Alien: Covenant

"Alien: Covenant" is a sci-fi action film technically perfect, with great special effects and landscapes. Unfortunately the story is terrible with the most unprepared (or stupid) crew ever seen. How could practically all the crew including the captain and the second in command land in an unknown planet without a better analyze of the soil and the atmosphere? They have a skilled android that should go alone and report whether the place is dangerous or not. One of the groups have a sick crew-member and his partner brings him bleeding to the only means of transportation they have to return to the spacecraft. The pilot risks the lives they are transporting and their colonization mission to try to rescue a few survivors. In addition, the performances are soulless and not engaging and the viewer does not care to the characters. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Alien: Covenant"

'Alien' is still to this day a tense, shocking suspenseful and frightening masterpiece, one of my favourites of the genre. The bigger and bolder 'Aliens' is one of those rare sequels that is every bit as good as its predecessor. Both are two of my favourite films and the character of Ripley is one of the most iconic female characters in film. 'Alien 3' and 'Resurrection' had their issues but to me weren't that bad, while 'Prometheus' had some fine elements while also some major flaws.

My thoughts on 'Alien: Covenant' is fairly similar to my ones on 'Prometheus'. Not as bad as led to believe (having read reviews that were mostly mixed to negative), but could have been much better considering the brilliance of 'Alien' and 'Aliens'. With a good cast, and with the involvement of a hit and miss but talented (especially visually) director Ridley Scott, 'Alien: Covenant' could and should have been far better. Some undeniable strengths here, at the same 'Alien: Covenant' also commits the same faults as 'Prometheus', and makes even more of the mistake of having little point to it other than providing a few necessary answers to loose ends from 'Prometheus'.

Lets start with 'Alien: Covenant's' strengths. Even when the writing and story weren't up to snuff, Scott's films always looked visually beautiful. 'Alien: Covenant' is not an exception. The settings look tremendous, of sheer beauty and with a real eeriness, the cinematography complements it perfectly and is often powerfully arresting and most of the special effects (apart from the disappointingly cheap-looking ones for the xenomorph) are a feast for the eye. Scott's direction has moments where it is superb, if more in the visuals and spectacle than the narrative.

Jed Kurzel's music score is hauntingly unsettling and recalls one fondly of the music in the original film by Jerry Goldsmith. There are a few scary moments (though this doesn't come consistently) and credit is due for providing much needed answers to questions that were on people's lips after watching 'Prometheus'.

Of a pretty good cast, considering what they had to work with, Michael Fassbender's commandingly and intensely acted dual role is the standout. Katherine Waterston brings steel and vulnerability, yet another performance demonstrating why she is one to watch, and surprisingly Danny McBride succeeds in trying to fully form his character rather than be annoying or looking stoned. Billy Crudup also tries his best with little to do.

However, genuine tension and suspense is replaced by monster/alien action and attempts at character motivations. Sadly too much of the monster/alien action is not that exciting and only sporadically scary, cheapened by at times excessive and gratuitous gore (by far the goriest and bloodiest of the 'Alien' franchise and the approach felt a little out of place). On top of that the characters (in a film where there is too many of them in the first place) are very thinly sketched rather than fully formed and of the lot only Tennessee, Walter and David properly raise above forgettable, David especially being pretty splendidly drawn actually. The constant frustrating decision making from most of the characters also prevents one from properly connecting to them.

Script is also often very weak, even more rambling and cliché ridden than that of 'Prometheus', with philosophising and thrown in references to the likes of Wagner and Michaelangelo that gives a sense that the film wasn't sure of its identity. The story suffers from dull pacing and from being over-stuffed of too many ideas not done enough with. By the time the big reveal came it leaves one with a so what feel, due to it being so obvious too early on, and there is far too much of a you have seen it all before vibe.

In conclusion, tries hard and there's no doubting that a lot of work went into the visual aesthetics and the acting but 'Alien: Covenant' should have been much more. Certainly not awful but a disappointment. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Alien: Covenant (2017)

** (out of 4)

Sequel to PROMETHEUS and a connection to the ALIEN series, this sci-fi film has a spaceship trying to locate a planet so that the human race can continue. The crew are planning on building a colony but they notice a much closer planet that can hold life. They decide to head there to see what's on it and soon the horror starts.

To put it mildly, ALIEN: COVENANT is a major disappointment. It seems a lot of fans were unhappy with PROMETHEUS because it was more of a thinking man's movie and less of a action/horror/sci-fi film. It seems that this film was in trouble from the start because you have to wonder if there was some sort of debate before hand on what should be done with it. PROMETHEUS was a terrific movie that made you think about a lot of things but sadly this sequel doesn't do that. Instead, it almost seems as the filmmakers were forced to answer a few questions about PROMETHEUS and then they wanted to throw in the action of an ALIEN sequel.

What really shocked me about this movie is the fact that it almost put me to sleep several times. I'm not going to say that the film is a cure for insomnia but at the same time it's deadly slow at times even though there's usually something always going on. As I said, the screenplay doesn't seem to know what the film should do and the majority of the running time is just downright boring. The film starts off with a tragedy yet it's hard to have any emotions for the characters because we're just getting to know them. Another problem is the fact that the characters are all rather bland with the exception of Michael Fassbender's two-part role.

As I said, I thought the characters were rather boring and I'd argue that not many of the performances are all that memorable. Perhaps a longer director's cut will eventually show up but there's really not too much here. Fassbender delivers a fine performance but I can't say I was impressed with the rest of the cast. On a technical level Ridley Scott is a visual genius so all of that stuff looks great. There's some extremely gory scenes of violence, which are very good but the film is just way too uneven to work.

It's like part of the movie wanted to be another thinking man's movie but there's another part that wanted to be a bloody action film. It just doesn't work in the end.

When I went into watching Covenant on opening night, I went in with neither excitement nor hesitation but was just curious. I was one of the people who didn't hate Prometheus because I admired the new mythology Ridley Scott was trying to create. However, I could see that it was poorly executed especially when connecting to Alien. Covenant improves on those ideas with better-written characters but in the end mostly fails as a memorable Alien film.

The parts I liked the most surprisingly were the Prometheus tie-ins. The film constantly delves on the ideas of creation, religion and faith without feeling as forced like in Prometheus. From the opening scene of android David's "birth" to the crew of the Covenant being a colony ship carrying couples, the film carries on these philosophical ideas while tying in very well with the origin of the iconic Xenomorph. While it does not explain everything that was left open in Prometheus, it does feel satisfying that Covenant tries to give some answers rather then just leave with questions.

Once again Michael Fassbender proves to be the standout of this film. But this time he shows off double the effort when he plays two androids, the original David and the Covenant's own personal android Walter. David gets to be a lot more fleshed out and we get a better understanding behind his questionable actions. And as Walter, Fassbender displays a more restrained, machine-like personality but still conveying a sense of loyalty to the crew. And seeing the two Fassbender's interact with one with each other were the most compelling scenes in the film even if one scene was unintentionally hilarious. Danny McBride should also be credited for taking on a role more serious then his usual ones in comedy. Billy Crudup also was good as a religious man whose leadership is conflicted with his Christian beliefs. Katherine Waterston did well in the lead role but is not as unique as compared the Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. And now here is where the film's faults become very present. While the characters are an improvement from Prometheus, the movie's plot forces them to make choices that feel out of character and silly.

Probably my biggest disappointment was the titled creature itself. The Xenomorph does not show up till maybe like 20 minutes towards the end and its presence just feels like a forced afterthought. And I didn't mind the Xenomorph being more cg-heavy when compared to past films but the subtlety of the creature hiding and waiting to pounce from the darkness was gone. With the creature attacking right out in the opening and Ridley Scott showing too much of it on camera, it no longer felt like the intelligent, calculative killing machine I remembered. It became just another dumb generic movie monster. Even the Alien doppelgänger movie that came this year, Life, was a better Alien movie then this actual Alien movie.

The film also has twist ending that leaves a lot of plot holes to examine and is just more annoying and stupid then smart.

In the end Covenant will satisfy those who had problems with Prometheus convoluted mythology with some intriguing sci-fi ideas but if you're looking for a great monster movie then watch the first two Alien films then this one.

The mix of AI, alien and human were good. I didn't expect to see this kind of movie so soon. The AI is the center of the film, encapsulated in the Alien world.

I don't need to see extraterrestrial life to be amazed beyond my comprehension, the humans are enough to me. The creation of AI will add more uncertainty, or chaos, in the future and this movie made me wonder not whether, but when the AI will be the creator.

I was reluctant to see the movie because of the rate in the IMDB, but I'm a strange creature and I like movies that a lot of people don't like.

I did not give 10 stars because of the prediction of some scenes and the clear lack of security protocol that I didn't expect to see from humans of the future.