Alien: Covenant
Year: 2017
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender & Katherine Waterston
Runtime: 122 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 07/11/22
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender & Katherine Waterston
Runtime: 122 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 07/11/22
‘When one note is off, it eventually destroys the whole symphony…’
With the release of Prometheus in 2012, Ridley Scott ushered in a new era of Alien films. Films that did not concern themselves with the franchises’ iconic xenomorphs, but instead films that pondered the very meaning of human existence, and the cycle of creationism. Prometheus was a Marmite film by many metrics, but most obviously was that you either loved it because of its deep philosophical musings, or you hated it because it wasn’t a typical Alien film. But Scott was to persevere, promising that there would be three sequels to Prometheus, which as of writing only one has materialised, this one. Alien: Covenant released in 2017 and the franchise has remained mostly quiet since then, but did it continue in Prometheus’ footsteps with lofty philosophical quandaries, or did it decide to pander more to audience expectations for an Alien prequel…a bit of both is the answer.
A decade after the Prometheus expedition, the colonisation ship Covenant is on its way to start new life for humanity on the planet Origae-6. With thousands of colonists and human embryos stored on board, the crew are awakened by a solar flare that causes damage to the ship. Whilst performing repairs, a signal is discovered from a nearby uncharted world, the voice is determined to be that of Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), lead archaeologist aboard the Prometheus.
With a planet capable of sustaining human life within their reach, the crew of the Covenant go planetside to scout out the area, but what they find there is more terrifying than anything they could possibly imagine.
A decade after the Prometheus expedition, the colonisation ship Covenant is on its way to start new life for humanity on the planet Origae-6. With thousands of colonists and human embryos stored on board, the crew are awakened by a solar flare that causes damage to the ship. Whilst performing repairs, a signal is discovered from a nearby uncharted world, the voice is determined to be that of Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), lead archaeologist aboard the Prometheus.
With a planet capable of sustaining human life within their reach, the crew of the Covenant go planetside to scout out the area, but what they find there is more terrifying than anything they could possibly imagine.
For the majority of audiences, Alien: Covenant will be a welcome return to form for the franchise that hasn’t been experienced since Aliens in 1986. Feeling closer in tone to 1979’s Alien and placing a greater emphasis on survival horror than any of the original film’s sequels, Covenant for the most part feels like a true prequel to Alien. However, it also is trying to balance being a sequel to Prometheus, whilst also taking on some of the more action-centric elements from the Alien sequels. The result is a film that often struggles to decide what it wants to be but doesn’t outright fail at anything it attempts to do.
It's good, which is the main thing, but its indecisive and that might spell a problem for the future of the franchise.
But as for Covenant, the story works well. The idea of a colony ship being the target of xenomorphs is perfect and raises the stakes significantly from the comparatively low stakes Prometheus and Alien. Even in comparison to Aliens, the fact that this colony is trapped on a ship and everyone other than the crew are in stasis, it makes for a much more claustrophobic and high-tension experience.
But it still retains that sense of wonder and discovery that Prometheus conveyed so well with the crew venturing onto the surface of this uncharted planet. There’s also a lot of philosophical pondering, and the plot of Prometheus does very much continue thanks to the return of Shaw and David (Michael Fassbender).
It's good, which is the main thing, but its indecisive and that might spell a problem for the future of the franchise.
But as for Covenant, the story works well. The idea of a colony ship being the target of xenomorphs is perfect and raises the stakes significantly from the comparatively low stakes Prometheus and Alien. Even in comparison to Aliens, the fact that this colony is trapped on a ship and everyone other than the crew are in stasis, it makes for a much more claustrophobic and high-tension experience.
But it still retains that sense of wonder and discovery that Prometheus conveyed so well with the crew venturing onto the surface of this uncharted planet. There’s also a lot of philosophical pondering, and the plot of Prometheus does very much continue thanks to the return of Shaw and David (Michael Fassbender).
David isn’t the only character Fassbender plays however, he steals the show in Covenant with a double performance as the Covenant’s android Walter. Walter is technologically superior to David, but David’s mind is capable of thinking less like a machine. The scenes they share where they ponder creationism, as well as the Prometheus’ discoveries are some of the best scenes in the entire film, and Fassbender does an amazing job of acting opposite himself. David is also one of the best villains I think I’ve ever seen in film, and his plan follows Prometheus’ plot of creationism and meeting your makers full circle to place him in the seat of creator rather than creation. It goes a long way in explaining how the xenomorph-like creature from the end of Prometheus managed to evolve into an actual xenomorph, and it’s so bleak, and so fantastic to see Fassbender go that dark with the performance.
Fassbender’s performances are so good however that he completely eclipses the rest of the cast. Catherine Waterston plays lead character Daniels, and Billy Crudup is the Covenant’s captain Oram. In fact, Covenant tries to rectify Prometheus’ problem of the crew being kind of forgettable by giving us a lot of time to get to know them, but ultimately Fassbender is just so great that you forget about the rest of them anyway. I would go so far as saying this is Fassbender’s best ever performance, a bold claim but one I’m absolutely sticking to.
It didn’t help matters when the crew got on my nerves as much as they did though; it feels as though they all went to a seminar on what not to do during a horror film and did it anyway. They make almost every possible bad decision they can and come the end of the film you don’t feel particularly sorry for the ones that die as they basically all had it coming because they were so stupid.
The ending is fantastically bleak, without giving too much away, it felt very reminiscent of 28 Weeks Later…whilst not all the characters die, everyone is totally fucked and it really makes your heart sink (in a good way) when you make that realisation.
Prometheus was a gorgeous film, Ridley Scott and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski really made every frame of that film as beautiful as they could. Covenant very much follows in the same footsteps as the two are reunited. Amazing, grand environment shots combined with intense claustrophobic action are usually a recipe for disaster, but Covenant really pulls it off. What it doesn’t do so well though is the CGI. All of the xenomorphs in this film are entirely digital, and they look rubbish. We’re talking Alien Resurrection levels of bad here where the animation is a bit janky, the lighting isn’t right, and they’re just on screen far too much! It’s arguably the film’s greatest fault too, the CGI holds up really well in a lot of other areas, but it’s just the xenomorphs, I guess the budget wouldn’t stretch far enough?
Alien: Covenant is a good middle ground for the franchise. It does a lot right, but its shortcomings really do hold it back from achieving the same heights that the original film and Prometheus did for me. The indecisiveness of whether it wants to be a sequel to Prometheus or a prequel to Alien, the annoying characters, and the shoddy CGI really hold back the otherwise great plot and simply superb performance from Fassbender.
If you like Alien or Prometheus then Covenant will definitely please you, but much like my opening quote implies, one off note toppled everything.
Fassbender’s performances are so good however that he completely eclipses the rest of the cast. Catherine Waterston plays lead character Daniels, and Billy Crudup is the Covenant’s captain Oram. In fact, Covenant tries to rectify Prometheus’ problem of the crew being kind of forgettable by giving us a lot of time to get to know them, but ultimately Fassbender is just so great that you forget about the rest of them anyway. I would go so far as saying this is Fassbender’s best ever performance, a bold claim but one I’m absolutely sticking to.
It didn’t help matters when the crew got on my nerves as much as they did though; it feels as though they all went to a seminar on what not to do during a horror film and did it anyway. They make almost every possible bad decision they can and come the end of the film you don’t feel particularly sorry for the ones that die as they basically all had it coming because they were so stupid.
The ending is fantastically bleak, without giving too much away, it felt very reminiscent of 28 Weeks Later…whilst not all the characters die, everyone is totally fucked and it really makes your heart sink (in a good way) when you make that realisation.
Prometheus was a gorgeous film, Ridley Scott and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski really made every frame of that film as beautiful as they could. Covenant very much follows in the same footsteps as the two are reunited. Amazing, grand environment shots combined with intense claustrophobic action are usually a recipe for disaster, but Covenant really pulls it off. What it doesn’t do so well though is the CGI. All of the xenomorphs in this film are entirely digital, and they look rubbish. We’re talking Alien Resurrection levels of bad here where the animation is a bit janky, the lighting isn’t right, and they’re just on screen far too much! It’s arguably the film’s greatest fault too, the CGI holds up really well in a lot of other areas, but it’s just the xenomorphs, I guess the budget wouldn’t stretch far enough?
Alien: Covenant is a good middle ground for the franchise. It does a lot right, but its shortcomings really do hold it back from achieving the same heights that the original film and Prometheus did for me. The indecisiveness of whether it wants to be a sequel to Prometheus or a prequel to Alien, the annoying characters, and the shoddy CGI really hold back the otherwise great plot and simply superb performance from Fassbender.
If you like Alien or Prometheus then Covenant will definitely please you, but much like my opening quote implies, one off note toppled everything.