Derelict

As I write this review, I'm only an hour away from seeing Alien: Covenant. I didn't have time for both Alien and Prometheus, but I did luckily have time for this. To start off, I love the decision to take the color out of these movies and make them black-and-white. Ridley Scott's cinematography is already so dark and artful, but black-and-white brings out the beauty in the shadows even more. When I read the description on this edit, I didn't think the narratives would gel, but with the removal of scenes in both films, the narratives intertwine very well and it's not nearly as jarring as I thought it would be. All in all, it was just a nice and interesting way to view both films in one sitting.

excellent edit. Confusing but great!

Soon after Prometheus was released, essays started to appear noting the similarities with Alien. Not that the latter film was a reboot or remake, but that there were structural and narrative echoes. The Derelict edit brilliantly aligns the parallel stories into one viewing experience.

Video - Inspired choice here of shifting both films to black n white. Greenish / bluish hues are gone. The deliberately vague transitions were another good move. Meaning, during several shifts it took me a beat or two before I realized we were back on Nostromo or Prometheus. This is not a complaint. It was unsettling and added to the uneasy tone of the movie.

Audio - 2.0 channel. No subs. The two music scores match nicely with each other. There seemed to be some bleed through of the Alien score onto a Prometheus scene and vice versa, which I appreciated. Ash’s final comments were difficult to comprehend, but they always are.

Narrative - With so much major cutting of plot, both narratives suffer. Each narrative, on its own, is barely more than a glorified pitch. There is no character development, no motivation, and the first half pacing drags slow. Part of Alien is about building tension, Prometheus more a journey of discovery. Tempo did pick up eventually, but I could imagine some viewers fast forwarding or cutting to the “big bits.”

Enjoyment - I liked this a lot. This edit is a clinic on detailing the mirrored elements of both films: strong females, corporate agendas, soulless androids. Similar interior designs - harsh exteriors. In the end, I wondered how much of the similarity was deliberate, how much was subconscious.

A provocative edit, though I suspect it won't be for everyone.

This is a gorgeous film. I thought the visual editing was absolutely top notch. It was very clever to use black and white to better match the footage and frankly, both movies looked beautiful in black and white anyway. It's hard to divorce myself from knowledge of the franchise but I think the clever bit is that this movie works regardless. If you know what's going on, you'll appreciate how it integrates so well. If you don't, there's a lot of ambiguity that is tied together in the third act. I especially loved the interplay of the two films in the third act, with Ash's speech probably being my favorite. The whole ending was superbly done. I was very lukewarm on Prometheus and love Alien but this is a great way to experience both. This will definitely replace the Prometheus theatrical cut for me.

First off, may I say that this film is beautifully edited. The video and audio quality are superb and the gritty B&W works well and adds to the experience.

I especially enjoyed the inter-cuts between Prometheus and Alien in the third act, including the score music crossing over both. The pace is fluid and the parallels between the stories really play well off each other. Prometheus has been expertly cut down to only include the necessities, and I am relieved that some of the characters have been cut down.

Minor criticisms I make are the audio editing and narrative (although this can mostly be attributed to Ridley Scott). Around the 1:45:27 mark, it sounds as if a snippet of Lambert is heard over Ripley, and the score sometimes transitions a tad fast in scenes. I would also have liked a little more closure from Shaw, with some of her narration at the end too (although the film works without it).

Negatives aside (and believe me, there aren't many), I applaud the editing skill throughout the film (like the mixture of both opening credits), but my favourite scene has to be the finale, where the plots converge sublimely. An amazing film and brilliant piece of work.