Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: John Logan, Dante Harper, Jack Paglen and Michael Green
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup
IMDb Link
I've been a fan of the Alien series for most of my life; even knowing how middling the more recent entries have been, I was excited to see if Scott could revitalise the series he created.
As it turns out, Scott couldn't elevate the film series to its once illustrious standing, but he still offers a decent, if flawed, entry that closes some of the gap between Alien (1979) and Prometheus (2012) (Though not all, just in case this makes enough money for Scott to get another sequel).
*Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead*
The films follows the crew of the spaceship known as the Covenant, a vessel carrying colonists heading to settle a new Earth-like world. When a surge damages the ship and wakes the crew for repairs, they receive a transmission that comes from another, much closer Earth-like world. The crew head for this planet, only to find it completely lifeless. If this sounds like a long setup, it's because it is; the film seems to take a very long time just to get to the planet, and until it does the film is paced very slowly.
That said, once on the planet, it doesn't take long for the blood and guts to ensue, and there's at least been care taken to make some of the deaths creative, and other deaths act as callbacks to other deaths in the series. The crew we've been led to feel nothing for get slaughtered one by one, some getting their back ripped open by a sort of prototype chestburster; others get their head bitten off. It's all pretty cool to look at, but there's so little attachment to the characters, and so little tension leading up to their deaths that most of the deaths have no teeth. The deaths themselves are pretty cool, but they're all broadcast to you before they happen and there's nothing to make you care who it's happening to; most of the characters don't even get some sort of minimum defining trait aside from the fact that all of them are married, so when one of them dies, you know it's going to happen about five minutes before it does, and once it happens there's no feeling to it.
That said, when we take a break from the action, we get some weird and interesting existential discussion. Michael Fassbender was easily the best thing about Prometheus, so for this one Scott decided to double up on his appeal, with Fassbender playing two A.I. units now, David from Prometheus and Walter as a member of the crew of the Covenant. When they meet, we learn a lot about how David's mind has changed since Prometheus, and we get a nice taste of his obsession with humanity, A.I., and building the perfect organism. David is truly insane, and his re-introduction brings many of the film's best moments, especially when he's around Walter. The existential discussion sees an attempt to bridge the gap between Prometheus and the other Alien movies, and while it never really gels, it's still more interesting than anything that happens with the other characters.
Aside from the films odd pacing and confused storytelling, there's a lot to appreciate about the film aesthetically. The design of the planet is gorgeous, as the film employs a lot of greens and greys to create an eerily peaceful feeling, and does more to create a sense of unease and tension than the dialogue or characters, as grey waters lie still, and no leaf or branch falls from a single tree. Likewise, the soundtrack works wonders for the film's less interesting moments, recalling pieces from Alien and Prometheus for similar effect. Finally, the Alien designs are fantastic; the designs of the prototype aliens (neomorphs) have a very human-like quality to them without seeming out of place (think the hybrid from Alein: Resurrection but with a lot more alien, and, you know, actually good), and the true xenomorph is back in a form that is easily the most faithful to H.R. Giger's original design. As mixed as my feelings are towards the rest of the film, Covevant really is a joy to look at and listen to.
The Verdict: I found a lot in Covenant to be lacking; the pacing is slow, a lot of tension seems to be missing, the plot is a little messy, and there's very little done to make us care about what the characters do. That said, it's still absolutely gorgeous, the soundtrack recalls its predecessors, and Fassbender steals the show as both Walter and David, offering performances that are better than the rest of the film. If you watched all of the previous Alien movies including Prometheus, you might consider giving this a go. If you like sci-fi horror with a lot of existential philosophy, there's worse ways to spend a couple of hours
Rating: 6.5/10
Published May 11th, 2017
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