Alien: Covenant Review

"We don't leave Earth to be safe!"


Alien: Covenant is the latest entry into the already packed Alien franchise; the film itself acts as a sequal to Prometheus (2012) but also continues to act as a prequel to the rest of the Alien franchise. Alien Covenant was directed by Ridley Scott and stars the likes of Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Carman Ejogo. Alien: Covenant follows the crew of a colony ship "Covenant" who intercept a distress call from a mysterious world, what happens when they arrive...well you can only start to imagine the events that start to take place.

Whilst Alien: Covenant in my opinion is a step up from the likes of Prometheus, unfortunately the sequel to Prometheus and the prequel to the rest of the Alien franchise, fails to live up to the high standards of the original films and turns out to be just an average Alien film. That is not to say that there is nothing good about the film (there certainly is!) but it did not deliver the kind of film that I was looking forward to. One of the standout performances from the film came from Michael Fassbender who portrays both David from Prometheus and Walter (a new and updated model) in Alien: Covenant. Fassbender steals ever scene that he is in and his diversity as an actor really shines through in this film and stands out against a really bland and forgettable supporting cast. What I really liked about the film was the mythology surrounding the film, especially in the mythology of how the Xenomorph came to be, these scenes were truly standout moments of the film, and I personally wish there were more of them. There were also some great use of visual effects and the imagery of the Covenant stationed about the mysterious world was a spectacle to look it and a true visual treat for audience members. With an Alien film two things are guaranteed, the first one being intense, scary moments and the second one being gruesome deaths. Whilst Alien: Covenant is disappointing in terms of the intensity of the film (we will go onto that in a moment!) but it does deliver some truly gruesome and disturbing deaths that will stand out in the Alien franchise.

Whilst the film has some good set pieces and the set up of some interesting concepts, the film in my opinion fails to capture the fear factor and intensity of the original Alien films, the original films has some truly intense and often scary sequences, but whilst Alien: Covenant delivers on the gore factor (it really does!) it fails to make anything truly intense or memorably scary, sure there are some jump scares here and there but these have been played out in other Alien films and does not seem scary anymore. The characters are also really weak, not to say that the actors did a bad job but there was no character development, and whilst watching the film I didn't care about the characters, so when the time came for some of them to meet there gruesome ends, I really wasn't too interested. This might be down to the fact that there is a large ensemble cast, and we really don't get a chance to spend time with each individual character, before we are thrown to another character, resulting in a ensemble cast that the audience don't connect to, if the cast was reduced then there would of been more time spent developing the characters, so when the characters are faced with the Xenomorph we truly feel scared and concerned for their well being, but unfortunately this doesn't happen in the film. There are other issues in terms of the overall pace of the film, mainly during the first act of the film, which took a long time to get started (but trust me it does pick up) and general repetitive story elements that seemed to be getting used time and time again in this franchise.

Overall I was disappointed with this film, sure there are some great examples of mythology being used and some gruesome deaths, but I missed the intensity and scare factor that the original films had. If you are an Alien fan then I am sure you will enjoy the film but don't go expecting a return to the classic franchise (more like a slightly better Prometheus). But credit is due to Michael Fassbender, whose performance saved the film for me personally.

Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars