kalle-parviainen

A few hours after coming out of the theater and I'm not sure what to make of this. It was... okay, I guess?

It felt like Fedy Alvarez examined the production of each of the previous films, and every left-over idea from them was thrown finally to the screen, along with rehashing the core components of the franchise. You have pieces from Alien, Aliens, Resurrection, and Prometheus/Covenant. For a fan of the series, there are subtle and not-so-subtle easter eggs every few minutes, from sound effects to reused dialogue.

The plot is really simple, as it should be. A group of people exploring a space station. Been there, done that. However, I really liked the use of temperature and gravity in this film, those were something not seen much in this universe. And there were plenty of jump scares. I'm not usually a fan of those, but this time they worked well.

The two lead actors were pretty good, the rest rather forgettable. And not sure what to make of the beyond-the-grave role of one actor...

The world is great. Forget the sleek and clean world of Prometheus, this is back to the ugly 70s retro futuristic stuff. Simply lovely. Aesthetically pleasing, if you like this kind of look.

Finally, however, it does feel like there is really nowhere for this franchise to go in terms of story. I wouldn't call it artistically bankrupt, but it is close. While this film tied neatly together the "proper" Alien films and the new Prometheus sidestep, it is hard to think what more to make of this creature. Nearly all the mystery has been stripped from the Xenomorph. I do wonder, is there anything left to do with this creature? More stand-alone films?

I was so excited for this film back in 2012, and especially the trailer was phenomenal (too bad it gave away almost the entire plot). And initially I enjoyed the film very much.

However, since its release, I've seen the film about half a dozen times, and it gets worse and worse each time. The abhorrent level of writing is more evident, and while the film still looks gorgeous, the cons much outweigh the pros. The stupid characters are even more baffling each time and the lack of screen time for most of them leaves huge gaps in their characterization. Apart from a few performances, there is not much to be enjoyed here.

There might be a good film lurking here, but it would've required a couple of rewrites of the script.

While director Edvin Laine's adaptation of "The Unknown Soldier" is often considered to be a definitive example of Finnish cinema, his 1968 masterpiece deserves attention as well. The art of cinema made some advances in the decade between these two films, and it shows. While some parts are still suffering from the old style of filmmaking, i.e., trying to create a movie like it is a theatre production (static camera, characters entering a location and delivering their lines like straight from a book), other parts are great and visually interesting. Especially lighting deserves praise: imagine an early 20th century village in rural Finland without much electricity, and this is what comes to mind. Especially some of the night scenes are simply beautiful to look at with the newest high-definition remaster.

The first part of the film marches on at breakneck speed. As some 20 years of story are compressed into roughly one hour of film, there are some jarring time jumps if you do not know the book, lack the historical knowledge, or simply fail to pay attention to every scene. The tone of the film is also something to be praised. It starts with light-hearted though dramatic scenes, with plenty of humorous exchanges and musical scores. Once the civil war breaks out, this lightness is tossed out and the horrible events are depicted almost without any score, in a matter-of-fact, documentary-style.

"Täällä Pohjantähden Alla" is a classic that everyone should see at least once.