Alien: Covenant

In the first 20 minutes I was so happy with Covenant. It felt sharp, atmospheric, there are interesting character situations, emotive moments and infinitely better writing than we had in Prometheus. As it progresses, this feeling continues - thankfully, a solid sci-fi film that got it right.

Then Ridley starts to indulge in his convoluted ideas about creation and destruction. Its like switching from 1977 George Lucas to 1999 Lucas. You can almost hear Ridley at a writing meeting saying "this'll be cool, and this, and this, and then this" and the writer saying "uh, is this for the same film or later in the series?" "Yeah just cram it all in, make it happen".

You end up with three different films - a first act like a modern Alien which I loved, a middle act of Prometheus style philosophizing that feels like more Westworld, then a last act of two shoe-horned in action scenes homaging Aliens and Alien 3 respectively. Except there is no satisfaction at all, because the aliens are rushed, a bit silly, often awkwardly CGI looking, and not even convincing as threats because we don't care about any of it.

By the end I just have no idea what to think. I just think it would have worked much better if the ideas were done justice in their own film, rather than ham-fistedly trying to ram them into an Alien film to try and please fans and make box-office.

This was dumb.

The crew of the spaceship, Covenant, is transporting 2,000 colonists to a new solar system, but their journey is interrupted by a solar flash which damages the ship. While making repairs, they pick-up a signal from a previously uncharted planet. Upon locating it and determining it can support human life, the captain (Billy Crudup) makes a spur of the moment decision to chuck aside all the planning that was put into their expedition to make this new planet their colonial destination. He gets some slight push-back about this flippant decision from his second-in-command, "Daniels" (Katherine Waterston who looks eerily like her father), but that seems to be the only complaint.

So, the crew set down on this planet with no real plan, no protective gear, and just start winging it with, of course, disastrous results because this is an "Alien" movie.

The crew, especially the captain, appear to have the intelligence of turnips. They proceed to act like the Scooby-Do gang and/or the begging-to-be-victims characters from the "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" franchises by constantly splitting-up. I groaned every time a character said: "I'll be right back" as he or she walks off alone. And, boy, are they panicky. It's as if they had no training for their jobs whatsoever. Who green-lit this expedition with these fools? (The rampant stupidity of these characters is downright insulting to the audience's intelligence.)

I don't know what's going on with poor Ridley Scott. For him to go forward with this stupid story with all its plot holes that require characters to repeatedly act like irrational fools is sad. The original "Alien" was such a smart movie with believable characters who were intelligent and professional. This is a pale imitation with a recycled plot twist from the original film except grossly embellished. Also, although Ms. Waterston is cute, her Daniels is no "Ellen Ripley."

Most of the other actors didn't resonate at all. Years from now, while they're trying to land new roles and are asked about their previous work they can respond: "Well, I played panicky idiot #3 on 'Alien: Covenant.'"

The mix of AI, alien and human were good. I didn't expect to see this kind of movie so soon. The AI is the center of the film, encapsulated in the Alien world.

I don't need to see extraterrestrial life to be amazed beyond my comprehension, the humans are enough to me. The creation of AI will add more uncertainty, or chaos, in the future and this movie made me wonder not whether, but when the AI will be the creator.

I was reluctant to see the movie because of the rate in the IMDB, but I'm a strange creature and I like movies that a lot of people don't like.

I did not give 10 stars because of the prediction of some scenes and the clear lack of security protocol that I didn't expect to see from humans of the future.

When I went into watching Covenant on opening night, I went in with neither excitement nor hesitation but was just curious. I was one of the people who didn't hate Prometheus because I admired the new mythology Ridley Scott was trying to create. However, I could see that it was poorly executed especially when connecting to Alien. Covenant improves on those ideas with better-written characters but in the end mostly fails as a memorable Alien film.

The parts I liked the most surprisingly were the Prometheus tie-ins. The film constantly delves on the ideas of creation, religion and faith without feeling as forced like in Prometheus. From the opening scene of android David's "birth" to the crew of the Covenant being a colony ship carrying couples, the film carries on these philosophical ideas while tying in very well with the origin of the iconic Xenomorph. While it does not explain everything that was left open in Prometheus, it does feel satisfying that Covenant tries to give some answers rather then just leave with questions.

Once again Michael Fassbender proves to be the standout of this film. But this time he shows off double the effort when he plays two androids, the original David and the Covenant's own personal android Walter. David gets to be a lot more fleshed out and we get a better understanding behind his questionable actions. And as Walter, Fassbender displays a more restrained, machine-like personality but still conveying a sense of loyalty to the crew. And seeing the two Fassbender's interact with one with each other were the most compelling scenes in the film even if one scene was unintentionally hilarious. Danny McBride should also be credited for taking on a role more serious then his usual ones in comedy. Billy Crudup also was good as a religious man whose leadership is conflicted with his Christian beliefs. Katherine Waterston did well in the lead role but is not as unique as compared the Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. And now here is where the film's faults become very present. While the characters are an improvement from Prometheus, the movie's plot forces them to make choices that feel out of character and silly.

Probably my biggest disappointment was the titled creature itself. The Xenomorph does not show up till maybe like 20 minutes towards the end and its presence just feels like a forced afterthought. And I didn't mind the Xenomorph being more cg-heavy when compared to past films but the subtlety of the creature hiding and waiting to pounce from the darkness was gone. With the creature attacking right out in the opening and Ridley Scott showing too much of it on camera, it no longer felt like the intelligent, calculative killing machine I remembered. It became just another dumb generic movie monster. Even the Alien doppelgänger movie that came this year, Life, was a better Alien movie then this actual Alien movie.

The film also has twist ending that leaves a lot of plot holes to examine and is just more annoying and stupid then smart.

In the end Covenant will satisfy those who had problems with Prometheus convoluted mythology with some intriguing sci-fi ideas but if you're looking for a great monster movie then watch the first two Alien films then this one.

"Alien: Covenant" is a sci-fi action film technically perfect, with great special effects and landscapes. Unfortunately the story is terrible with the most unprepared (or stupid) crew ever seen. How could practically all the crew including the captain and the second in command land in an unknown planet without a better analyze of the soil and the atmosphere? They have a skilled android that should go alone and report whether the place is dangerous or not. One of the groups have a sick crew-member and his partner brings him bleeding to the only means of transportation they have to return to the spacecraft. The pilot risks the lives they are transporting and their colonization mission to try to rescue a few survivors. In addition, the performances are soulless and not engaging and the viewer does not care to the characters. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Alien: Covenant"