As someone who grew up with a pretty dark childhood, horror movies hold a special place in my heart. At an early age, they put a face to the horrors I experienced. The original Alien movies were, and still are a personal favorite of mine. And before you ask, yes, even Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection are included. While I was not a huge fan of Prometheus (I sat there for its entire run-time waiting for the millisecond the alien was present post credits), I was ecstatic to hear that its sequel (and prequel to the original Alien movies) was going to put the Xenomorph, or a version of it, at the forefront.

The film opens with David having a conversation with his “father”, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) about his birth and place in the world. David (Michael Fassbender) appears to be suffering from the same daddy issues that were prevalent in Prometheus. After some pouting about how he will never be able to create offspring due to being a synthetic, we are introduced to the Covenant and its crew.

The Covenant is transporting a few thousand colonists to a new home world for a fresh start. After a rouge meteor strikes the ship and kills some colonists and the ships captain, Branson (James Franco), the 2nd in command Oram (Billy Crudup) takes over. As soon as he does, a strange distress signal consisting of garbled music by the great John Denver from a nearby planet is picked up by the ship. The writers chose to touch on the captain’s religious faith, which is never really explored, but I believe this hints to a faith that believe that God came from space and eventually came to worship the Aliens in Dark Horse Comic’s Aliens vs. Predator comic series. Contrary to the some of the teams’ advice, Oram chooses to visit the planet to evaluate it for possible human inhabitants or colonization.

Once on the planet, members of the team start becoming ill from small spores and shit hits the fan. I found it funny that just minutes after being on an uncharted planet with no living creatures to be seen, they take their helmets off and breathe the unknown atmosphere.  After an initial confrontation with the Xenomorphs, they are saved by David, whom has crash landed on this planet after the events of Prometheus.

The remainder of the film showcases the struggles of the team on the planet and the lack of communication between the remaining members of the crew hovering in space above the planet. While it’s an enjoyable film, once the alien is added to the story, it suffers from some pretty major pacing issues. The true horror of the situation doesn’t begin until the last 30-40 minutes of the film, but when it finally hits, it doesn’t let up.

Technically, director Ridley Scott offers some amazing special effects, both practical and CGI. My major complaint with the film is, much like Prometheus before it, the technology featured in the film is far more advanced than that in the original Alien films that take place after this. While not overly distracting from this film, it does make you go ask why. Additionally, the insight into the creation or evolution of the Xenomorph is never fully explored. What’s left is more questions, and even less answers as to how they evolved from what we saw in Prometheus to the Alien shown in the older films that followed this. In my humble opinion, this film would have served better as part of a new trilogy in the Alien franchise, which would have explained the technological advancements as well as left room for the evolution of the creatures. The fact that the aliens at the beginning of the film emerge from the host fully developed without the use of eggs, looking more like a cat than a snake, seems that the creatures de-evolved into the Xenomorph we all know and love.

The cast put forth believable performances, with Michael Fassbender (pulling double duty as 2 synthetics) and Danny McBride being standouts. I was concerned with the casting of McBride due to his previous roles primarily being comedic, but he was a pleasant surprise. The real stars of the movie, the Xenomorphs, look as terrifying as ever and if anything, deserved more screen time than they received.

While not a perfect film, Alien Covenant is a welcome addition to the Alien franchise. Despite its shortcomings, it is an entertaining experience. With its surprise twist ending, I can only hope that Ridley Scott’s inevitable follow up offers more answers and resolves some of the prequel’s many plot holes.

 

8 out of 10

Pros

• Special Effects
• Michael Fassbender and Danny McBride
• Additional Insight into the Xenomorph

Cons

• A Few Major Plot Holes
• Not Enough of the Xenomorph

 

Alien Covenant was directed by Ridley Scott and written by John Logan and Dante Harper. It was released in theaters on May 19th, 2017 by 20th Century Fox, and does not currently have a date available for purchase. The film was not provided to us for viewing.

 

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