Alien: Covenant - movie review

Alien: Covenant

Plot: The crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination, and must attempt a harrowing escape.
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup
Director: Ridley Scott
Certificate: 15 (strong bloody violence, gore, strong language)
Runtime: 2hrs 2 mins
Release Date: Friday 12th May 2017

In space no one can hear you scream...or ponder the existence of humanity. Somehow, I don't think the latter half of that tagline rolls off the tongue as easy. My experience with the Alien franchise was pretty limited and I do mean extremely limited. Up until 24 hours before seeing Covenant the only Alien related films I had ever seen were Prometheus and Alien Vs. Predator. That's it. I had never seen Alien or Aliens which I was ashamed about. So I decided to change that with an Alien binge fest. I found Ridley Scott's 1979 Alien to be a masterclass in claustrophobic sci-fi horror and has aged wonderfully. When it came to Aliens, I really enjoyed the second half but the lead up to the wonderful carnage took far too long. Truth be told, and I am prepared for the hate, I think Aliens is overrated. Then I refreshed myself with Prometheus and despite its multiple plot holes, I often find myself getting wrapped up in its beauty. So, going into Covenant, I felt swatted up on the Alien universe like it was a big exam and I left thinking one thing; I felt exactly the same as I did when I left Prometheus.

The fart REALLY was that bad.

Usually, I am a big proponent of trailers and movie marketing so long as they don't reveal any major plot spoilers. When it comes to Covenant, my advice would be to only watch the initial red-band trailer if you feel the urge because unfortunately, Covenant's marketing team are trying to sell you a film that they haven't made. I think that if you are wondering whether to see the film or not, you are obligated to know that the quintessentially iconic Xenomorph features very little in the actual film. Many of the scenes you see in the newer trailers display much of the footage in which it appears. So, whenever the Xenomorph did appear and I began to psych myself up for the violent carnage to commence, I sat there instead playing the trailers out in my head waiting for it to do things that I had already seen. Now, I understand that this isn't necessarily the film's fault but it is yet another sign that marketing can make or break a movie. Moving away from the misleading trailers, another warning I have to issue is that this isn't just a typical Alien film that follows the typical plot points as an alien hunts down a space crew one by one. As it turns out, this is a mixture between the atmosphere of the 1979 Alien with the mythology set up by Prometheus. Therefore, if you weren't a fan of Prometheus, Covenant might not be the redemption piece you're looking for. Like I mentioned in my introduction, I feel exactly the same about Covenant as I do with Prometheus. Stunningly shot, luxurious locations and state of the art visual and practical effects all make this a hit on the surface level but the more I began to think about the plot and this developing mythology that Scott is so adamant on creating, the more Covenant began to confuse me and leave a slightly sour taste in my mouth and this time it definitely wasn't the Sour Patch Kids. For those that are unaware, Covenant follows the journey of a crew of explorers in space who are looking to find a new habitable planet to start a colonisation process. Upon a rude and early awakening from hypersleep, they discover a local planet near to their current position that seems to contain all the necessary requirements to sustain human life. And so obviously, as they begin to survey this planet, things go wrong. Very wrong. 

He wasn't going to let his UBER driver leave without him.

As to how it ties into Prometheus, the specifics of that shall remain a secret in this review apart from that we reconvene with Michael Fassbender's David, the android from the doomed Prometheus mission. The crew of the Covenant are all functional with only a small handful of remarkable performances. Katherine Waterston does her best to stand as another strong heroine in space but, at times, it did feel like Scott was so hung up on creating another Ripley, that he ended up creating a complete carbon copy of Ripley. Danny McBride is the real surprise here because he isn't the comic relief in the slightest. Instead, McBride pulls on some serious dramatic weight and nails scenes of heightened emotion and tension. In most of his other films, he always seems to be playing the stoner douchebag who cracks the crudest and rudest of jokes so to see this calibre of acting come from him is the pleasantest of surprises. In actual fact, of the human characters, he was the one I was rooting for. I think it's the cowboy hat for a space pilot. It seems like something I'd do. Even James Franco makes a blink and you'll miss it appearance but when you do see him, Franco is on fire in the role. He completely explodes onscreen. But let's not beat around the bush here, Covenant's MVP is Michael Fassbender. This time round, we get double the Fassbender as he reprises his role as David from Prometheus but also introduces us to Covenant's android, Walter. These are two extremely different performances as Walter is fairly emotionless and clinical whereas David has a lot more passion and emotion which makes for a truly chilling performance from Fassbender. Whilst it may not be the greatest film he's ever starred in, I'm willing to categorically state that of his already illustrious career, David is Fassbender's strongest performance. He is phenomenally unsettling throughout the duration channeling Hannibal Lecter levels of uncomfortableness. This film also contains that most innuendo filled scene I think I have ever witnessed when David and Walter encounter each other.

Is that a spiky alien tail or was he just pleased to see her?

FACT: The androids' names, David and Walter, are a tribute to producers David Giler and Walter Hill.

The Prometheus mythology is front and centre for a large portion of this film but while that might put off some, it's the overall feel of the movie and the atmosphere created that I think most will agree is Covenant's strongest aspect. From the appearance of the title, it's clear that Scott has decided to go back to his roots of making a smaller, contained horror than some gigantic, bullet frenzy, action flick. Horror is the key word here. Prometheus had horror-like elements in it but there are moments in Covenant that combine the sustained threat of our crew with graphic body horror. Now, for those that know me, I don't mind the odd splash of violence now and again and something that I learnt during my binge fest is that I like my Alien films gory and Covenant doesn't let up with the violence in the slightest. We have chestbursters, backbursters and mouthbursters. In fact, I think a creature bursts out of every single orifice at one point or another. Scott also introduces us to a new breed of alien as well as the Xenomorphs. The Neomorphs are far more savage and brutal but the lover of practical effects inside of me wishes that the usage of visual effects on the Neomorphs could have been a little more refined or completely gotten rid of. Because of a large crew of the Covenant, in the back of your mind, you are immediately crossing names off the list as to who will survive and who will die and expectedly, the names on the latter category is quite substantial. Now, it may sound like I'm singing the film's praises so far but as I've continually said, Covenant is almost identical to Prometheus so whilst it shares the same positives, it also shares one almighty negative. To be blunt, I just don't care about what Ridley Scott is attempting to do with building this mythology around his Alien universe. It all seems pointless. He proved he could create fantastic original movies like he did with The Martian so why is he continually adding needless elements onto what was a terrific pair of films (Alien 3 and Resurrection aren't part of this discussion)? By focusing all of his attention on presenting these philosophical ideals and questions about our existence and how that ties into acid blooded aliens, Scott forgets to make it clear where he's going with this story so the audience can understand. We are continually left scratching our heads as Scott dances around us boasting how he knows all the answers. It's intriguing to learn a brief bit of history about the Xenomorphs so it can provide some context when revisiting the classic Alien films but at the same time, Alien and Aliens were never films that posed grand beliefs or philosophy as a whole. First and foremost, they put the quality of the film ahead of everything else and it feels like, from both Prometheus and now Covenant, Scott is so damn set on the endgame that he hasn't fully thought out how he's going to get there.

Qualified scientist finds a mysterious and possibly evil egg so decides to poke his head inside. Great logic...

Taking everything into consideration, Covenant is by no means a film you can just put on and simply kick back and watch. You need to have the mindset to follow each and every revelation and the Alien action pieces that do crop up act like a well earned rest bite. Fassbender dominates this film from start to finish and so, despite relying too much on continuing this unnecessary mythology, his dual performance is a prime reason for seeing this.

My Verdict: 7/10

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