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| Alien: Covenant (2017) |
Alright, let me just say for the record that on some level I can understand where people are coming from. This is a confusing movie, especially coming off the back of Prometheus. This seems like a movie that tried to please everyone: those who liked Prometheus and also those who didn't. There's still some of that philosophy from the previous film, but there's also no answers to any of the questions that were raised in Prometheus, nor are there any attempts to answer them. It's a very bizarre sequel, and I really have no idea what to make of it. I will say that I don't really agree with this idea. If you're going to do a follow-up, you have to either stick with your original idea 100% or ditch it entirely, since in trying to please everyone you inevitably lose more people than you win over. I understand that in this instance the writer of Prometheus who raised all these unanswered questions just walked without giving the production team any answers, so I suppose it's fair enough that this final product came out the way it did, but still, it makes for a somewhat uneven tone. A few characters are talking philosophy while the rest are trying to survive an alien attack. Not exactly consistent.
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| Billy Crudup as Chris Oram |
Also, yeah, this plot is paper-thin, but I've almost come to expect it at this point. The Alien movies are like James Bond movies or Pokemon games: you can expect pretty much the same thing in each one, just with a different dressing. And, while I would like to see something different, the formula works for a reason, and it still works here. Yes, the whole movie basically amounts to just watching people get killed by the alien, and, well, of course it does. That's kind of been the thing these movies do. The Xenomorph is still frighteningly powerful and there are some legitimately tense moments here. The entire finale with the Xenomorph on the ship was perfectly executed, and it harkened back to the final encounter in Aliens for me. There aren't as many practical effects, which would be an issue if the CGI wasn't beautiful. The titular Alien looks great, excepting one or two moments, and the shots from space are gorgeous to look at. Another big plus is that the movie much less of the whole 'it's the past yet the technology is better because the movie was made later' thing, by which I mean there's none of that, except for one thing I'll get into later.
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| Danny McBride as Tennessee Faris and Katherine Waterson as Daniels |
The cast is pretty good, as well. Not the best cast I've ever seen, but serviceable. Katherine Waterson plays a fantastic lead here, and her character is almost un-ashamedly Ripley-esque. The drawback to this is that, of course, it's obvious that she's no Sigourney Weaver, but she's still great, and the movie does a great job of getting you on her side early. She loses her husband (still have no idea why they got James Franco for such a small role, but fine) and she has a really emotional farewell, but then she's all business. I also really liked Danny McBride, and his performance was really surprising here. But, honestly, Michael Fassbender is still the best thing here, and he's easily the best in the cast. He plays two similar, but very distinct characters here, and their interactions are amazing. Do you remember when old movies or TV shows would do the whole 'the same actor playing two different characters in the same shot' thing and it was super obvious that it was two different shots spliced together? Well, how far we've come. The scene with the two Michael Fassbenders playing the flute blew my mind. I have no idea how they pulled that off so seamlessly, but they did. Fassbender's acting also helps the movie when the plot gets extra shaky towards the end.
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| Michael Fassbender as Walter |
Because, yeah, there are a few issues here. There are a few inconsistencies with the two Michael Fassbenders by the end that didn't break the movie, but made the characters seem a little idiotic for not piecing things together sooner. Unfortunately, this is where that issue from earlier comes into play, and how Walter is somehow more advanced than any other android we see in the series despite the film taking place before the earlier movies. You almost had a clean-slate there, movie, but you done goofed. Finally, I do feel like I need to address a big criticism this movie gets: that it makes the title of the franchise 'Alien' a lie. ... Does it? I don't think it does. At the end of the day, the Xenomorphs are a product of David's experimentation with the black liquid from Prometheus. They're not human. They're not robots. They're still beings from another planet. I looked it up. By any definition, they're still aliens. Genetic experiment or not, they're not human. They're technically human hybrids, but that's still in line with the original films, since we see in Alien 3 that the Xenomorphs change depending on what body they incubate in, with that weird cow-thing birthing the animal-like Xenomorph. As someone who went on record saying they didn't really want to see the origin of the Xenomorphs, nothing here really disappointed me. Nothing ruined the canon of the original films. That said, I am a little confused as to why we're getting the origin of the Xenomorphs as we know them here, despite supposedly seeing the origin at the end of Prometheus. I mean, I get it, you wanted to distance yourself from that movie somewhat, but this still seems a little redundant. Again, it doesn't break the film for me, but there you go.
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| The Xenomorph |
The ironic thing is, despite being a movie that tried to be different from Prometheus, Alien: Covenant (2017) ended up achieving the exact same result. It's another film that you could see anything you want in, whether that be an entertaining time or blinding rage. I myself had a good time, but I can't deny the flaws present here. I guess that means this film gets the same treatment as its predecessor. 5/10.
Tomorrow: Must-See May comes to an end with Mad Max: Fury Road.
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