To many, the idea of giving a backstory to a universe as cryptic and mysterious as Alien seems almost sacrilegious. Those who go into Alien: Covenant with that mindset are likely to come out of the theater with steam coming out of their ears; however, if you're like me and you're a bit more open to a movie that delves into the history of one of the iconic movie monsters, there's a decent chance you'll like it (I certainly did). After all, isn't science fiction genre built on the question "What if?"
To get the most obvious thing out of the way, this film is absolutely arresting from a visual perspective. Director Ridley Scott is, if nothing else. a masterfully immaculate technical specialist. Even as he's approaching the seasoned age of eighty, Sir Ridley still has one of the best eyes in the business and he delivers plenty of memorable frames here. Plus, Jed Kurzel's score is quite good. He manages to create a sound that's unique to this film while cleverly weaving in excerpts of Jerry Goldsmith's original compositions for the 1979 classic. John Logan and Dante Harper's screenplay brings to mind many fascinating concepts (even if, much like Prometheus, they aren't as flushed out as they could've been).
For the most part, the performances on display here are pretty solid. Katherine Waterson equips herself quite admirably as the movie's Ellen Ripley analogue, Daniels. Danny McBride proves himself to be a pretty good dramatic actor (so, anyone who's concerned over his involvement with the Halloween franchise can relax). Billy Crudup is convincing as the titular ship's new captain who even doubts his own convictions and limited skills as a leader. Everyone else is pretty much there just to meet grisly ends. That is to say everyone else except Michael Fassbender, who pulls double duty by playing both the new android Walter and David, who's still doing pretty okay after Prometheus ended. As to be expected of a skilled thespian such as Fassbender, his work as both characters is fantastic. The discussions between the two often make for some of the film's best scenes. If there's one thing that I can say is near perfect about the movie, its that David's character is expanded in some truly mesmerizing directions. Without giving away too much, what we find out about him in this film brought to mind echoes of benchmark characters of genre fiction (namely Dr. Frankenstein and the monster he created, Roy Batty from Blade Runner, and a heavy dose of HAL 9000). Speaking of which, the origin of the actual Xenomorphs is certainly treading familiar ground but it clicks together with the universe it inhabits nonetheless.
While I do understand and (to a certain extent) sympathize with those who view the idea of an Alien prequel as sucking the mystery from a beautifully abstract work of horror, I thought the explanation given here was pretty good (the idea that the horrors of the unknown aren't too disconnected from the safe and familiar is a pretty scary idea in and of itself). Overall, I thought that this served as a pretty good film in its own right and probably the best movie in the Alien franchise to come out in decades.
ALIEN: COVENANT gets a...
BADA$$ out of TEN
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