Alien Covenant review

Director: Ridley Scott
Running time: 2 hours and 3 minutes
Certificate: 15

Alien Covenant is a follow up to the 2012's Prometheus, and the first in what is a planned prequel trilogy leading up to the first Alien movie.

Covenant is a colonisation vessel carrying two thousand colonists and fourteen hundred embryos, with the intention of landing on a planet called Origae-6. Its journey is abruptly disturbed by space shock-wave that damages the ship and kills the captain. While repairing the damage the crew receive a radio transmission from a nearby planet, so they change direction and investigate. On arrival they discover that the transmission has come from Elizabeth Shaw, a crew member of the doomed Prometheus expedition ten years earlier.

Everything goes wrong when some of the crew are infected with an airborne virus, in their struggle they are eventually given refuge by David, the devious android from Prometheus. Who has some nasty surprises waiting for them.

I came out of Covenant in the same way that I came out of Prometheus, at times it was thrilling and it is without doubt a beautiful movie to look at, the visuals and topography ooze off of the screen. There's a great contrast of lighting that switches the darkness and the light between the foreground and the background. But overall it's a frustrating experience that left me disappointed.

The characters are all likeable, even if only a few of them are actually interesting. Katherine Waterston is fine as Daniels, the lead in the movie, who's the terraforming expert on the expedition. It's good to see a strong female character who isn't just powerful but has a vulnerability to her. But it's Michael Fassbender who steals the show as the androids David and Walter, the two of them representing the dangers and the potential of synthetic creation. I also have to give a shout out to Danny McBride, who plays Tennessee, the chief pilot of the Covenant vessel.

There was nothing in the movie that I found scary, however there are a few body horror moments that might turn your stomach. The various creature designs are nothing special, all just various takes on the Xenomorph design. And yes the Xenomorph does appear in a minimalist role, without giving anything away I was left disappointed. The Xenomorph has long been over exposed and diluted from its mystery ever since the first movie, but it's still an intimidating design that could be used to great effect within the right setting. But here it's just a throwaway in the last ten minutes, when the movie suddenly becomes a greatest hits collection from the Alien series.

Which makes you wonder whether this whole thing is worth it? Did we ever need to know the backstory to the Xenomorphs? I don't think that we ever did. Prequels rarely justify their own existence, and I'm not so sure that Covenant justifies the Alien name tag. Despite their varying qualities, each of the Alien entries have a uniqueness, even Resurrection has its good moments, let alone being fantastically shot.

Covenant doesn't really standout in any department, it ignores many of the questions asked in Prometheus, and there will be many people like myself, who feel it slightly cheapens the mythos of the Alien series.

With that said it's still an entertaining movie on its own merits, I was always engaged, so it is by no means a bad movie it's just slightly above average. The first third of the movie is wonderfully intriguing and builds up perfectly, it dares to ask the audience questions that few modern day sci-fi movies even bother with, even if it approaches those questions scantly. But by the time the last third comes round, when the film begins to show its hands, it falls by the wayside.

But despite its flaws I still look forward to where the story goes next.

Verdict: 3/5
c+