Director: Ridley Scott
Release date: May 19, 2017 (USA)
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Carmen Ejogo, Demian Bichir, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Amy Seimetz, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, Uli Latukefu, Tess Haubrich, Lorelei King, James Franco (uncredited), Guy Pearce (uncredited), Noomi Rapace (uncredited)
The last entry to the Alien movie franchise, 2012’s Prometheus, proved to be a bit divisive among fans, to say the least. The tale of the Engineers who apparently created humans, then sought to destroy them by creating a biological weapon, raised plenty of questions as well as being derided for the crew of the Prometheus committing some very stupid errors, despite them being scientists. The movie seemed less concerned about the alien than the Engineers whose ship was found on LV-426 in the 1979 original film, though we certainly did get hints of the creature that would become the xenomorph we all know and love. The film ended with the android David (Michael Fassbender) and Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) escaping in an Engineer ship from LV-223, but it didn’t give us an answer as to how the ship on LV-426 came to be there.
Needless to say, this sparked some frustration among fans and a healthy dose of conjecture among others.
Now, five years later, director Ridley Scott attempts to right some wrongs of Prometheus with his new movie, Alien: Covenant. Scott also decided to try and return to the horror roots of 1979’s Alien, as well as retackle some of the philosophical themes broached in the 2012 movie. And while he doesn’t reach the heights or deliver the scares of the 1979 original, he does take a step back in the right direction with a fairly entertaining movie with some good action and some decent creature designs. We do get some answers to the questions left by Prometheus, though not all that we may have hoped for. Plus, we get some brand new questions. With Scott planning a reportedly four more films for the franchise, hopefully he will tie it all together in a satisfactory manner.
Alien: Covenant begins ten years after the disappearance of the Prometheus and her crew on LV-223. The colony vessel Covenant, carrying a crew of 15 and around 2000 colonists in cryosleep, is on its way to Oregai 6, deemed to be a perfect world for humans to inhabit. Overseeing things while the crew and its human cargo slumber is the android Walter (Fassbender in a dual role), a newer model of the android David, but a refined one, one that is not “as human”. Naturally, events conspire to wake the crew from cryosleep early, and a disaster costs the ship its captain (an uncredited James Franco), the husband of Daniels (Katherine Waterston). This causes Oram (Billy Crudup) to take command who, after following a brief funeral ceremony, must decide what to do about a mysterious transmission found by pilot Tennessee (Danny McBride). It seems said transmission originated from a nearby planet that appears to be even better than their original destination. So, of course, crew members are dispatched to check things out. And, predictably, bad things follow.
Two crew members are infected by mysterious spores. They find the Engineer ship that was piloted by David and Shaw (they know this since they find Shaw’s dog tags). And quickly, they must deal with a hostile organism (dubbed the Neomorph). Their drop ship becomes destroyed, and the surviving crew members get “rescued” by a mysterious figure who leads them to shelter in a dead city filled with burnt and petrified figures. The mysterious figure turns out to be David, who has been alone these past ten years. But David’s been busy, and it’s not long before a xenomorph appears to wreak more havoc, leading to a bunch of blood and some action sequences that carry us to a twist ending. And that leaves us waiting for what Scott has up his sleeve next.
The film moves at a decent pace over its 122 minute runtime, and has its share of action, a couple of scares, and even a little heart. Most of the crew, while likeable, is here to serve as fodder. Crudup does a decent job as the uncertain captain guided by his faith, those he proves to be a little too trusting of David when the android shows the captain some very familiar looking eggs. Naturally, that doesn’t end well. Waterston rises to the occassion of being Ripley lite, proving herself to be one of the smarter and more capable crew members. Her performance gets to show a bit of emotion early on with the death of Branson (Franco) and she handles herself fairly well against a very nasty and hostile creature. McBride provides some humor as the pilot Tennessee, and restrains himself from the more vulgar performances from his raunchy comedies with Franco. Both Tennessee and Daniels come off as the most likeable of the crew members and become the ones to root for to make it until the end.
But this really is Fassbender’s show, playing the dual roles of Walter and David. As Walter, Fassbender is logical, practical, but kind to his human counterparts. He remains calm in crisis, and does his best to watch over the crew. As David, Fassbender gets to show more range. When we meet him, he has longer hair, but upon noticing his counterpart, cuts it to look more like his “brother”. His revelation of what happened to him and Shaw reveals a flaw in his programming. While David is very close to being human, he also takes on some of humanity’s nastier faults, and is shown to be a full on sociopath with a creator complex. A flashback at the film’s beginning hints towards his disdain of humans, and a decade alone just seems to have magnified that. He fancies himself the equal of the Engineers and engages in bizarre experiments of his own. The sight of David’s drawings is a bit chilling, an din some cases evokes the artwork of H.R. Giger, who designed the original xenomorph in Alien. His character wrestles with what happens when a creation outlives its creator, and becomes obsessed with becoming a creator himself. Naturally, this leads to conflict, and Fassbender makes the most of both roles, and, as he more or less did in Prometheus, steals the show.
The crew does do some dumb things here, echoing the faults of this movie’s predecessor. However, here their dumbness is a little more understandable. Most of them are not scientists, and of course none have the training to deal with a hostile organism. That said, why divert to an unknown world, despite the receipt of a transmission, when you were en route to one known to be a welcoming place? Why wouldn’t you raise questions about the burned and petrified figures in the city you were led to? And why would you trust anyone who says its okay to look inside an open alien egg? Other actions were also a little questionable, but since the crew was made up of married couples, it becomes a little more understandable for someone to act out of emotion than rational thought. It doesn’t excuse it entirely, but it is a little more understandable.
The alien designs on display are done fairly well, though most of the time they are obviously CGI effects instead of practical ones. That said, the CGI does allow for some more fluid movement of the smaller Neomorphs as well as the larger Xenomorphs. The xenos are more organic than those in the earlier movies, but as we’re in prequel territory here they just haven’t reached that evolutionary stage where they incorporate a bit more mechanical forms in their design. The fact that these are prequels made long after movies that fit later in the franchise’s overall timeline also highlights that other familiar flaw of many sci-fi prequels made after the originals, that of the technology looking better and more advanced, despite being at a time prior to the older films. On one hand, you could point out that the bridge and overall ship would be cleaner in the new movie, as the Covenant is a colony ship and the Nostromo was a mining vessel. But it still would be nicer if filmmakers could make better note that technology in the newer prequels shouldn’t look more advanced than the technology in the originals. A tall order, and for the most part a minor quibble. And there were some nice callbacks to the original, from the plastic tilting bird on the bridge to the ship’s computer being named “Mother”.
In all, Alien: Covenant does take steps in righting the wrongs of Prometheus, delivering a fairly entertaining horror sci-fi flick with some good action and nice monster moments. We do get some of the answers we craved, while being given a new set of questions that are hopefully answered in the next film Scott has planned for the franchise. The cast is good, but Fassbender steals the show, with only Waterston and McBride coming close. I would recommend watching the two prologue shorts 20th Century Fox released online. “The Crossing” fills in what happened to David and Shaw following the end of Prometheus, while “Last Supper” gives us a glimpse of Franco’s Captain Branson, as well as a meal between the crew of the Covenant before they enter cryosleep. While it would have been nice for both to be included in the theatrical release, they may also have thrown off the pacing, so I can understand Scott releasing them separately (I’m sure they will wind up on the DVD/Blu-ray when it becomes available). They add some nice little touches, and are worth seeing in conjunction with the main film, though at least some of “The Crossing” is covered there. Alien: Covenant is a step back in the right direction for the franchise, and it will be interesting to see where Ridley Scott takes us next.
