Alien: Covenant
[An Assessment]
If this self-referential, yet modernly stylized opening, a self-aware take-off on the 79' classic, is any indication of the horror to come, the audience knows it's in for something special. The Covenant itself, a colonist ship harboring thousands of people and embryos, while speeding through the interstellar void at an ungodly speed, is a marvel of modern science-fiction production design: sleek and rugged, reminiscent of its predecessors yet something new altogether, and best of all, its multiple detachable components make for story possibilities in all the best ways.
The Covenant, along with all the brave souls in stasis on board, is headed for Origae-6: a far-flung planet on the edge of our galaxy which, according to long-range scans, is habitable. Its ETA? 7 years, 4 months at the open of the film.
During just such a recharge, Walter's caring routine is interrupted in tragic fashion, as a nearby stellar neutrino wave slams into the Covenant, severely damaging its structural integrity, ripping a solar sail halfway off of its strut, and even killing a few people in the process. Such a catastrophe necessarily wakes essential crew - and boy, waking up has never been as hard for anyone as it is for these poor souls.
While none of the cast's performances in Covenant are Oscar material, per se, nearly every key figure delivers. Resolve, compassion, helpfulness, curiosity, and of course, above all, fear are brought to magnificent life by all involved - in all the right amounts and at all the right times.
Act III gives moviegoers what we all came to the theater to see: 'splosions! The action and action choreography here are, quite simply, on point, and whatever deceleration of interest or story that the second act inflicted on us is quickly and beautifully washed away in a split second, with the long-awaited modern-day debut of the classic xenomorph in all of its terrifyingly cinematic glory! And, lest we forget to mention, Covenant throws us just the bone we've been sniffing for, and the entire reason we all came to the theater to begin with: to see the wretched, evil, black beast jettisoned into the merciless void of black space for the umpteenth time!
Waterston's Daniels truly shines in this finale and, although some could question how she suddenly becomes so badass so quickly, simply let go of these smaller considerations in Covenant and just enjoy the ride!
Taking into account my undeniably intense bias in favor of the Alien saga, I am endeavoring to provide the most objective and impartial review of Alien: Covenant possible. But it's hard out here! To begin, director Ridley Scott - the cinematic provocateur responsible for the iconic original Alien and for its mixed-reception prequel, Prometheus - heads up the project, and with Scott, it's typically a mixed bag when it comes to story and characterization, despite consistently overall quality production, art direction, and effects work.
Through the collective pop cultural lens of glittering nostalgia, the audience, after being dazzled by a concise, clever, and philosophical musing in the movie's introduction via an intimate exchange between Peter Weyland and his android creation, David, is treated right off the bat to the holiest of holies: an ultra-wide shot reveals the black and hazy green cosmos as the Covenant zips through the galaxy, as the classic Alien theme gently floats out of the speakers and through the cinema, gradually revealing, letter by letter, the film's title - just as in the original.
If this self-referential, yet modernly stylized opening, a self-aware take-off on the 79' classic, is any indication of the horror to come, the audience knows it's in for something special. The Covenant itself, a colonist ship harboring thousands of people and embryos, while speeding through the interstellar void at an ungodly speed, is a marvel of modern science-fiction production design: sleek and rugged, reminiscent of its predecessors yet something new altogether, and best of all, its multiple detachable components make for story possibilities in all the best ways. 
The Covenant, along with all the brave souls in stasis on board, is headed for Origae-6: a far-flung planet on the edge of our galaxy which, according to long-range scans, is habitable. Its ETA? 7 years, 4 months at the open of the film.
Overseeing this gargantuan monstrosity while its passengers are in the franchise's uniquely quintessential sci-fi trope, hyper sleep, and presumably perfecting himself in the process, android Walter (Michael Fassbender) remains awake and alone for the entirety of the journey, as he lovingly tends to each stasis pod as though it were his own baby.
In just a few moments, we see Walter, an Americanized, more advanced, and perhaps more naive android than his brother David, demonstrating his ingrained sense of duty and reliability, monitoring ship systems, tending to any mid-stasis colonist needs, and regularly extending the ship's solar sails - evidently the ideal recharging method for a ship so far in deep space that it won't be coming across any gas stations any time soon.
During just such a recharge, Walter's caring routine is interrupted in tragic fashion, as a nearby stellar neutrino wave slams into the Covenant, severely damaging its structural integrity, ripping a solar sail halfway off of its strut, and even killing a few people in the process. Such a catastrophe necessarily wakes essential crew - and boy, waking up has never been as hard for anyone as it is for these poor souls.
Our heroine of the story and, if you want to get technical, our "final girl," Daniels Branson (Katherine Waterston), loses her husband in the incident, as he burns alive in his cryo-tube without anyone able to get him out. Waterston offers a surprisingly touching turn in mourning him, considering we've never met either character before this - and, for that matter, an overall performance worthy of serious praise for this movie. She knows she's no Ripley, and she doesn't try to be, but there are significant notes of badassness that seem Ripley-like in her execution, not to mention an endearing sense of optimism that makes her all the more human.
After losing loved ones in the catastrophe, the crew bands together, making the needed repairs to the ship and manually reattaching the outside solar sail. During this latter task, Tennessee (Danny McBride), who easily delivers serious work just as effectively as comedic, encounters a rogue transmission while floating around outside the Covenant.
He records it and, after the crew analyzes the message and determines its source - a habitable planet in a star system only two weeks away - new captain Oram (aging-like-a-fine-wine Billy Crudup) decides that, after hearing that none of his crew wants to get back into hyper sleep after their horrific awakening, their initial objective of reaching Origae-6 is postponed indefinitely, as they set out to investigate the source of this signal and to colonize a planet that, somehow, they had missed altogether in previous long-range scans. This decision proceeds against the voiced protest of Daniels, in an unmistakably Ripley I-told-you-so kind of moment.
Nevertheless, the Covenant alters course and, within days, arrives at this mysterious new world. Descending in a detachable lander through turbulent ion storms and punishing rainy winds, the crew, save those who remained aboard the Covenant, finally touches down and begins eager exploration, assessment, and analysis of what will be, presumably, their new home.
Despite common-sense warnings from Daniels, not to mention from the audience with whom you'll be viewing this film, most of the crew members seem - in the classic "don't go in there!" horror spirit - almost a little too reckless, eager, thoughtless, and maybe not even qualified for their jobs, especially given the sheer enormity, complexity, and profundity of their mission. Sure, we always need a few dense characters to make a horror or a thriller work, but Weyland-Yutani's stock must very well have plummeted after centuries of hiring boobs of this brand of incompetence.
The cinematography, both interstellar and at planet's lush, green, woodland surface, is typically mouthwatering. Scott's always had a distinctive way of pleasing the eye, and this new alien world, actually photographed in remote, mountainous, sprawling New Zealand, is among the most visually stunning scenery put to celluloid - science fiction or otherwise.
To explain much of what follows the crew's perilous descent into this planet's dark and dangerous corners would be to reveal key plot elements. But it's safe to say that, shortly after arrival, they pay some shockingly hefty prices for deciding to investigate that transmission, after all.
While none of the cast's performances in Covenant are Oscar material, per se, nearly every key figure delivers. Resolve, compassion, helpfulness, curiosity, and of course, above all, fear are brought to magnificent life by all involved - in all the right amounts and at all the right times.
Act I, largely detailed in the first several paragraphs of this review, is essentially perfect, as far as the set-up to a modern science fiction film carrying the responsibility of such a highly unique and popular franchise is concerned. With the exception of a few awkward and clunky lines, such as, "They don't trust me to be in charge because I'm a person of faith, so I can't be expected to make rational decisions," or something like that (from Crudup's Oram), the dialogue is consistently tight, purposeful, character-building, and expressive throughout the film.
Act II is where Covenant somehow, in the process of unfolding the bulk of its core story, simultaneously sags. The seemingly out-of-nowhere appearance of David in his Terminator-esque, come-with-me-if-you-want-to-live moment, coupled with dark revelations regarding the eventual fate of other Prometheus crew, approaches near-nihilist peaks of darkness, amorality, and meaninglessness that even ALIEN fans will begin to question the viability of the story going forward.
Though exquisitely portrayed by the ever-reliable Fassbender, David's character arc proves mysteriously droll and uninvolved - as though it's hard to put a finger on what's missing - despite its issues of philosophical importance: time, duty, memory, freedom, meaning, connection, knowledge, mortality, purpose, and others.
Waterston's Daniels truly shines in this finale and, although some could question how she suddenly becomes so badass so quickly, simply let go of these smaller considerations in Covenant and just enjoy the ride!
Ultimately, however, within the context of the xenomorph's origin and related concepts integral to the series, Alien: Covenant ends up posing far more questions than it answers - a similar complaint many Prometheus viewers expressed in 2012 - and at this point in such an illustrious saga, it might be time to at least begin wrapping up loose ends. It seems to me - and to many fans I've spoken with recently, that the writers of the series, you could say, have begun to paint themselves into a corner so that, come 2019, Alien: Awakening may have far fewer useful plot devices or "outs" at its story's disposal than it could have had available otherwise, thereby limiting avenues to a cohesive, thematic, and superlatively satisfying completion of the science fiction saga of our time - something we can all agree that a series such as ALIEN has incontrovertibly earned.
The final word on Alien Covenant is that it's damn fun. Unparalleled science fiction production design, thoughtful art direction, classic, heart-pounding terror, profoundly unsettling "body horror" elements, an ideal nostalgic blend of the original Alien and Prometheus cleverly fused in Covenant's opening titles, and most vitally, that skillful balance of hot flesh with cold steel, which few directors, such as Scott himself, are capable of pulling off with such energized finesse.
Though Covenant occasionally suffers from poor dialogue, out-of-character behavior, and some misplaced - or altogether unrelated - philosophical minutiae, its weaknesses are simply not enough to outweigh all the spectacular sci-fi action horror goodness here, which is plentiful, indeed.
The final word on Alien Covenant is that it's damn fun. Unparalleled science fiction production design, thoughtful art direction, classic, heart-pounding terror, profoundly unsettling "body horror" elements, an ideal nostalgic blend of the original Alien and Prometheus cleverly fused in Covenant's opening titles, and most vitally, that skillful balance of hot flesh with cold steel, which few directors, such as Scott himself, are capable of pulling off with such energized finesse. 
Though Covenant occasionally suffers from poor dialogue, out-of-character behavior, and some misplaced - or altogether unrelated - philosophical minutiae, its weaknesses are simply not enough to outweigh all the spectacular sci-fi action horror goodness here, which is plentiful, indeed.
FINAL SCORE: 79 / 100
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