Must-See May: Recap & Top 5s

Well, this has been an amazing month of movie reviews. In this month, I have found some of my favourite movies of all time. Granted, I've also found some of my least favourite, but let's not focus on that right now. At the end of my last Movie Marathon Month, I did a Top and Bottom 5 movies of the month list, but this time, I wanted to do a little more. So, I've compiled a few lists to see the month out strong.

The Franchise Lists

Given that this month was all about movie franchises, I figured it only makes sense to rank them against each other. They way I did this was by averaging the scores I gave ever movie in a series, which gave said franchise its final score out of 10. I'll be listing them here from lowest-scoring to highest, and I'll also be listing the movies in each franchise in order from lowest to highest. So, here we go.

#7: The Twilight Saga - 1.3

Could it really have been anything else? Holy crap, this was such a consistently boring series of films that just seemed to get worse and worse and even worser. Barely any likeable characters, an initial romance that's not interesting which leads into a love-triangle that's not interesting, Bella is one of the worst protagonists in movie history, let alone as a role model for young women, and a final chapter that needlessly splits itself into 2 separate movies for no reason whatso-f***ing-ever. You all knew this was going to happen. Don't watch these movies. They're no good for you.

#5: Breaking Dawn: Part 1
#4: Breaking Dawn: Part 2
#3: Eclipse
#2: New Moon
#1: Twilight

#6: Alien - 6

Yes, the first two films are revolutionary, but everything else is tolerable at best to sinful at worst. The Xenomorphs are consistently terrifying threats, but they are made interesting by the people they are hunting, and for that back half of the franchise, the characters are anything but interesting. Ripley is one of the best female protagonists ever put to screen, a complete 180 from Twilight, and she's what makes this franchise what it is until they ruined her in Resurrection. In my opinion, you wouldn't be missing anything if you stopped after Alien 3, though Michael Fassbender does give the prequel films a lot of points in my opinion.

#6: Alien: Resurrection
#5: Prometheus
#4: Alien: Covenant
#3: Alien 3
#2: Alien
#1: Aliens

#5: Terminator - 7.1

The situation here is very similar to Alien, in that the first two films are legendary while the rest is hit-and-miss, though I do find myself enjoying the later Terminator films more than the later Alien films. The time-travel gimmick works exceptionally well for the genre, and the Terminators themselves are frighteningly powerful threats. Arnold Schwarzenegger is utterly amazing, friend or foe, and the Connors are interesting in some films and the opposite in others. Avoid Salvation like the plague, but everything else is a fun time, and in some cases, downright extraordinary.

#5: Terminator Salvation
#4: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
#3: Terminator Genisys
#2: The Terminator
#1: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

#4: Indiana Jones - 7.625

Two of these films are iconic while the other two are a mixed-bag, but the one thing that remains consistent is Indiana Jones himself. Harrison Ford's defining role, and that's saying a lot considering his resume. The archaeology is always interesting, and though at times some films can dip into the culturally insensitive, what's never a let-down is the phenomenal soundtrack which never fails to impress. Supporting characters range from the amazing to the 'OH MY GOD, SHUT THE F*** UP, WILLIE!' It's clear to see why these movies become so beloved, and I'll be coming back to them myself in the future.

#4: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
#3: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
#2: Raiders of the Lost Ark
#1: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

#3: The Hunger Games - 8.625

This and my #2 franchise each ended up with the same average score, but I put Hunger Games at #3 purely because I find #2's main protagonist far more interesting overall than Katniss Everdeen. By the end she's fine enough, but as the main POV for the story, she's a little disappointing. You know what's not disappointing, though? Literally everything else. Josh Hutcherson more than makes up for Jennifer Lawrence, and is by far the most impressive actor across the board. The setting is an interesting one, and the gimmick of the Hunger Games themselves are extremely entertaining. As someone who was extremely hesitant going in, I can't believe this ended up as high up the list as it did. Kudos.

#4: Catching Fire
#3: The Hunger Games
#2: Mockingjay: Part 1
#1: Mockingjay: Part 2

#2: Mad Max - 8.625

Though this franchise was a little less consistent than The Hunger Games, the lows were never extraordinarily low and the highs were phenomenally high. Max Rockatansky is such an intriguing hero, and his story works hand-in-hand with the post-apocalyptic world which never fails to impress. The first film suffers from a pacing issue, though the same cannot be said for the remainder of the franchise. I will never get tired of watching those wasteland chase scenes, and these are probably the best pure action films of the lot. An entertaining ride from beginning to end, Mad Max is just divine.

#4: Mad Max
#3: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
#2: Mad Max 2
#1: Mad Max: Fury Road

#1: The Lord of the Rings - 9.66666666667

Come on. Of course it was going to be this. There's a reason these films are so universally loved. Across the board, everything is perfect here. The cinematography is stunning, the lore is rich, the characters are complex, the CGI is gorgeous, the pace is perfect. Frodo Baggins' journey is so enthralling to watch, and his slow corruption at the hands of the One Ring is almost heart-breaking to watch, particularly through the eyes of Samwise. Despite all of these films being over 3 hours long, the fact that I was so consistently entertained and never once lost interest is a massive achievement.

#3: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
#2: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
#1: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Characters

Here I'd like to list my top and bottom 5 characters from the entire month. I'll be using the 'franchise rule' from here on out, meaning that no franchise may be represented more than once in any list. So, here are my top 5:

#5: Ellen Ripley (Alien)

Yeah, of course she was going to make the list, how could she not? She's only so far down because of how Resurrection treated the character, but that technically wasn't the same Ripley from the original franchise, so I'll let it slide somewhat. Ripley is a pure badass. No other words needed. We don't get a lot of her backstory in Alien, but when we learn more about her in Aliens, the connection we already have with her makes it work even more. Just... just, obviously she's on the list. Moving on.

#4: President Snow (The Hunger Games)

It was tough deciding my favourite character from this franchise, and I almost put Peeta here just for Josh Hutcherson's acting and the direction they went with him in the last two films, but honestly, President Snow is the most consistent throughout. Again, a lot of it comes down to Donald Sutherland in the role. For the first two movies, he's slimy and menacing, but there was always that layer of composure there. In the last two films, that composure vanishes and we see how maniacally twisted the man is, and it's just so good. Again, maybe it's just for Donald Sutherland, but this was a great villain, and really deserves this spot on the list.

#3: Max Rockatansky (Mad Max)

Well, this was also inevitable. Max Rockatansky is one of those stoic, reluctant hero types that you just love to watch. Right from his introduction in the first film, we see that he's the best of the best, and he just keeps proving it throughout the franchise. His journey throughout the series is probably the most compelling, as we see him go from a content family-man to a grizzled, no-nonsense lone wolf, and in both roles he's just so great to watch. He basically carries this franchise, and he certainly lives up to his name as the Road Warrior.

#2: Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones)

Do I really need to explain myself here? If I'd have watched these movies as a kid, Indy would likely have been one of my idols. I would have pretended to be him on the playground, I would have cracked a whip and dug in the sandpit for hidden idols. It wouldn't have been until I got older (or watched the movies nowadays) that I'd appreciate the layers of this character. These come out mainly through his relationships with Marion and then his father, and it's these insights that make Indy so truly great to watch. Well, that and he's just cool.

#1: Samwise Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings)

Before watching these films, I was expecting to put someone like Gollum, Frodo or Bilbo on this list; someone that we see corrupted by the Ring. Or, maybe it'd be a bad-ass like Aragorn, Gandalf or Legolas; someone that we see do amazing things. But, no. What won me over in the end was the sheer dedication from one little hobbit, someone who would stick by his friend no matter how dire things got, someone who was literally willing to go to hell and back, and someone who did all of this without ever asking for anything in return. Not only that, but Sean Astin's performance is downright perfection, so there was never any contest. My favourite character of the month is Samwise Gamgee.


Alright, now for the bottom five. Brace yourselves...

#5: Blair (Terminator)

This was difficult, since there aren't any characters throughout the Terminator franchise that are outright 'bad', since the majority of the characters appear in good and not-so-good films. But, then, there is that one character in Salvation that loses her husband and seems to forget about it in less than a day and moves on to wanting to get it on with a robot. Yeah... her.

#4: Johner (Alien)

Oh, yeah, you know that character from Alien Resurrection who's misogynistic, loud, makes fun of a handicapped man, and yet somehow survives to the end without there ever being any punishments? How could I not put Johner on this list? I... I think I pretty much covered it. Moving on.

#3: Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)

Really, if Katniss were just a minor character in the franchise, I probably wouldn't have even considered her for this list, but the fact that she's the main protagonist and it took my 3 and a half films to find her remotely interesting is a problem. Especially since the characters in the films keep fawning over her and I'm just sitting here thinking, 'I don't get it'. When the only thing holding your franchise back is your main protagonist, that's a problem.

#2: Jacob Black (Twilight)

There were so many characters that could easily have made this list. I could fill an entire top 10 list of horrible characters from the Twilight Saga. But, in the end, it had to go to Jacob. He's a focal point in 3 of the 4 stories, and he has 3 modes: needlessly aggressive, whiny and entitled, wanting to f*** a baby. Really, the wanting to f*** a baby thing is enough, but... no, I don't need to say anything else. He wanted to f*** a baby. How is there a 'Team Jacob' when this man wants to f*** a baby?

#1: Willie (Indiana Jones)

Congratulations, Willie, I found you more infuriating than a man who wants to f*** a baby. Talk about a severe drop in quality from the love interest in Raiders to the one in Temple of Doom. When your default mode is 'scream' and that seems to be your only defining characteristic, you're bad enough already, but then factor in the constant whining, brattiness, barely any chemistry with Indy and add on the cherry that she learns absolutely nothing by the end of the film? Oh, yeah. That's a horrible character right there. No more, please. I don't want to talk about her anymore.


Movies

Alright, here we go. Time for the top and bottom 5 movies of the month. Again, franchise rule still applies, which is going to make the bottom 5 list particularly difficult, but we'll get there. Let's start with the top 5.

#5: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

The Indiana Jones formula was never better than it was in his 3rd outing. Right from the beginning with a very entertaining glimpse at Indiana's childhood, this movie is superbly entertaining. Harrison Ford is as good as he's ever been, and his chemistry with Sean Connery is just perfect. This is the definitive Indiana Jones adventure for me, and I'll be revisiting this classic for years to come.

#4: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Look, the rest of this list are all 10/10 movies, and it was incredibly difficult for me to sort this list out. I will likely be shuffling these films around in my head for years to come, but putting that aside, Judgment Day is a fantastic movie. It serves its purpose as a sequel extraordinarily well. It raises the stakes, it progresses the story, it throws some twists into the mix, it's well acted, it's got a kick-ass soundtrack, it's everything you'd want in an action movie. I'm sure to watch this again. It'll be back.

#3: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

This was inevitable. I don't reserve the last spot in my schedule for just any ol' movie, and the buzz I'd heard around this film made it a shoe-in for the position. And, yeah. I delivered. The action scenes are perfect, the stunts are delightfully insane, the characters are deep, the acting is solid, but what really makes this film for me is the cinematography and the editing. All things considered, this is probably the best looking film of the month. I know, there's Lord of the Rings, but given what this film has to work with, being miles and miles of desert, the fact that it looks as good as it did just astounds me. Well worth the #3 spot and then some.

#2: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Choosing between this and The Two Towers was excruciating, since both films got a perfect 10, but I think I prefer the final chapter just that little bit more. What has it got over the second instalment? I think it's just because of how satisfying it was as an ending. All the loose ends were resolved, and it all made sense, which is something you can't say for a lot of final chapters. There was always going to be a Lord of the Rings film in my top 5, since all 3 films are gorgeous and well-acted and have majestic soundtracks, but in my opinion, the final instalment is the most precious of them all.

#1: Aliens (1986)

So, why is this my #1? Simple: because it's the only film on the entire list that I could not stop thinking about for at least half an hour after I finished writing my review. And think about that, it normally takes me about 30-45 minutes to write one of these, so that's about an hour of my life spent solely on thinking about how great that movie was. And I kept saying it to myself over and over again: 'That was so good, holy s***, that was amazing'. It expands on the Xenomorph lore to the perfect degree, and the terror of the Xenomorphs themselves isn't off-set by their numbers. That didn't make sense, but read the review and it will. Fantastic characters, fantastic effects, fantastic movie. I will watch this over and over again until I die.


Now, here's the difficult part. How do I make a top 5 worst movies of the month list whilst adhering to the franchise rule and not just sticking Twilight in there 5 times? This is going to be a nightmare, but here we go.

#5: Mad Max (1979)

Yes, I know, this film doesn't deserve to be on this list, I gave it a 7/10, what's it doing here? I counted, and this is technically my 13th least favourite film of the month, but that's what happens when you apply a franchise rule. So, what is this film 'so bad'? Well, it's not very well paced and it doesn't do a great job of establishing the world. Um... it leaves some things unresolved... yeah, I've got nothing else. I had fun with this movie. I was entertained. I really don't have anything else that's negative to say, so let's just move on and pretend this never happened.

#4: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Yeah, okay, look, I know everyone loathes this movie, but this was still just my 10th least favourite film of the month scoring itself a 5.5/10. I honestly don't hate this movie, I just tolerate it more than I'm indifferent towards it. The nuclear testing site is unnecessary, as are the aliens at the end, and it doesn't really take any risks, but I still had fun here. The cast is great, and bringing back Marion was a great idea even though by the end they went in a completely out-of-nowhere direction, but when your cast contains John Hurt and Cate Blanchett, you're going to win me over eventually. Is it worse than most of the list? Yeah, but I don't think it deserves the bottom 5 list.

#3: Terminator Salvation (2009)

Here we go. Finally, we're getting into the movies that actually ranked in my bottom 5 when taking the franchise rule out of consideration. And, my God, was this film such a letdown. None of the cool time-travel stuff that made the Terminators threatening or even interesting to begin with, cookie-cutter characters and a cast that looks very, very bored. And, boy, is it boring. This was one of the only films on the list where I genuinely considered stopping at the half-hour mark and pretending I just didn't get around to do a movie that day, or that I did watch a movie but completely forgot to review it. Sadly, I'm way too good at my job, unlike the makers of Terminator Salvation.

#2: Alien Resurrection (1997)

Now we get to the film that made me the angriest out of any other film in the list. Yes, there would be worse movies, but never was there such an enormous fall from grace than with this movie. Talk about films that just don't need to exist, this movie adds nothing to the lore of the world or the Xenomorphs, it has the most forgettable cast of characters, and they straight up ruined Ripley. She didn't need to return. Her story was over. Why does cloning her DNA also clone the alien that was inside her. The alien wasn't inside her DNA, it was just inside her body. If I swallow a coin, and then you clone me, do you clone the coin as well? Can I make infinite money this way? This movie suggests I can make infinite money this way. God, I'm getting angry again. We should move on.

#1: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011)

Well, this isn't making me any less angry. This movie teaches everyone how to make the most of a bad thing, and I do mean 'make the most of it' as this movie stretches into 2 hours what you can easily cover in around half an hour - wait, no, I'll do you one better: this story can and has been told more effectively in 5-minute short films - all for the sake of money. Because that's why this happened. For the money. And it worked. This film made over $700 million. A creepy, unrendered CGI baby made over $700 million. A fully-grown man falling in love with said CGI abomination made over $700 million. A movie where the plot doesn't begin until almost the 60-minute mark made over $700 million. There are no words to describe how insulting this is to someone who puts actual effort and thought and commitment into their creative projects and has still not seen a single cent of profit from any of them despite the fact that I can confidently say that every single one of them was a million times better than this movie. As a struggling writer, I wish I could put little to no care into a project and get rich off it. As an amateur actor, I long for the day where I phone in a performance that will make me a household name. This is why the film was a 0/10. This is why it's the worst film of the month. This is why it is one of the absolute worst pieces of media I have ever been subjected to. F*** off.


Well, I think I maintained my composure throughout that. And, so ends Must-See May, and I am ever so glad I did this marathon, since I've found some of my all-time favourite movies ever made. It will likely be a while until my next Marathon as I'm about to become incredibly busy with theatre work, but there will be the odd review here and there as I watch/play random things. Thank you very much for reading my reviews this month. Until next time.

Must-See May Day #31: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Oh, yeah. This is how you end a month. I knew there was a reason I scheduled this movie for last. Go out with a bang, or 2 hours of bangs, I guess. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is probably one of the best pure action movies I've seen, and I've seen a lot of action films this month. It's definitely the apex of the Mad Max franchise, and that's no small feat. Starring Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky, Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, Nicholas Hoult as Nux, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as The Splendid Angharad, Riley Keough as Capable, Zoe Kravitz as Toast the Knowing, Abbey Lee as The Dag and Courtney Eaton as Cheedo the Fragile.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Alright, so this film is gorgeous. Holy crap, the full 2-hour runtime of this film is set in a desert, and it never once got stale or bland, and I have no idea how they pulled that off. I think part of it may be the cinematography, or the colours at night, or the lighting effects, or probably a combination of the above, but this film is a treat for the eyes. It's also a treat for the ears, and it's easy to hear why this film won 2 Oscars for its audio component alone. Yes, the soundtrack is great, but its more down to the mix of the music with the roaring engines, the ear-splitting electric guitar, the war drums, oh, my God, it's just the perfect cacophony of high-octane noise that masterfully blends together in the best way possible. More than that, though, is when the sound effects cut out for the more serious moments, and this helps those moments stand apart from the rest of the movie. The visual editing also helps here, and there's another Oscar right there. This particularly shines through in Max's moments that I'll discuss a little more later, but trust me, it's all great stuff. This might be George Miller's finest work, and the bigger budget over the previous three Mad Max movies is certainly welcome here.

Nicholas Hoult as Nux 

The action scenes are phenomenal. You can't really call them action 'scenes', though. The entire movie basically functions as one long chase scene, and, again, the fact that it never once got stale is mind-blowing to me. There are moments of down-time on the way, and they do break for a chunk before the third act, but essentially once the chase begins it doesn't stop. I'm relieved to see that the practical effects didn't go out the window with the smaller budget, and these stunts are jaw-droppingly effective. People are climbing underneath trucks, balancing on long poles and dangling between the cars, there's a f***ing fire-spitting electric guitar! It's just the right amount of crazy, and it does make sense with the world. Of course people would go crazy after an apocalypse. The good thing is that it knows exactly how crazy it needs to be, and never goes too far into the deep end for its own good. There are also quite a lot of genuinely shocking moments in here. You'd expect a movie that's just one long action scene to be predictable, but no. I didn't know where it was going. There are moments here that actually left me breathless, and that's an impressive feat.

Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe

Max Rockatansky is back, and for obvious reasons, Mel Gibson didn't return, with the role being taken over by Tom Hardy, and he does a wonderful job. He doesn't sound 100% like Mel Gibson did, but what really won me over is the fact that he had so many of Max's mannerisms down to a tee, particularly when he's trapped in the mask for the first act. You really get the sense that Hardy did his homework and he nailed it. This is also an interesting take on the character, as we get the sense that Max has taken a darker turn since we last saw him, and we get a lot of psychedelic flashbacks that seem to be haunting him. We don't need to know exactly what happened, we get the sense of it pretty early on. All that's important is how it shapes the character, and his arc throughout the film is very interesting. Though, it's not as interesting as Nicholas Hoult's arc, and Hoult does a fantastic job in this role. He brings a lot of humanity to this crazy maniac, and there's enough there early on that we can really sympathise with him when things go sour for him. His journey in this film is probably the most compelling singular narrative in the film, and he's certainly the one that has the most growth by the end. It's also nice that they brought back Hugh Keays-Byrne from the first film, and though it's a completely different character to the Toecutter, Joe is another top-notch villain. He's in the vein of a lot of the other Mad Max villains we've gotten: a cult leader who controls the resources in their area, yet they do a surprising amount of emotion with this character as well. It's never enough to get you to sympathise with him, but there are enough layers here that I can appreciate how they handled him.

Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky

But, if we're talking characters, it's Furiosa all the way. Charlize Theron owns this role, and she's easily the best character here. It's Furiosa, moreso than Max, that drives this narrative, and it really is her film. Her narrative is a fairly simple one, yet when the emotion hits, oh boy, it hits hard. It's even more impressive when you consider that they only introduced her backstory at about the halfway mark, and yet 20 or so minutes later, it pays off in an extraordinary way, going back to the sound editing I mentioned earlier. It's also through Theron's character that we get the themes and, I must say, for 'just an action movie', there's a surprising amount of really strong themes here. I'm not going to say what they are, since it could be considered a spoiler, but they all pay off by the end, leading to probably one of the most satisfying endings to a movie that I've seen. Seriously, I have nothing negative to say here. It all just works.

Charlize Theron as Furiosa

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) was a fantastic way to end the month. This is everything I look for in an action movie, and in a movie in general. Brilliant stuff. 10/10.

Next: a recap of the month.

Must-See May Day #30: Alien: Covenant (2017)

I don't think I've ever been more pleasantly surprised to tolerate a movie. I'd heard a lot of bad things about Alien: Covenant (2017). I'd even heard the phrase 'it destroys the franchise'. Really? This destroyed the franchise? You and I have very different definitions of the word 'destroyed'. If anything, it 'didn't add anything to the franchise', but that doesn't make it a bad movie. Just an okay one. Starring Michael Fassbender as Walter / David, Katherine Waterson as Daniels, Billy Crudup as Chris Oram, Danny McBride as Tennessee Faris and Demian Bichir as Carl Lope.

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Alright, let me just say for the record that on some level I can understand where people are coming from. This is a confusing movie, especially coming off the back of Prometheus. This seems like a movie that tried to please everyone: those who liked Prometheus and also those who didn't. There's still some of that philosophy from the previous film, but there's also no answers to any of the questions that were raised in Prometheus, nor are there any attempts to answer them. It's a very bizarre sequel, and I really have no idea what to make of it. I will say that I don't really agree with this idea. If you're going to do a follow-up, you have to either stick with your original idea 100% or ditch it entirely, since in trying to please everyone you inevitably lose more people than you win over. I understand that in this instance the writer of Prometheus who raised all these unanswered questions just walked without giving the production team any answers, so I suppose it's fair enough that this final product came out the way it did, but still, it makes for a somewhat uneven tone. A few characters are talking philosophy while the rest are trying to survive an alien attack. Not exactly consistent.

Billy Crudup as Chris Oram

Also, yeah, this plot is paper-thin, but I've almost come to expect it at this point. The Alien movies are like James Bond movies or Pokemon games: you can expect pretty much the same thing in each one, just with a different dressing. And, while I would like to see something different, the formula works for a reason, and it still works here. Yes, the whole movie basically amounts to just watching people get killed by the alien, and, well, of course it does. That's kind of been the thing these movies do. The Xenomorph is still frighteningly powerful and there are some legitimately tense moments here. The entire finale with the Xenomorph on the ship was perfectly executed, and it harkened back to the final encounter in Aliens for me. There aren't as many practical effects, which would be an issue if the CGI wasn't beautiful. The titular Alien looks great, excepting one or two moments, and the shots from space are gorgeous to look at. Another big plus is that the movie much less of the whole 'it's the past yet the technology is better because the movie was made later' thing, by which I mean there's none of that, except for one thing I'll get into later.

Danny McBride as Tennessee Faris and Katherine Waterson as Daniels

The cast is pretty good, as well. Not the best cast I've ever seen, but serviceable. Katherine Waterson plays a fantastic lead here, and her character is almost un-ashamedly Ripley-esque. The drawback to this is that, of course, it's obvious that she's no Sigourney Weaver, but she's still great, and the movie does a great job of getting you on her side early. She loses her husband (still have no idea why they got James Franco for such a small role, but fine) and she has a really emotional farewell, but then she's all business. I also really liked Danny McBride, and his performance was really surprising here. But, honestly, Michael Fassbender is still the best thing here, and he's easily the best in the cast. He plays two similar, but very distinct characters here, and their interactions are amazing. Do you remember when old movies or TV shows would do the whole 'the same actor playing two different characters in the same shot' thing and it was super obvious that it was two different shots spliced together? Well, how far we've come. The scene with the two Michael Fassbenders playing the flute blew my mind. I have no idea how they pulled that off so seamlessly, but they did. Fassbender's acting also helps the movie when the plot gets extra shaky towards the end.

Michael Fassbender as Walter

Because, yeah, there are a few issues here. There are a few inconsistencies with the two Michael Fassbenders by the end that didn't break the movie, but made the characters seem a little idiotic for not piecing things together sooner. Unfortunately, this is where that issue from earlier comes into play, and how Walter is somehow more advanced than any other android we see in the series despite the film taking place before the earlier movies. You almost had a clean-slate there, movie, but you done goofed. Finally, I do feel like I need to address a big criticism this movie gets: that it makes the title of the franchise 'Alien' a lie. ... Does it? I don't think it does. At the end of the day, the Xenomorphs are a product of David's experimentation with the black liquid from Prometheus. They're not human. They're not robots. They're still beings from another planet. I looked it up. By any definition, they're still aliens. Genetic experiment or not, they're not human. They're technically human hybrids, but that's still in line with the original films, since we see in Alien 3 that the Xenomorphs change depending on what body they incubate in, with that weird cow-thing birthing the animal-like Xenomorph. As someone who went on record saying they didn't really want to see the origin of the Xenomorphs, nothing here really disappointed me. Nothing ruined the canon of the original films. That said, I am a little confused as to why we're getting the origin of the Xenomorphs as we know them here, despite supposedly seeing the origin at the end of Prometheus. I mean, I get it, you wanted to distance yourself from that movie somewhat, but this still seems a little redundant. Again, it doesn't break the film for me, but there you go.

The Xenomorph

The ironic thing is, despite being a movie that tried to be different from Prometheus, Alien: Covenant (2017) ended up achieving the exact same result. It's another film that you could see anything you want in, whether that be an entertaining time or blinding rage. I myself had a good time, but I can't deny the flaws present here. I guess that means this film gets the same treatment as its predecessor. 5/10.

Tomorrow: Must-See May comes to an end with Mad Max: Fury Road.