Alien Covenant has opened in theaters this weekend.
I've seen the film and wanted to share some thoughts with you guys in this review.
I guess you could call it more of a First Impressions, Initial Thoughts, kind of review,
because I know all the other Alien movies so well and this one is brand new, so I'm
sure I'll be watching it many more times, and who knows?
My opinions could change, but here's generally what I think of the movie having seen it for
the first time.
Just a warning, there will be spoilers here, but nothing too major.
So if you haven't seen the movie, you've been warned.
One of the things I've come to love most about the Alien Franchise is how each movie feels
like a different experience: each with a different style and tone and has had contributions from
immensely talented directors like James Cameron, David Fincher, and of course Ridley Scott,
who has returned to direct Alien Covenant, making it the third film he's directed in
the series.
It's very much a sequel to Prometheus, the story is indeed connected, but it is not treading
the same waters.
Scott is a director who's been around long enough to admit there is a big challenge in
keeping the series interesting, and keeping the iconic alien monster scary, and fresh.
Alien Covenant goes to great efforts to still keep us guessing about this creature, with
bizarre and fascinating ideas that only the science fiction genre makes possible, and
for the most part is successful with it and I can say that Ridley Scott rose up to that
challenge.
I admire that greatly, and I can say overall, I really enjoyed the film.
At its core, it's the familiar kind of concept we've seen before: a group of unknowing victims
set down on a mysterious planet, and of course, bad things happen and gruesome monsters tear
them apart.
After all these years the series still embraces the pulp, sci-fi roots from which it emerged,
and it's very much a monster movie, and as just a film in general, standing alone, it
works on that level.
The story is contained enough that an audience member doesn't really need to be familiar
with the Alien series, or even Prometheus, to be able to follow the plot.
The story here revolves around the mission of the crew of the Covenant, who have mapped
out the co-ordinates of a habitable planet, with the intention of setting up a colony
consisting not only the crew, but a precious cargo colonists, and human embryos.
After an event that disrupts the crew's hypersleep, resulting in damage to the ship, a substantial
loss of cargo, and the death of the Covenant's captain.
The crew intercepts a rogue transmission, they discover an undocumented planet that
just happens to be absolutely perfect for their colony, and much closer, and they decide
a survey is in order.
This, planet, of course, happens to be occupied by David, who's been very busy over the last
few years, and has some horriffic surprises in store for the unsuspecting colonists.
I can tell you pretty confidently right now that Alien Covenant certainly won't be invulnerable
to similar criticisms that people also had of Prometheus.
You may find yourself questioning character motivations, and actions, and stupid, stupid
decisions, like "why did this character do this, or that, or walk into that corner, or
open this door, etc." so it's still restricted to a lot of conventions of the horror genre,
almost including scenes like that by necessity to provide the obligitory thrills and gore
while the story moves along.
So if those kind of things bugged you with Prometheus, you'll probably have some of the
same problems with Covenant, but I'd say to a much lesser degree, with at least no characters
attempting to hug and kiss space cobras.
So there's that.
But I don't know, for me personally, I've never been too bothered by those kinds of
things, I always just think back to an anecdote Tippi Hedren had of Alfred Hitchcock.
For The Birds, they were filming a scene where her character hears a noise, slowly walks
upstairs, and opens the door to reveal the scare.
Hedren asked, "Why would my character go off on her own, all alone, to investigate this
strange noise?
What's my character's to do this?"
Hitchcock looked her right in the eye, and with out skipping a beat, replies, "BECAUSE
I'M THE DIRECTOR AND I TELL YOU TO."
Fair enough.
And to Ridley Scott's credit, I've always considered him a big-picture kind of director,
not that his films don't have wonderful nuances and details, but Scott's biggest strength
is in being a visual storyteller with broad concepts, not intimate ones.
And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
The film is marvellous vissually with great use of locations that we haven't quite seen
before in these movies.
The lush, green thriving planet visited by the crew of the Covenant is undoubtedly a
lot more visually engaging than the barren LV233 of Prometheus.
And contrast to the bright open spaces there's some great scenes in the cold, dark, cavernous
lair of David, and needless to say...many ominous spaceship corridors.
What we have with Alien Covenant is this wonderful monster movie, filled with fascinating and
nightmarish creatures, and an altogether well-made sci-fi-horror thriller, but it offers just
a little bit more, with themes of belief, and creation, and the belief of creation,
much like Prometheus before it.
Shifting the focus to the David character as the witness to this universe has been an
interesting choice for the series and I think it offers a larger overall scope to the series
in having this immortal android as, kind of the anti-hero, and emerging from the prephery
of the story twice now, when our instinct seems to be to gravitate towards the female
leads such as Shaw in Prometheus and Daniels here.
Make no mistake, this is David's story.
And I think it's fitting that the kind of being that would co-habitate with the xenomorph
creatures would have to be inhuman, and an Android such as David is.
Whether David possesses madness, or delusions of grandeur, or other influences, David's
intentions with the creature go beyond fighting to stop them like any human would, but a hunger
to learn of them and aide in their creation and biological perfection.
There are times in the film where David, indeed, feels like a mad scientist, right out of the
classics, raising a glass to Gods and Monsters.
We see the the Neomorph featured pretty heavily, which was great, and for me at least, didn't
dissapoint.
Much like anybody else I don't think anything will ever top the classic Xenomorph design,
but at the same time I appreciate the inclusion of something new, and I think the Neomorph
is given just the right amount of screen time, enough to create an impact, give us an idea
of how the creature functions, and it gives us something new, but still lets the classic
version of the creature shine when the timing is appropriate.
I thought it was a successful addition, in fact, the Neomorph may be the highlight of
the movie.
It's a severely aggressive and horrifying creature, right from its birth, it seems like
it's a lot more bloodthirsty and rabid...its presence brought a lot of chaos into the film
which led to some great moments.
And the design was very creepy, and very effective, and very much like something we would see
from H.R. Giger.
And for the most part, the effects were very impressive, and aside from some shots here
and there, the CGI used to bring the Neomorph to life is pretty convincing.
The classic form of the Xenomorph we all know and love makes an appearance of course, though
I guess you could call it a Protomorph if you prefer.
I'm sure its classification may end up a subject of debate among fans, but with what we've
seen from David's expirments, and how the creature finally forms, I'd think it's fair
to say there's still a missing link of somewhere along the Xenomorph DNA line, so it isn't
quite the same creature we saw as the Big Chap in 1979's Alien.
They're able to show off a lot more with the alien, give it more fluid movement, more threatening
actions, more humanly impossibly flexibility, and all that's great to see, but admittedly,
the CGI is not perfect.
The design of the creature itself is great, there are some glorious shots displaying the
creature, it's just that not everytime we see the creature do we get a completely flawless
special effect, which IS disappointing, because I was under the impression there would be
more suit and animitronic work to contribute to the alien's appearance, and I didn't see
much of that, if any.
CGI creatures and effects aside, the humans of the film, and the androids, are portrated
by a very talented cast.
Michael Fassbender pulls off a great dual role as both David and Walter, which he does
seamlessly.
For example there's a great scene where David shows Walter how to play the flute, and enters
this engaging conversation about humans and androids and art and creation, and you realize
how different and unique each of these characters are, and the subtleties Fassbender brings
to them, each with their own attitude, demeanor, and suspicions of the other.
He was brilliant in the role, and I'm glad the series has the credibility of such a talented
actor.
Katherine Waterson as Daniels and Billy Crudup as Oram are both really good in their roles
as well: Waterson as the Covenant Captain's Widow, determined to keep her husband's dream
alive, and Crudup as the next in line captain, uncertain of the crew's confidence in him,
being a man of strong faith.
I feel like we could have gotten more out of these characters, each have interesting
aspects about them that don't entirely develop.
I think that's because they seem to be taking turns as the main character, so neither are
given a heavy focus.
Again, the film ultimately belongs to David and the focus eventually shifts to him.
Danny McBride was also very good.
Not once did he feel out of place, or that he should be the comic relief.
He had some casually funny lines but they were true to the character's personality,
and it's most definitely a dramatic role, and I think McBride nailed it.
He did a great job, and I'd like to see more serious roles from him.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie.
Is it the be-all-end-all of Alien movies?
No, it's not.
But it's worthy of the series, and the possibilities it leads into are very exciting, and will
hopefully make for some incredible new Alien movies, and of course we all know that Ridley
Scott is already preparing the next one.
It's an exciting time to be an alien fan, and who knows what the future holds.
After Covenant, and having an appreciation for its more abstract ideas, and having a
generally good time with the genre-specific set-pieces, I think it's time to take the
series a step further.
At this point, I think it's fair to say we've seen enough of scientists landing on mysterious
planets...Ridley Scott is an ingenious director but he can also be a frustrating one: being
so liberal with certain ideas within the story, but staying too close to convention for the
story itself.
But David may be taking us to a brave new world.
So those are my initial thoughts on Alien Covenant.
Imperfect, but a good movie.
I'd say I'd give it a 7 out of 10, if I had to rate it.
What would your rating be?
Have you seen the movie?
Comment below and share your thoughts!
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