Released: May 2017
Director: Ridley Scott
Rated R
Run Time: 122 Minutes
Distributor: Fox Studios
Genre: Science Fiction/Horror
Cast:
Michael Fassbender: Walter/David
Katherine Waterston: Daniels
Billy Crudup: Oram
Danny McBride: Tennessee
Demian Bichir: Lope
The problem with prequels is that you often know the outcome of that particular story. Trying to surprise an audience with a prequel is often a tricky business, because of what’s supposed to happen in the story. It’s a problem that you really can’t avoid, unless you’re willing to change the sequel’s story, and that never ends well. Star Wars is a prime example. Everybody knew that Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader, so seeing Anakin turn in the Prequel Trilogy came as no surprise to ANYONE. Movies like The Hobbit and The Scorpion King are other examples of prequels. A prequel isn’t necessarily a bad thing if handled properly. It can give you more of an insight into a particular world, and explore why things happen the way they happened. It has to be done right, however, or the audience won’t be as engaged in the story or the characters. So, we come to Alien: Covenant, a prequel to Ridley Scott’s original film. Is it the prequel that we deserved or hoped for? The short answer is no, and I’m going to explain why.
Alien: Covenant follows the crew of the colony ship, the Covenant as it is on a 10-year journey to a planet suitable for colonization. En route, they are hit by an electrical storm, which causes the main crew to wake up and assess the damage. They intercept an undecipherable message which leads them to a nearby planet, which is also capable of sustaining human life. After landing and having issues with the local “plant” life, they come across what seems to be the planet’s lone occupant. This occupant is none other than the android, David from the Prometheus which disappeared 10 years before. You know, I thought Prometheus was a damn good movie. It wasn’t what I expected, but I thought it was better than most people gave it credit for. So, when Ridley Scott was going to do a sequel that was going to be an actual Alien movie, I was genuinely excited. Sadly, the wait really wasn’t worth it. For those expecting an Alien movie, I gotta tell ya, it’s more Prometheus than Alien. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an Alien movie, but there are so many issues here that I’m not entirely sure where to begin. The story is somewhat interesting, but damn if it isn’t predictable. Again, that’s the nature of a prequel, but I expected more surprises than what I actually got. I’m not happy about it. I’m not going to go into spoiler territory, so don’t worry about that.
Let’s get the good stuff out of the way. The visuals are simply stunning. Like Prometheus before it, Alien: Covenant is beautifully filmed with some absolutely gorgeous scenery. The set designs are out of this world. They really spared no expense in delivering the scale of the film. The Engineer city is absolutely marvelous. The ship designs are wonderful. Michael Fassbender returns as David, but also plays a second android, Walter. The scenes when Walter and David are on screen together, ironically enough, are some of the best character moments in the film. Danny McBride is one of the biggest surprises of the film, as he gets to really flex his dramatic chops, and he does a really good job. The creature designs are also very interesting. The neomorphs are particularly nasty. You have one that exploded from someone’s back, and another from someone’s mouth. This movie definitely has carnage, and the gore factor is high. The infamous xenomorph that made the Alien movies what they are, also makes a return, and it tears some shit up. The music by Jed Kurzel is pretty damned good. It utilizes some music from Jerry Goldsmith’s score from the original film as well as music cues from Prometheus. The CGI is also surprisingly very good.
I guess it’s time to get into the bad stuff, isn’t it? Aside from Michael Fassbender and Danny McBride, all the other characters are pretty much disposable. There’s not one among them that is even remotely likable. The first two Alien movies were fantastic, because we got to know and like the crew. We cared about what happened to these characters, so when they died it was shocking. With Alien: Covenant, we don’t get that. When the shit hits the fan, the women are freaking out to the point of silliness. The men are mostly a bumbling bunch of idiots. Katherine Waterston plays Daniels, but she’s hardly compelling. She’s no Ellen Ripley or even Elizabeth Shaw. Those were two very strong female characters. I don’t really blame Waterston for the way her character turned out, because the writing in this movie is generally not very good. You really shouldn’t be rooting for characters to die in a movie like this, but most of them are irritating and mostly a waste of space. Also, I saw the ending to the movie come a mile a way. Again, this is not necessarily a problem that the movie could have avoided, but it could’ve been handled so much better than this.
To say that Ridley Scott dropped the ball on this one is a massive understatement. There’s a lot about this movie that I did like, but there was just way too much that felt wrong. Visually, it’s a stunning film, with top-notch performances from McBride and Fassbender. It also has some pretty gory action in it, but the overall structure of the film and the almost total lack of xenomorph action brings this movie down much lower than it should be. I left the movie theater disappointed. 20 years since the last legitimate Alien film, and this is the best they can do? Now, Ridley Scott is reportedly going to be starting production on the film’s sequel, which is supposed to be entitled Alien: Awakening. He’s supposed to start shooting the film sometime next year. I really like Scott as a director, but I think he really needs to hand the reigns over to someone else. Neill Blomkamp, who directed District 9, was in talks to direct an Alien film which would ignore the events of the third and fourth movies and focus on Ripley, Newt and Hicks. Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn were both reportedly excited about the idea. A lot of people of were. But since Scott took back control of the franchise, that other movie is dead in the water, by all accounts. Well, I can only hope that Awakening can actually deliver on the promise that was made by Covenant. Ultimately, I don’t hate the movie. I did enjoy it, but it was a pretty big letdown. It’s still better than Alien Resurrection, though. I’ll give it that.
Final Score: 7.5/10