ALIEN: COVENANT (2017) - REVIEW

Alien: Covenant (2017)

R-13 | 2h 2min |Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller|10 May 2017 (Philippines) 

The crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination, and must attempt a harrowing escape.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

Dan O'Bannon (based on characters created by), Ronald Shusett (based on characters created by)

Stars:

Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup 

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook | Official Instagram | 

Country:

USA | Australia | New Zealand | UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 2017 (Philippines) 

Also Known As:

Prometej 2

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Brandywine Productions, Scott Free Productions

Storyline

The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

Review

Packed in 122 minutes, R-13 rated brings Ridley Scott a new part of the direct sequel of Prometheus to the cinemas and so here is my review of Alien: Covenant, a ship with 2000 crew members and embryos who are on the way to a new planet to settle there because the human kinds on earth are about to die. Direct at the beginning of the movie we have an incident, and so the movie makes one thing clear pretty fast: we are not here sitting in the cinema to have fun or laugh a lot, we are here to talk about a SCI-FI drama at its best with a lot of action, some creepy moments and also scenes which you have not seen before in all the other parts of the Alien series. The movie is dark but not too dark, it is good, but not super good. It is a movie fully made for the main stream and Ridley Scott proves once again in solid way what kind of good and special Director he is but later on more about it.

Let's start with the CAST and Michael Fassbender. He is a strong man in the movie, maybe the strongest, but you have to find out for yourself because I do not want spoil. He plays David / Walter, now you may wonder why he has two different names in the movie, but also here again you have to watch it. I cannot tell you more about the character and others as well because you will get to know to the story already and I just want to avoid that. He is the main character, he definitely is able to do the main actions, and he is great to see. Others characters are Katherine Waterston as Daniels or Billy Crudup as Oram, no further details from now. Read the storyline and you might understand that those characters are not just crew members, and maybe they have a deeper connection with each other. 

The CAMERA is dark, we have slow-motions and also face cam situations or POV, when it comes up to discovering the new planet. The camera shows the action and blood and the disgusting things which we will have in the movie, because it is simply an Alien movie. Scientific things and autopsies and post-mortem cuts are shown directly.

Because of the camera we have a special SETTING. It is the spaceship and the inner life setting where there the crew members live and interact with each other. On the other side we have the new planet which looks like the earth and which will be more familiar to us than we expect. Here Ridley Scott sets on a cool and the best twisting point in the movie in my eyes.

But again the movie does not invent something new, we know already a lot of things from the Prometheus part or previous Alien movies and so for example the MUSIC is just solid. Nothing special here, we all know the soundtracks already and here the movie is again a solid continue.

Ridley Scott is a legend as a Director, he made Blade Runner, The Marsian, or The Gladiator, he creates a good not outstanding sequel of Prometheus and so if someone asks me what I like about Alien: Covenant than it is the fact, that it is nice main stream cinema. The cast is nice and the connection of the crew members makes sense. The movie asks about evolution and scientific backgrounds like cloning and other things. Scott draws very good performances from the main cast. Waterston’s Daniels is more engaging and sympathetic than Noomi Rapace’s Shaw. Thrust into grief early on, Daniels’ behaviour – her caution – is always tinged with puppy-eyed loss. She’s understandably anxious, and later on understandably angry. She’s no Ripley, but she’s also no damsel. Danny McBride, as Tennessee, is a revelation mostly because he’s not the comic relief we expected, and he is legitimately heroic. Then there’s Michael Fassbender, who does much of the story’s thematic heavy-lifting.

What I did not like so much was the fact that at the end the twisting point was not a surprise, the storytelling leads to an end which we can expect, and so the biggest surprise is missed out here. And again the movie does not invent something new.
I watched the original version in English, uncut and so I don't know if there are others versions showing in the cinemas.

7/10 for the genre

6.5/10 overall

and so it is solid for its genre, thanks for reading and have fund watching the new Alien movie, in cinema since Thursday.

The preview of the new movies in cinemas will come tomorrow, because the schedule was not yet announced today, this Sunday.