Alien: Covenant [DVD]

Five years after Ridley Scott triumphantly returned to the "Alien" franchise that he started with 2012's "Prometheus", the director is back with another chapter in the "Alien" prequel series with 2017's "Alien: Covenant". While technically a continuation of the story that unfolded in the divisive 2012 prequel, "Covenant" manages to strike a more favorable balance between director Scott's desires to push the series in a new direction while paying homage to the series' sci-fi/horror roots that long term fans felt "Prometheus" lacked.Monsters and buckets of blood abound when the crew of the colony ship Covenant is awoken seven years early from hyper-sleep on their way to a far away planet to start a new human settlement. While making repairs to the ship, the crew intercept a strange transmission coming from a nearby planet that appears on the surface to be an uncharted paradise and a much more favorable location for their new colony. When the crew lands on the planet and track the signal to crashed alien ship, they discover a horror unlike anything they ever imagined, as one by one the crew and colonists are killed gruesomely by the alien creatures that inhabit the planet. The aliens however prove to be a much smaller threat to them when they encounter the android David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the Prometheus expedition who has been stuck on the planet ever since he crash landed there with Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace).After watching "Covenant" in theaters, it was painfully obvious at points in the film that Ridley Scott, and 20th Century Fox, has listened to the cries of disappointed fans that had less than positive remarks about 2012's "Prometheus", a film while flawed in several ways, was a mostly satisfying return to the sci-fi roots of Scott's earlier work, as well as a welcome return to form for the "Alien" franchise. While many fans bemoaned that film's philosophical themes and ponderous tone, as well as the story about the origins of mankind, I found the focus on these new themes and the turn away from the monster violence and action of the previous films to be a welcome change of pace for the franchise, as well as the deepening mythology and exploration of several unanswered mysterious from the 1979 classic original, "Alien". For me, "Prometheus" returned the class and rich tone back to the series, and after leaving theaters, I was eagerly awaiting a follow up.Flash forward to 2017, it appears that instead of giving fans a proper follow up to Prometheus, Scott and Fox are trying to please all sides of the fan base by returning the titular Xenomorph to the franchise and providing plenty of murderous mayhem, while also continuing the themes of creation and the origin of life that began in the previous film. True to form for the series, the film opens, after an extended prologue featuring David and his creator/father Peter Weyland (Guy Pierce), with the crew of the space colony ship Covenant begin awoken from hypersleep after a neutrino burst damages the ship and kills several crew and colonists, among them Capt. Branson (James Franco in a "blink in you'll miss it" cameo). After the crew mourns their fallen Captain, they set out to repair the ship and resume course to their destination. However, the crew pick up a strange transmission of a mysterious woman singing "Take Me Home (Country Roads)" by John Denver that is coming from a nearby planet. Scans of the planet show that is it seemingly a much better candidate for colonization. Despite objections from terraforming expect Daniels (Katherine Waterson), newly appointed Captain Oram (Billy Crudup) decides to investigate to see if the planet is indeed a better settlement. Once the crew land, they find that they've made a grave mistake.The first act of the film was for me the freshest and most engaging part of the film, as we are introduced to the cast of the film and explore the Covenant a little bit. While some critics of the film have noted that the characters barely stand out or register as people, I beg to differ. All the actors here manage to deliver, even the one relegated to secondary roles. Waterson, Crudup, and Amy Seimetz, who plays Farris, are all standouts for me. Even Danny McBride, who plays Farris' husband Tennessee, manages to subvert expectations and deliver one of the more nuanced and emotional performances. Daniels, who comes across as a Ripley substitute for some of the more vocal critics of the film, manages to carve out a niche for herself as the more levelheaded and intelligent members of the crew. Make no mistake though, when pushed to the brink, Daniels rises to the challenge and embodies that fierce spirit and fighting energy that Sigourney Weaver managed to pull off so effortlessly as Ripley.I also loved the colony crew/couples angle the film went with in this area.The film, taking cues from the 1986 classic "Aliens", follows the colony crew as they prepare to set up a human settlement on a far way planet. It was refreshing and made for a more emotionally resonate film, as the deaths of each characters are mourned by their loved ones and friends. Take Daniels for example, who was married to Captain Branson before his death. We get to see her mourn his death and cherish some of their memories and mementos before having to resume her duty to the crew and colonists.After the crew lands on the planet and traces the signal to the crash Juggernaut from "Prometheus", the tables drastically and horrifically turn on the inexperienced crew, who soon find themselves infected by alien spores that birth new alien creatures not seen before in the saga, to so called Neomorphs. In a particularly gruesome scene, a crew member is infected by an alien spore, and after being rushed back to the landing ship, has a Neomorph burst violently from his back, in an homage to the classic chestburster scene in the original film. Farris attempts to kill the newborn alien but in the chaos inadvertently blows up the drop ship, thus stranding the crew on the planet. Another crew member births a Neomorph through his throat. After several crew members are killed by the alien creatures, they are scared away by a mysterious cloaked figure. The remaining crew follow the figure to a walled off city littered with thousands of petrified corpses of Engineers. The figure reveals himself as David, survivor of the Prometheus expedition. He reveals that he and Dr. Shaw landed there after fleeing LV-223 and searching for the Engineer homeworld. When they arrived, the Juggernaut unleashed the deadly black pathogen upon the populace and in the resulting chaos, the ship crashed, killing Dr. Shaw. While David seems welcoming at first, Daniels and Walter, David's android counterpart for the Covenant, distrust him from the beginning.This second act of the film is where "Covenant" embraces its "Prometheus" connections and follows up more on the events of that film, filling us in on what became of David and Shaw after their flight from LV-233. The interactions between Walter and David are by far the highlights of the film, as David displays a rabid fascination with Walter, while Walter himself is more reserved and intrigued by the fate of Dr. Shaw. We see David sorrowfully tell Walter how he misses and loved Shaw and wished she were still with him. This is a fantastic portrayal of artificial intelligence, and raises many questions about the nature of creation and robotics. It nicely connects with the prologue from the beginning of the film, and furthers the development of David's character arc that started in "Prometheus". The film makes many references to "Paradise Lost" and Fassbender himself quotes "Ozymandias", an attempt no doubt by Scott to retain the philosophical tone of "Prometheus". It mostly works in this film, though it stands in sharp contrast with the final act and the sci-fi/horror tone the rest of the film has.However, it is also here that the film commits it's cardinal sin in my opinion, in regards to its treatment of Dr. Shaw. Her arc in "Prometheus" was that film's emotional core and backbone, and we later find out she was killed in the interim between "Prometheus" and "Covenant". Along with "Alien 3", this continues the franchises sad history of discarding its best characters for the sake of introducing new ones. It is a stab in the back to both Noomi Rapace, who is sorely missed here, and the fans of "Prometheus" that waited five years to see what became of her and David. While Rapace did reprise her role in the promotional short film "The Crossing", none of that footage is featured in the film. Shaw's dog-tags, found by the Covenant crew in the crashed Juggernaut have more screen time than Rapace does. Had said footage been included in the film, it would have certainly softened the blow, while providing a suitable send off for the character. The later reveal of what actually happened to her hammers the point home, but more on that in a moment.The Neomorph is shown to follow the Covenant crew into the Engineer city, and resume its murderous killing spree. After coming across the creature interacting with David, Oram kills the Neomorph, to which David violently and emotionally reacts to. After luring Oram into a room filled with the classic facehugger eggs, David watches in delight as Oram is attacked by said creature and is horrifically killed when a chestburster is born from him. It is at this point that Daniels and Walter, both unnerved by David's actions and presence, both independently come across evidence of David's experiments with Engineer technology and the black pathogen, revealing that David is the creator of the classic Xenomorph. Walter himself also come across Shaw's mutilated and dissected body, to which David reveals he killed her in order to use her body to create the "perfect specimen", in another homage to "Alien".This was a major bone of contention with many long term fans of the franchise. While many argue that the reveal of the Xenomorph's origins robs the said creatures of their mysterious nature and ability to terrify, I'd argue that those had long since been taken away from the franchise after years of exposure and their continued popularity within mainstream media. The long line of subpar installments in the franchise before "Prometheus" also contributed to this. For me, not only was this a natural extension of David's arc from "Prometheus", it provides further extension of the new mythology of the prequel series, something "Covenant" mostly skips by on. One can only keep something dark and mysterious forever before it becomes stale and boring. By providing us with answers, we can now explore new sides of the Xenomorphs and the series as a whole. It also fits in quite well with the themes of life and creation the series has thus far been centered around. The only gripe I have with this is once again the treatment of Dr. Shaw, whose body is used by David to aid him in the creation of the aliens. This was not the way to end her character arc and it will now forever be a missed opportunity and an example of "what could have been". It does provide a layer of dark irony however, as Dr. Shaw noted she was unable to "create life" due to her being infertile, and now David has corrupted her body to give birth to a race of creatures that would kill hundreds if not thousands of people later in the saga.David and Walter square off, with David seemingly gaining the upper hand and dispatches Walter. He then sets his sights on Daniels, who has uncovered David's drawings of Shaw and finds out the horrible truth of what happened to her. Promising to do to her what he did to Shaw, David attempts to murder Daniels but is rescued by Walter, who is revealed to have upgraded healing capabilities to David's surprise. Walter fends off David long enough for Daniels to escape with the only other surviving crew member, Sergeant Lope (Demián Bichir), who was attacked by another facehugger but was saved by another crew member only to be killed by the now fully grown adult Xenomorph. Back on the Covenant, Tennessee manages to deploy the second terraforming drop-ship to rescue Lope and Daniels, but is intercepted by the Xenomorph, who climbs aboard the ship. Walter also emerges, seemingly survived his encounter with David and is rescued by the crew. As the drop ship is taking off, the crew notice the alien has followed them, and Daniels tethers herself to the ship and attempts to kill the alien.This sequence is probably the best action set piece of the entire film, and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Waterson shows off some commendable acting chops as she single handily takes on the alien. Ripley would be very proud. The only complaints I have with this scene is that some of the CGI used to recreate the alien is rather spotty and sticks out like a sore thumb. I was told that during most of the production, practical effects and stuntmen were used on set. It is disappointing to see, like so many other would be blockbusters, that the hard work put in by the special effects team has been painted over by CGI. Although it does allow us to see the alien from a new perspective not seen in the previous films, the effects do not hold up nearly as well as they did in the older films. Bad CGI looks like bad CGI and completely takes me out of the film.Daniels manages to lure the alien into some of the terraforming equipment and incinerates it. Overjoyed and seemingly out of danger, the crew returns to the Covenant to mourn their fallen crew members and resume course to their original destination. However, it seems despite only being briefly attached to the facehugger, Lope has given birth to another Xenomorph which quickly grows to full size and kills the last two remaining crew members besides Tennessee and Daniels in a violent and bloody shower sequence. While some derided this scene as being too similar to slasher film, the horror film lover inside me loved and squealed in delight. Daniels and Tennessee, with Walter's help, begin tracking the Xenomorph aboard the Covenant in what is mostly a condensed remake of the original Alien.This is the part of the film where Scott and Fox most obviously tried to appease fans of the series that were disappointed by the lack of monster violence in "Prometheus". While I do appreciate the homages throughout the rest of the film to the original "Alien", here is comes across much more cliche and unoriginal. It was as if Scott, unsure of how to end the film, just decided to remake his original film in the attempt that it would win over fans that otherwise would prefer a classic "Alien" film. Fox is also to blame here as well, as they no doubt pressured Scott to include more familiar elements of the franchise in the film to ensure its success. The CGI used on the Xenomorph is probably the worst in some of these sequences, adding even more insult to injury. However, it eventually pays off in the climax as the Xenomorph is lured to the loading dock, and in what is probably the scariest sequence of the film, the alien obsessively pursues Daniels with such single minded determination that we are finally able to fear the xenomorph again. Seriously, the sequence where the alien tears through the terraforming equipment, trying to get to Daniels gave me chills. Still, after the more "Prometheus" like second act and that wonderful first act, you can't help but feel slightly let down by Scott, as a director of his caliber should have fought harder to retain his original vision.Anyway, after luring the Xenomorph to the loading dock, Tennessee manages to open the airlock and send the alien, who has been impaled by some terraforming machinery plummeting out of the ship and down to the planet below. Finally able to rest for the first time in the film, Daniels and Tennessee prepare themselves to reenter hypersleep for the voyage to their new home. As Walter helps Daniels get into her hypersleep chamber, it is here where the film reveals its final twist; Walter is actually David, who killed Walter and took his place. Daniels realizes this too late, as she is already inside her sleep chamber, and can only scream in horror as David puts her back into stasis. For a film that goes above and beyond in its attempts the scare the audience, this was probably the single most chilling scene in the entire film. Now that the entire ship and crew along with the colonists still in hypersleep are completely at David's mercy, Daniels is powerless as this corrupted creation of mankind seals her fate and the rest of the ships as well. David will no doubt make good on his threat to do to Daniels what he did to Shaw. David then returns to the chamber containing the sleeping colonists, and regurgitates two facehugger embryos that he was storing inside his body, and places them into a cryo-storage unit containing other human embryos. David then makes one final transmission as Walter to the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, stating that the entire crew minus Daniels and Tennessee died in the neutrino blast, and the ship remains on course for its original destination, thus ending the film on a dark and bleak note.The film both succeeds and fails because of Ridley Scott. His trademark photography and grand, visual style remain intact, as well as his broad sweeping themes that were so integral to "Prometheus". The picture is probably the most visually appealing and beautifully shot of the entire series, and carries with it a tone of pure menace and foreboding like no film before it. The film's score, composed by series newcomer Jed Kurzel is breathtakingly beautiful and a highlight of the entire franchise, probably my favorite since Elliot Goldenthal's score for "Alien 3". The reprisal of the main theme from "Alien" as well as "Prometheus" helped establish a connective tissue between all three films, and the new themes written for the film stand out as well among the rest of the score. The bleak, woodwind based score and sound helped greatly contribute to the film's tone and foreboding themes. The "Alien Covenant Theme" and "Dead Civilization" stand out as highlights of the score. However, the mishmash of tones and Scott's forced hand at including some of the more iconic touchstones of the franchise as a whole hurt the film and prevent it from standing on its own in the franchise. This is entirely Scott's fault, as he had to contend with not only the studio but the scores of fans as well. The film doesn't always work when combining the tones and themes from "Prometheus" and the rest of the series, but when it works, it truly shines. It's not a perfect film by any means of the word, but I for one loved it and will gladly be in theaters for the follow up, assuming Fox allows Scott to wrap up this exciting and multidimensional prequel series.

Does the Alien series have a fluid story- from start to finish? I always wonder, especially after Prometheus and this movie... were the movies made after the Alien series began (like the two previously mentioned), made to fit a story already out there- or did those who created the Alien series- have this general idea- the back-story of how Aliens came about- set up from the very start (which was what, 1979- a long time ago)I will say that I have no fluid idea of the Alien movies- from start to finish. I have watched all the movies at one time or another- and before I go to the great beyond- if I ever get to the sub-set of my bucket list where figuring out the Alien series is listed, I will fulfill this need for knowledge. But Alien Covenant, I believe, fits in somewhere in the storyline and I have so many more movies to watch again- to figure out where....Of all the Alien movies- this one- definitely rocks- and is thought-provoking (as you can tell from my review). In it, there is a robot, created by man. You meet a later creation (Walter) of the same robot that was the first (David) when they are both all alone on a planet (except for the little space crew left) and you see, because he was the first- he has SO MANY flaws. But the flaws are there because, it seems, of what humans forbade him to do. The one thing this robot (David) seems to want most- is to create. Because humans denied him the ability, David says to Walter (when they meet)- "to create even a simple tune" (or something like that). David's drive in life seems to be fueled by the anger over this- and it makes him want to "create" all the more.For some reason the ship David was on (ten years before this new crew stumbles onto the planet) carried a virus he released- maybe he manipulated what they had while in the air- after- but it seems when it ate all the people on the planet- well, that was never clear to me- just that all the people were gone on the planet because of what David did (and some aliens on the planet attacked this new crew that had the back luck to land on it).After that, since he is all alone, he seems to manipulate this virus further- to create the aliens- or a version like the ones we know (the eggs where the jumping aliens come from). When you see the body of a woman on the ship he claims he once loved (I think her name was Elizabeth, who he now has a stone with her name on)- her body looks lacquered, and cut and pried open- and that maybe something came out of it, was taken out of it. But David has done a lot of studying in the ten years he has been on the planet- and has parasites ready for human (or any) DNA- so that they can alter their form into an alien. You easily learn that this virus- when mixed with a living form- creates a new product- an alien. This virus brings birth- a new from- and kills what it comes out of- destruction in creation- and David finds it beautifulThe irony of the story is David has this love of creation for these things- these aliens- as animalistic and violent as they are- and he destroys humans (and all other living things) to create them. It seems that David only has a love for the things that he can create- and no care for what he will destroy to make these creations. David destroyed an entire world- not even knowing the people on it- and there he sat for ten years, waiting- hoping- to destroy more. He may have even lured the ship that came to him....Ten years later, the ship with Walter and his crewmates shows up- and- in the end- we see how the creation of aliens gets off the initial planet it destroyed (as we so often see at the end of Alien movies as a ship leaves, with an alien hiding on it)....Fuuny there is a twist to this Alien cliffhanger ending...It's a great movie, although one you have to watch several times to get the entire story (as you can tell from my review) but to put the whole Alien saga together to get a fluid picture of how and why this happened- you're going to have to pay a lot of attention- to many movies-This, I would say, is where Aliens begin- with David who was essentially created by man- and created aliens to punish his creator for denying him his right to do what they canBut remember, these are my thoughts and opinions only. Please take them for what they are and when you enjoy this movie on your own- develop your own- which may be the same or different- regardless, enjoy the movie- I know I did!Thank you- Happy Viewing!