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.
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Jack Paglen, and Michael Green
Looking back at my “Prometheus” review, it seems I felt there was too much creation talk, and too little alien action. So it’s safe to assume in “Alien: Covenant” a little less talk, and more action would be nice. And how does the movie open…with more odd conversation about creation. Alright, patience is needed, but the aliens are on the way!
The crew of the Covenant faces some challenges right off the bat, as they lose their captain when a shock wave hits the ship while they are in a sleep state. They must gather themselves under the new captain, Oram (Billy Crudup), and repair the ship. After repairs are made, they receive a strange signal from a nearby planet that might have human origins. Oram is faced with the tough decision to investigate a new planet, or continue to make their way to their original destination. Of course they head to the new planet to investigate, and just when it looks like a great place to settle in, it all goes wrong.
One of the most memorable moments in the Alien franchise is the first time an alien comes bursting right out of a crew member. That same event is one of the best things about this movie, as the audience gets to see this happen in fierce and bloody fashion on more than one occasion. The aliens come primed and ready to go on the attack right away. The crew gets stranded on the planet facing down an alien attack before they are rescued by the only remaining crew member of the Prometheus, David (Michael Fassbender).
This is when the movie takes some time to really get back into creation. David is completely obsessed by it, and tries to convince his robot twin Walter (Michael Fassbender), who serves a similar role on the Covenant, about what he’s learned. David is definitely an odd robot, and being alone on the planet gets him in an experimental mood. There’s a flashback of when David got to the planet, and what happens to the beings that lived there. Now that would have made for a more exciting opening scene than the conversation, but it’s easy to see why they decided to reintroduce David to the audience in the beginning.
Soon enough the biggest and baddest aliens start hunting the remaining crew members. This leads to some exciting action as the crew fights its way back to the ship with the aliens continuing to come at them. As exciting as it is, there’s also some predictable things going on as well. There’s one thing in particular that they want the audience guessing at, but the audience has to know what’s going on. After the excitement dies down, the movie ends reminding the audience once again that it’s all about creation.
“Alien: Covenant” definitely has moments that will remind the audience of the original. It takes the audience back to the aliens ripping their way out of the humans, which is just bloody awesome. There’s also a nice face hugging scene or two, which is always fun. Daniels (Katherine Waterston) is no Ripley, but she holds her own, including going face to face with the alien. And then there are the robots David and Walter, reminding the audience of how Ash seems good at first, but also had plenty of bad intentions in it. Because of its similarities to the original, and having more aliens in it then “Prometheus,” I give this movie 3.5 pools of blood.
HorrO
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