Alien: Covenant

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demian Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, James Franco (uncredited), Guy Pearce (uncredited), Noomi Rapace (uncredited)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The crew of a ship venturing to colonize a new world makes an unscheduled stop on a previously unknown planet. What they find there threatens the lives of everyone on board.

Review:

Tim: I've always been a big fan of the Alien franchise. I loved the first two movies and I've liked every film in the franchise (except for the two movies verses the Predators). I even liked the flawed Prometheus more than I should have. So, I was pretty pumped when Ridley Scott was back, directing the sequel to Prometheus and the 8th film in this franchise. I was hopeful that lessons were learned from the last film and that this would be the return to form. That didn't quite happen. This is a good movie- it's entertaining and advances the overall mythology of the franchise. But, it's flawed in different ways. When you look at this film in the larger context, it actually represents a step backwards. That was not the plan.

This film furthers explores the origins of the Xenomorph alien and it does reveal the Engineers' home world. And both of those are surprising letdowns. The excitement and promise of that at the end of the last movie was here rushed and unsatisfying. The film felt like it spun off in a different direction and didn't adequately conclude the storylines from the last film. It felt like the set up was abandoned and we got something very different. I also thought that Noomi Rapace's Elizabeth Shaw was one of the highlights of the last film. She isn't really in this film at all. That is a disappointment. We get a lot more time with Michael Fassebender's David, who just isn't nearly as interesting as Ridley Scott thinks he is. This film eventually felt like yet another entry in this franchise- one that didn't really do all that much different. One that eventually feels predictable.

Speaking of the predictability of this plot, there is one "twist" near the end of the film was was telegraphed from a mile away. I'm usually a sucked for twists, but this one was obvious the second it was set up. Watching the film, I said, "Oh, I know exactly what the twist is going to be." and then I sat there and just waited for it to happen. That was a big disappointing.

This film follows the ship Covenant and it does a pretty good job of introducing the cast. James Franco makes an uncredited role as the doomed captain. That felt odd to me. Why do that? His presence makes no difference, so why bother? It was just odd. Anyway, the crew picks up in his absence. Billy Crudup is pretty good in his role. Katherine Waterston was fine, but was surprisingly unmemorable in her role. Michael Fassbender takes up way too much screen time with his dual roles. He's good in the parts, but when the movie tries to make an android the most interesting character, that's troubling. The rest of the cast gets stuck in his shadow. Danny McBride was fun to see in an unexpectedly restrained role. The cast was decent, but we didn't really connect deeply with any of them. None of them are as cool as Shaw was in the last film.

The visual effects are really quite strong. From the interplanetary voyage to the unknown world, to the inevitable run-in with the xenomorphs, the visuals in this film were outstanding. That was probably the greatest strength of this film- it just looks incredible, from start to finish.

While I really expected and hoped for more than we got, Alien: Covenant is still an entertaining, frightening entry into this franchise. There's always been something so terrifying about the aliens depicted here. While they may never be as scary as they were in the first two films, it's still great fun to watch. Ridley Scott is a really good director and knows this franchise well enough to navigate the film towards the finish line. The story was a bit off and that hurts the film, but still, this is a solid, enjoyable movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Alien v. Predator, Prometheus