This month’s Alien: Covenant marks Ridley Scott’s 24th feature film in what has been a long, influential, albeit uneven and sometimes flat out maddening career. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, Ridley Scott’s oeuvre is as inconsistent in quality as his late brother Tony’s was consistent in aesthetics and tone. He has his strengths – world building and managing epic scope – and his weaknesses – creating three-dimensional characters. These aspects aren’t always true, but they are more consistent than anything in his career.
Digging through Scott’s entire filmography, spanning epic classics and replacement-level thriller dreck, it was tough to try and rank some of the lesser works above the each other. But with careful viewing I began to disseminate just how much effort Scott was putting into his craft from movie to movie. It helped shape a list top heavy with older films and, unfortunately, a heap of Scott’s most recent work filling out the bottom of this list.
Here we go…
10. Prometheus (2012)
The collective buzz surrounding this prequel to Scott’s Alien, from the master himself no less, was on the highest of frequencies back in the spring of 2012. And then it was released and subsequently crushed by the weight of expectations.
There are an abundance of issues here, from the idiotic decisions from characters, to a confusing timeline and fits and starts in the story. But I enjoy it more than its most vehement haters. It is a flawed sci-fi opus that seemed at times to get away from Ridley Scott’s grasp, but the thought of a weird and bizarre and energetic tentpole film like Prometheus is a rare bird, and should be admired simply for its ambition and singularity of vision. It should also be something to get excited about this month with Alien: Covenant. Perhaps Scott has learned from his mistakes here, corrected them, and crafted a solid new Alien story.
