Alien: Covenant (2017)

Sex :
Violence :
Director Ridley Scott
Writers John Logan, Dante Harper
Starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride
Genre Sci-Fi
Tagline The path to Paradise begins in Hell
Country
Alien: Covenant (2017)

Review

"You hear that? Nothing, no birds, no animals, nothing"- Daniels

Colonist ship Covenant is headed for Origae-6, and besides the two-thousand colonists in suspended animation and a thousand human embryos on board there is also a crew of fifteen in stasis and the android Walter monitoring things. Seven years out from their destination a neutrino shockwave severely damages the ship, killing the captain and waking the crew. While repairing a solar power sail a crew member picks up a transmission from an unknown planet that appears to be a John Denver song. Naturally the newly minted captain decides to investigate as the planet proves to be habitable and no one is keen on re-entering stasis and continuing to their planned destination. Second officer Daniels disagrees with the decision stating they should continue on their original course but is over ruled.

Gaining orbit around a storm ravaged planet the Covenant settles in for the long haul. An exploration team is dispatched to the surface to investigate the origin of the transmission they picked up. Naturally this being an Alien movie the away team comes under attack by monsters out of your worst nightmares, but that is only the start of their trials and tribulations as they discover the fate of the missing Prometheus from a decade ago, the origin of the Xenomorph infestation, and then face off against perhaps their most dangerous foe. The question is who is going to survive and who is going to be meat for the grinder.

I did manage to avoid the tsunami of spoilers and film clips that delugeD the web leading up to the release of Covenant so was pretty much going in blind besides a faint knowledge that the movie would include the new "Neomorph" monster type. Right up front I am going to say that I really dug Prometheus (2012) and what Scott had happening theme wise but was slightly concerned the Brit director would get away from his happy stomping grounds in order to appease the rabid fans who only really dial in for some Xenomorph fun times. Still up to now Scott hasn't put a foot wrong in the Universe he created so I was optimistic this movie would be the next evolution and answer some of the questions raised by previous movies. Unfortunately I was so deeply disappointed with the mess thrown at the screen I'm kind of dubious about future instalments and the longevity of the franchise. We need new writers here, Scott is at his best with a decent script, he didn't get one in Covenant. And on a side note a 101 theories expounded on places like Youtube.com proved to be exactly what we all kind of thought, utter rubbish dreamed up by want to be internet experts.

Firstly some good news, as usual Scott has his visuals on the grand scale with a believable planet and an atmosphere that delivered on the unnerving. Scott doesn't muck around here, the sets were outstanding and kept me in the movie while it dragged its sorry ass through the first block, and yes we're talking a slow first third that really didn't achieve much besides introducing a few characters and our new Ripley, Daniels. It also highlighted a couple of characters that clearly were on the fodder list, so no surprises there really, the sharped eyed and bushy tailed will have their tallies worked out early. So yeah I'm prepared to sign off on the visuals, which are outstanding with Scott using a darker pallet to get across the storm ravaged landscape his characters found themselves in. The Director is simply gifted with his eye to texture pallet, of course the remote kiwi locations might have helped out there, don't expect a whole bunch of colour in the bush down South.

Definitely enhancing our viewing pleasure were some outstanding performances from the limited cast, no this isn't one for herds of actors charging around. Katherine Waterston (Daniels) held down the tough as teak chick role as things went from merely terrifying to absolute bat shit crazy. Equally I was rooting for Danny McBride's Tennessee, who had some of the best lines in the movie for mine. Pretty much everyone else was cannon fodder with limited character development. Of course Michael Fassbender was once again superb playing two androids (David / Walter) and managing in the process to give both separate and identifiable characteristics.

Okay so great visuals and some fine acting save this pound puppy from the scrap heap of cinematic wrongs but there are still a bunch of issues with the movie that will have some patrons slamming their foreheads with their hands. First and foremost was the lame changing of the Xenomorph life cycle, seriously Ridley, what the hell were you thinking Bro! Yes we do get ' Xenomorphs, two of them, and a face hugger or two. Trying not to spoil this one folks, but the Xenomorph birthing process is different to what one would expect, though I did nod my head in approval over the Neomorph life form and its development. Re-inventing things to fit the current movie is never a good idea and here Scott shows scant regard for the decades or lore built into the universe. Of course it could be argued that the future might just hold a nugget or two as to the "current" Xenomorph lifecycle and the more bio-mechanical look of the Alien variety, but hey no wild speculation folks, we'll leave that to the Youtube "experts".

Slight side note here kids, and a major major plothole, plot spoiler avoidance mode engaged. Remember during Prometheus when Shaw's team breached the room with the big stone face and the black goo containers? Well there was this mural on the backwall that would kind of make developments in Covenant as to the origins of the Xenomorph complete bollocks, but hey its not like it was written in stone right!

So were questions answered, you know the ones left at the end of Prometheus, well my answer would be yes and no, with some of the answer not exactly endearing themselves to me. We do learn of David and Shaw's respected fates but I'm not entirely sure this is going to give anyone a feeling of deep satisfaction, think Alien 3. David has changed for the worse, though to be truthful perfectly logically in line with his previous development, once again without spoilers think Ash from the original Alien movie, except David has more toys at his disposal. And hey idle hands makes for the Devil's work folks.

We still don't know how the Engineer ship came to crash on LV-426, why the Engineers wanted to eradicate life on earth with their bio-weapon, or where everything is headed. We now know the origin of the Xenomorph life form, and yes it has to do with the black goo. Was the world we were invited onto this time around the Engineer home world? I think not, a major space going race would have outposts in the Galaxy one would imagine. And no this wasn't LV-223 as featured in Prometheus last go around.

So I guess everyone is waiting on some discussion on creature design, CGI here and noticeable, but overall a passing mark. The Neomorph were cool as we haven't seen them before, anyone else get a Jurassic Park 2 vibe out of the initial attack in the wheat field? Anyways another deadly spawn of the black goo I guess, though they start life as spores, uhmm over to someone else on the science there. Think whitish bipedal tall with lots of nasty teeth. We also get the Xenomorph eggs and the two life-cycles as mentioned previously. Unfortunately the Xenomorph design for mine hasn't improved with age; they seem a whole lot less menacing in this movie than they did in the four original movies in the franchise. I would have been a lot more pleased with more Neo and less Xeno to be honest. Why is it that sharks remain forever scary and Xenomorphs are now a whole lot less so?

You want action, you have come to the right place, from about the half way mark we're talking drop your linen and start your grinning. Numerous attacks, a rising body count, and some seat of your pants balls to the wall rampaging mayhem. Daniels proves to be an apt replacement for Ripley and if anything is a hell of a lot more physical when it comes to battling the big bugs. This is going to really please Aliens fans, this time its war, but folks more predisposed to Alien are going to be wondering if Scott isn't just pandering to the fanbois who were crying into their Cheetos over Prometheus going metaphysical. Sorry in second category over here, action doesn't trump plot and character development folks. Journey to paradise starts in hell, well hell has a ruler and guess who gets to wear the horns!

Hey talk about your segway, honest didn't plan it that way - as I say these reviews write themselves, there is some philosophical ground being broken as Covenant meanders through the black goo wilderness. We're talking humanity and creationism being discussed, but with increasingly dark underpinnings, Scott is still aiming for the broad vision of where humanity came from and who our creators are, but mixes in the high octane action that swings things right back to the first couple of movies in the franchise. Okay since people aren't getting it, the clue is in the title kids, think Ark of the Covenant, which according to Christian mythology was said to contain the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. For those of us that have seen the movie we can insistently put two and two together and nod sagely at David putting "the children to bed". Pretty cool if you think about it, Scott is moving the prequels from creationism, Prometheus, to the law of God - David? - in Covenant. Actually the by-line might be a slight hint at the shape of things, "(t)he path to Paradise begins in Hell", so the crew of the Covenant find themselves in Hell. They sure do face some demons and you have to say Hell has a ruler, guess who gets to wear the horns.

So in the wash up I was disappointed with Alien: Covenant as Scott spent way too much time appeasing the fanboys at the expense of the script, which fell somewhat below the grand vision Prometheus presented us with. If anyone can't see the twists coming in this one then they need to hit remedial movie watching 101, but at least they get plenty of thrills and spills in the second half to hang their hats on. Will I catch Covenant again at the cinema like I did with Prometheus? No, one experience was another, but I will divest some coin and purchase the Blu-ray on release. Okay folks if an Alien franchise fan then gobble this one up at the cinema, if not then wait on the discs to make an appearance in a few months' time. Hey it's not as bad as AvP:R, so at least we have gotten away from scrapping the bottom of the barrel, I can categorically state it's not game over man, and no you won't need to nuke it from space just to be sure.

ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ...

  Disappointed Ridley, so very disappointed.