Alien: Covenant blends together several aspects previously seen in the long-running sci-fi franchise. There’s horror (Alien), action (Aliens), and themes concerning godhood and creation (Prometheus), but Covenant doesn’t excel at any of those elements. Five years ago, I appreciated Prometheus’ ambition and striking visuals enough to overlook its many narrative flaws. It ended with a lot of interesting questions about the Engineers, our creators who later became disillusioned and attempted to destroy us. Unfortunately, while it similarly looks great, Alien: Covenant retains its predecessor’s weaknesses and wastes much of its intrigue, unceremoniously wrapping up open-ended plot points off-screen and in brief flashbacks. It’s just hard to imagine many Prometheus fans being satisfied with the little that John Logan and Dante Harper’s script follows up on.
Some of the blame likely also goes to Ridley Scott, once again directing and said to have substantial creative input. Along with the writers, he’s clearly broadened things, focusing on the creator-creation relationship as a whole and not just Engineers, humans, and xenomorphs specifically. Alien: Covenant may technically be a sequel, but essentially turns Prometheus into a one-off. David, the extremely shady android played wonderfully by Michael Fassbender in both movies, is the only returning character and handed the thematic torch. The opening prologue effectively shows the beginnings of his resentment towards his maker, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), and the human race. As Weyland tells him about the ultimate quest to find out where humans came from, David sees his creator standing right in front of him, a man who orders him around as a servant despite being destined to die long before he will. Back in the present, David has much worse planned, with Jed Kurzel’s score nicely adding to his sinister vibe.
In a dual role, Fassbender also portrays Walter, a more advanced and way less evil version of David who’s joined by human colonists on a voyage to start life on a new planet. If only Alien: Covenant’s other new characters were anywhere near as interesting. They fail to stand out beyond making questionable decisions and/or getting gruesomely killed. Talkative and chill pilot Tennessee (Danny McBride) might be the exception. Captain Oram (Billy Crudup) complains that his strong faith is considered to affect his ability to make “qualified rational decisions.” However, he isn’t really likable, nor does he do a good job of proving those doubts wrong. Oram butts heads early with his second-in-command, Daniels (Katherine Waterston), who isn’t particularly memorable as the heroine and causes any Ripley comparisons to fall flat.
Upon hearing a mysterious transmission coming from a different planet than their objective, the crew makes the first of many bad choices and decides to explore it, tempted by initial readings indicating that it may be a better place to establish a colony. They end up encountering David and familiar horrific monsters (to us), and the situation predictably gets out of control. It doesn’t help that the crew is afflicted with splitting-up syndrome, as doomed individuals for some reason decide it’s a good idea to head off to isolated areas by themselves on several occasions. In an especially baffling moment, one fully trusts someone right after being given plenty reasons not to.
On the plus side, Alien: Covenant is a gorgeous film. We’re treated to many sweeping shots of the planet’s landscape teeming with plant life but ominously lacking any signs of animals. And after everything goes to shit, there’s a grand temple that initially offers the crewmembers relief but later turns out to be a house of horrors. The iconic xenomorphs, along with a more humanoid version, get plenty of screentime, and technological advances let viewers see them in more detail and lighting than ever before. An early scene featuring a slightly different variation of a chestbuster is fairly unsettling. However, Ridley Scott is unable to consistently maintain the intensity, particularly during an overindulgent and unintentionally funny scene involving David teaching Walter how to play a flute. The movie’s third act also features two somewhat lackluster chase sequences. One loses a lot of its tension due to Scott’s decision to keep cutting back to the xenomorph, leaving its whereabouts rarely unknown.
Alien: Covenant does conclude on an intriguing note, making one wish that the road leading up to it were more even. It has its moments, but is a mixed bag overall. Given the unsatisfying way Prometheus’ storylines are disposed of, I’m not exactly confident that a sequel won’t do the same to Covenant’s. For all its flaws, Alien: Covenant can’t be accused of being a phoned-in effort. And that’s why I still have some hope that next time will offer more answers and better non-Fassbender characters.
Dogomon 