Alien: Covenant, directed by Ridley Scott, tries to mix the horror vibes of the original Alien series with the deeper thoughts from Prometheus. The story kicks off with the colony ship Covenant, which has over 2000 colonists in cryosleep, on its way to a new planet. When an ion storm hits, the crew wakes up early to handle repairs, leading to some bad luck and the discovery of a faint signal from a mysterious planet. Naturally, they decide to check it out, which leads them into a tangled mess linked to the aftermath of Prometheus and hints at new directions for the Alien saga.
Watching the movie, it felt like Ridley Scott was trying to make up for what fans didn’t like about Prometheus. While Prometheus had cool visuals but confusing characters and storylines, Alien: Covenant tries to go back to the series’ scary roots. Sadly, it feels more like a collection of familiar bits from past movies without adding much new or exciting.
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One big issue for me was the characters. Even though the movie spends a lot of time trying to make us care about them, they still felt pretty flat. When the scary moments hit, I wasn’t as scared because I didn’t feel connected to anyone. It was like watching the same old horror movie where you know most characters are just there to get killed off. The mix of deep thoughts about creation and religion with the scary stuff from the Alien series ended up feeling kind of messy and didn’t really add anything new.
On the plus side, the movie looks great. Ridley Scott knows how to create stunning visuals and the production design is top-notch. But the heavy use of CGI for the aliens kind of took away from the scary parts, making some scenes look more goofy than terrifying. I miss the old-school practical effects, especially in the chest-burster scenes.
Michael Fassbender is fantastic, as always, playing two roles as David and Walter. He brings a lot of depth to both characters and it was interesting to watch him switch between the two. But the film’s heavy focus on David’s philosophical ramblings and his connection to the creation of the xenomorphs felt a bit too forced and took away from the main story. The dialogues about creation and perfection often came off as too serious and a bit over-the-top.
TSHC Score: 7/10
Alien: Covenant had some cool ideas but didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It tries to mix the horror and action from the original series with the big questions from Prometheus but ends up feeling a bit all over the place. There are some visually stunning moments and Michael Fassbender’s performance is a highlight, but the weak characters and scattered plot make it a bit of a letdown.
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