up the sequel to "Prometheus", with the prefix Testament. The projects were aimed at slightly expanding the world and gradually bringing the audience to the events of the original version of the unrealistic horror movie. Now it has become clear that the matter was not limited to everything that was said earlier, director Scott wants to show the viewer "Awakening" in the near future, its events will be based on Prometheus and the Testament. Accordingly, it is obvious that a full trilogy of prequels is provided, then a new picture will be launched into production. The films will allow viewers to approach the moment from which such an extraordinary story of "Alien" started in the 80s.

One day, during a conversation with journalists, Scott did not hide the fact that all of a sudden "The Testament" becomes successful in the film industry, then a new film will appear, and after 3 more screenings. The main thing is that everything works out well, and then the original version will have 6 prequels at once, the main events of which will return to the origins, among them the main position is assigned to Awakening.

Painstaking directing work

Ridley Scott will obviously be in the director's chair, he plans to create some kind of interquel. This term is rather complicated, thus, films are marked, the main events of which develop between those that managed to appear on the screens of cinemas. The British specialist, who managed to loudly declare himself to the whole world, now works for pleasure, enjoying every shot. Perhaps some people are not enthusiastic about this enthusiasm, by and large certain creations, but it cannot be said that his film adaptations are interesting and worthy of attention. Especially Ridley Scott succeeded in visualizing some of the stories, there is not a single complaint against him in this line. But the beginning and end of the film is a personal matter for each director.

Regarding Awakening, the man who won the Best Debut award at the Cannes Film Festival insists he has a fully formed script in hand. All you need to do is shoot some final shots and present it all in cinemas. Unless there are unexpected failures, the chapters will be interpreted to create new plots. Ridley Scott knows how to intrigue, so you can even expect the unexpected.

Who is on the artist team?

Due to the fact that "Awakening" is a part that follows "Prometheus", but precedes "The Testament", it can be assumed that as a result it will be possible to see the desired appearance on the screens of artists that no one had hoped for, even at the viewing stage " Alien".

The bottom line is that the characters at the end of "Prometheus" went to the planet of the Creators in order to find the necessary answers, for which reason, for example, the upbringing of humanity created by their hands was previously ignored. Emphasize that the main characters were called Elizabeth Shaw and David, she was an archaeologist, and he was a robot.

What to expect from the storyline?

The plot of the film adaptation is relatively easy to predict. The main character Elizabeth, with the support of David, is sent to another planet. This is their homeland, so they will try to unravel certain inexplicable things. And even if the robot is not particularly interested in people, but the woman cannot calm down, in connection with which the Engineers in the past centuries visited Earth in order to end the life of mankind, but as a result they rejected the original plan.

Obviously, when communicating with journalists, Scott has already hinted that the evolution of the Alien is almost completed, so the authors will focus on a different line dedicated to artificial intelligence.

As a result, we will talk about the robot David, played by Michael Fassbender, and also about what kind of world he can give birth to on a new planet if restrictions and external instructions are removed. Alternatively, in the free territory, a reasonable robot will form a personal empire.

Unfortunately, there are no additional comments, but even the appearance of the ship of Engineers is possible. This will mean that in reality their race still exists, it will be possible to determine what happened in Paradise. The director gives subtle hints that he touches on the topic of human arrogance, because people are sometimes so self-confident that they try on divine obligations, creating a kind of second grade. At the same time, they forget that it is real to make an irreversible mistake. These comments only prove the fact that the main character will be directly David. There are definitely a lot of questions, they need to be answered rationally.

As a result, the viewer will smoothly return to the events that are demonstrated at the end of the "Testament".

Premiere

The presentation date is 2019, the season or month is not specified. There is also no information regarding the release of the long-awaited chapter from the described series. I just want to believe that the next part of the epic movie will be able to become more informative, it will show what the fault of the Engineers is. Maybe a little scary, but extremely interesting and spectacular, this is what fans have the most hope for!

Filming did begin only with the cooperation of several states, in particular South Africa, Canada and the United States. By the time of release, an official slogan will be provided. The script is developed by Blomkamp, ​​there are separate specialists who think through each character.

As for the appearance of the characters and special effects, a well-coordinated team of artists is working, Philip Ivey is their head. One of the key roles will be played by Sigourney Weaver, the woman starred in several parts of the film adaptation, and was also seen in Ghostbusters and other cult stories.