The crew of the colony ship Covenant are on their way to a distant planet in the hope of starting a new life. Midway through their journey, the crew get a rude awakening thanks to an energy wave blasting their ship from a nearby planet. Strangely, the planet shows vegetation and suitable environments for supporting human life and potentially their new colony. They decide to investigate and find a planet full of vegetation, but the entire place seems deserted with the only point of contact to head towards being a mysterious beacon. The eerily quiet landscape is soon disturbed by an alarming discovery by one half of the crew while the other deals with a crew member who is suddenly looking very sick altogether. Not just stomach bug man flu sick. I mean full on bless-us-and-save-us-and-say-ten-rosarys sick. You’ll never guess what’s about to happen to him.
Before I go any further it should be point out that despite having Alien in the name, this is a direct sequel to Prometheus. Do not have any illusions of this being a new sequel to the normal Alien series of films. It’s this particular issue that seems to have divided most of the people I’ve spoken to after they’ve seen Alien: Covenant. Half of them seem happy with it because they enjoyed Prometheus and wanted more of the story. The other half are disappointed because they just wanted more of the original Alien and horror. The one thing everyone seems to have agreed on is that Michael Fassbender is fantastic and more often than not he practically carries the film with his performance. When generic soldier character is going on a rant or another character is going through bad dialogue – of which there is a fair bit – Fassbender just has to say some words and he has your attention. The rest of the cast try their best but outside of Danny McBride, no one is given enough screen time for you to become attached to them before they get their heads ripped off or stomachs exploded.
In the end Alien Covenant – while enjoyable – is just an unnecessary film. It delivers on the action and the horror, but it’s not the Alien film we all wanted it to be. Overcomplicated dialogue about religion and the big questions of the universe don’t work well alongside the desire to see one of the most famous movie monsters of all time tear its way through a mostly unlikeable film crew. It had enough going for it that I enjoyed myself, but I can’t be bothered with another sequel at this point. Worth a look one the big screen but not essential.
Hey Atkins! 