Alien: Covenant (2017)
Last Watch Date - March 25, 2023
Total Times Watched - Once
Comments
Coming in fresh off of Prometheus, Alien Covenant explores the world of Alien after the disappearance ofthe Prometheus ship a mere 10 years later. This time, the Covenant is on the move with a cargohold full of settlers in deep sleep waiting to colonize a new world that's been scouted. But after something disrupts the crew to being awake, they find an interesting radio frequency that calls them to an unmarked, yet somehow perfect-for-colonizing, planet. You know how this ends!
We start again with the cast! You may find yourself questioning your sanity when you see both James Franco and Danny McBride quite early in the film. Is this a comedy?! It's not. And James Franco dies immediately. Don't worry, that's not a spoiler. He literally dies as soon as the movie starts and has no lines (aside from a video someone plays of him after). McBride plays it straight and does it well - I quite liked his character and felt like he was in the thick of it. Fassbender returns as a new character and his old one, which if you've seen Prometheus you will understand. Rounding out the cast is Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterson, and Jussie "The Mighty Ducks" Smollett (who you may remember from his fake hate crime nonsense). The acting is pretty good, though over-the-top at times from Waterson.
The script once again is not great, delivering some cornball lines and making them have some odd decisions. The story makes more sense than Prometheus because it's more straight-forward. It's not attempting to ask any "big questions." It's very straightforward action-horror. Not a ton of action, quite a bit of exposition, and a dash of horror. It'd be more scary if they used some practical effects.
Where Prometheus has little-to-no action, Covenant is probably 75-80% action, 20-25% other. It's a bit surprising that this crew, who seems to be pretty strictly scientists of some form again, immediately thinks of blasting. Some of it made sense, but some of it didn't. I kept waiting for someone to start shooting at a face-hugger while it was on a face. Seemed in-character for this bunch.
This prequel series sets up a very interesting villain that I won't go into, but it's NOT Xenomorphs. You get to see how they were created from a very high level and you get context on why. But while you do get that info, it comes so late in the movie that the danger of a proper Xenomorph only happens in the last 20-30 minutes. I wanted a bit more.
Recommended?
Did you watch and enjoy Prometheus? Then watch this! If you haven't seen Prometheus, I would recommend watching that first so this makes more sense. I think you could probably watch it without seeing Prometheus, but there are going to be some question marks that do not get explained in any way.
