I have three very different movies to review today. I will review "Alien: Covenant", "Snatched", and "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword." Before I get started, I'd like to give a shoutout to the Free Gamer's Alliance YouTube channel. Their videos cover everything from walkthroughs, glitches, easter eggs, and various amusing video game related content, all of which is delivered with some colorful commentary while they have buckets of fun doing it. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC03E6K3QHRMp7Vs0S6wHm6Q
Lets start with "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword." Here is the trailer:
- Charlie Hunnam is clearly trying his best considering what he has to work with and he has enough charisma to almost pull it off.
- Outside of Charlie Hunnam, the acting is pretty terrible all around. Jude Law in particular makes for a really unconvincing villain.
- Some of the special effects are particularly bad.
- The opening of this movie is way too silly to work.
- The pacing is brutal. This movie feels so much longer than it actually is.
- Finally, the writing seems to be not as important as attempts at style. There are actual major parts of the movie where any character development is skipped over in montages that are more like extended bad music videos.
"King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" is a misfire in just about every way. It seems that the director is more interested in making a long music video than a movie with any semblance of plot. I would say skip this one.
Lets move on to "Snatched." Here is the trailer:
- Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn are terrific. They are clearly having fun and have excellent chemistry with each other.
- About 2/3 of the jokes work. I had some good laughs in this movie.
- The pacing is excellent. The movie never drags.
- As I mentioned above. About 2/3 of the jokes work about the other 1/3 of them tend to fall flat.
- The story is completely nonsensical and I don't buy about half of the things that happen.
"Snatched" is a mildly amusing comedy that falls flat due to some jokes that don't work but it is saved by Amy Shumer and Goldie Hawn. It probably isn't quite worth the trip to the theater, however. I would say this one is probably worth a rental.
Finally, lets move on to "Alien: Covenant." Here is the trailer:
- Outside of one really questionable moment, the visual effects are fantastic.
- There are some really entertaining action sequences that will have one on the edge of their seat.
- The cast is excellent. They all have fantastic chemistry. Like in "Prometheus", Michael Fassbender steals the show.
- This movie returns the "Alien" franchise to it's horror roots and it does this with some really intense scenes that will entertain some and horrify many.
- Finally, the score is excellent. It heightens the tension when necessary and brings it down at the right times.
- In a movie like this, I don't expect a whole lot of character development but the vast majority of the cast was so underwritten to the point where a lot of deaths didn't have that much of an impact.
- Some of the writing is particularly rough. In particular when it comes to character motivations which end up being rather nonsensical. This is also true of the ending. There are a lot of holes and the movie ends on a note that feels rather unsatifsying.
"Alien: Covenant" is far from a perfect movie but it offers lots of visual splendor and creature related thrills. Fans of this franchise or of horror movies will probably enjoy this. I can definitely say I got lots of entertainment out of it. If you are looking for a well-written story, however, I would look elsewhere.
Thanks for reading everyone! As usual, feel free to leave a comment but please be advised that if you read any potential comments that spoilers may be present.