Derelict

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.