Alien: Covenant is a 2017 horror/sci-fi film directed by Ridley Scott and is a sequel to the 2012 film Prometheus, and is the second installment in the Alien prequel series. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Demián Bichir, and follows the crew of a ship who land on an uncharted planet and make a terrifying discovery.
So this is my first Alien film, so be easy on me if I speak about any lore associated with the franchise. So my initial reactions to seeing this movie was just, “Wow”. Although I have read and watched many film reviews of Prometheus, this seemed to have taken what was great about the original series and mixed it with what was great about the prequel film. Not only did this film freak me the hell out, it also provided some great narrative into what actually took place prior to Alien and answered some major questions that people had regarding the infamous Prometheus film as well. There were moments of true horror as I clutched my armrest and curled up into a ball, and that is exactly what this franchise is all about.
So what made this movie so enjoyable? Well in a film full of expendable characters you might come to the conclusion that we wouldn’t see an abundance of character progression past the few main characters that the plot sets up. Well, unlike Kong: Skull Island, this film does it right. Although most of the crew becomes xeno-kabobs (not much of a spoiler as you should expect that going into this film), the writing in this film does a really good job putting weight on a lot of the character’s deaths and even ties in necessary exposition with it. We see great performances by all of the cast, but there was nothing more satisfying than seeing Fassbender at his finest. Honestly, this man is a true gem in this film, and does a great job pushing both of his character’s arcs forward. It kind of tells you something when the most favored character in this film is neither human nor alien. Danny McBride also stood out to me, as he usually isn’t as serious as he was in this role, and even Waterston’s character provided a great female lead that we’re so graced to have in every installment of the series so far. A stellar cast with great acting, and great writing behind each character makes this yet another one of Ridley Scott’s best films.
As for the story behind this film, it’s not too shabby either. Like I mentioned above, the writing was pretty solid when it came to the plot and character development, and seemed pretty original while still coming from the series that is basically the same story told over and over again. The biggest gripe I had about this film was probably with the pacing and finale, but even that wasn’t all that bad. The issue I had with the pacing was mainly due to the fact that the film felt a little chopping when jumping between action and narrative. Like once shit hits the fan it hits it hard, and then as soon as it’s done, it’s done for awhile.These moments just felt a little too sudden for me, but that might also have to do with its genre, which I’ll speak more on later. The other slight issue I had was with the ending fight scenes and plot twists. The fight scenes never felt like the characters were in real danger, and they also didn’t really last that long which killed any suspense that the film had going for it. Also the plot twist at the end was extremely predictable, and didn’t really help setup the sequel to this film as the final chapter in the prequel trilogy.
But how is this film as a horror film? Coming from someone who has a hard time with any film that includes blood, this film is terrifying. Yes this film deserves its hard R, and even goes as far enough to flaunt it in the MPAA’s stupid face. Any scene with the xenomorph or other morphic creatures is terrifying, and the worst of the worst has to go to the neomorph. My god that was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen on the big screen. The use of practical effects when it came to the blood and gore in this film made everything ten times worse for myself, but ten time better for horror fanatics. My only issue with the horror aspect of this film was that the sudden switch from narrative to horror felt extremely abrupt. I mentioned this above as it’s more of a writing issue, but it can also be related to the genre as a lot of horror films play out like this as well. So in a sentence.. Yes, this movie is terrifying.
One of the final topics I wanted to touch on before wrapping this up was the film’s cinematography and sound design. Holy crap this film was gorgeous. I was never once taken out of the film by any of the CGI, as a lot of the film (if not most of the film) was done with practical effects. Seriously, I was gushing about this film’s visuals the entire time. Ridley isn’t just a man of great visuals, he’s also a man of great sound design. Every element in this film sounded great, and the cries on the morphic creatures were just terrifying.. specifically the neomorph. I’m not kidding, that thing is beyond terrifying.
So to wrap things up, Alien: Covenant is a film full of a great cast, great characters, beautiful landscapes, and haunting sounds, but what this film really strives to be is a great horror film, and I can assure you that it does just that. Although the film was a great addition to the Alien franchise, its choppy jumps between action and narrative alongside its sorta predictive climax leaves this film on the cusp of greatness. In the end I decided to give Alien: Covenant a “Good” on theVade Review Bar. It’s the prequel Alien fans have been asking for and the sequel Prometheus fans have been dying to see. But to me..? It was just a damn good horror film.
