Alien: Covenant

It’s worse than Prometheus and the least interesting film in the entire saga. While the much-criticized Prometheus somehow matures into a better experience with repeated viewings, Covenant is an overripe and completely squeezed lemon. The mythology built around the most famous space killer is not interesting and the result is like a mediocre movie by a mediocre director, which takes place half of the time at night, in darkness, in dim light (Prometheus was much, much more visually engaging and colourful in this respect) and you won’t find any sign of Scott’s visual bravado. The crown is put on by the WTF mutual welcoming of the android and the newly hatched alien, which is like a cut from a Zucker brothers parody. What was that, dear producers? Please let Alien be a milestone in film history where it belongs and don't milk it like a cash cow, the poor thing is already barely hanging on. (05/23/2017)

Someone finally understood the kind of role that viewers would like to see James Franco play. Unfortunately, it involves the only moment when the film allows itself to be concise. Like Prometheus, Alien: Covenant is torn between an effort to provide first-rate fan service through a return to the horror roots of the first Alien (which is referenced through conspicuous allusions) and the ambition to be epic (with captivating shots like those found in Ford’s westerns) and deep-thinking sci-fi along the lines of Stanley Kubrick (to which it comes closest with its minimalist prologue). Following the formula of a mediocre 1980s (i.e. pre-Scream) slasher flick, with characters making the most basic mistakes (climbing and looking where they shouldn’t, often alone rather than in a group, having sex with each other), it is thus impeded by discussions on chance, fate and creation (Mother and various fathers play a role here), which suffer from the same lack of development as the colonisation storyline. The new Alien is paradoxically a good film until an alien appears in it. It works relatively well until the landing on the alien planet, as it offers a number of possibilities for the direction that the narrative could take and for a long time it isn’t clear which one the filmmakers will take. For example, the conflicts between faith and science, between the captain and Daniels (instead of cross around her neck, she wears a bolt, which comes in handy later) start out promisingly, whereas we see an android playing the flute and reciting Shelley in the second half, which, although fascinating thanks to Fassbender, is a somewhat different theme and a slightly different film. Scott is suddenly much more fascinated by the artificial beings and aliens than by the humans with whom we have spent nearly an hour of the film (however, the pairing-off of the characters doesn’t much help the viewer’s emotional involvement, because for a long time it isn’t clear who is sleeping with whom), and he starts to address all of the complex questions of existence by biting off hands and tearing off heads. This smart-looking film thus becomes a goofy (but entertaining) action-horror B-movie with some rather disgusting gore effects, which I didn't entirely care for, especially thanks to the likeable Katherine Waterston (though an android remains the only well-developed character). Though the new Alien is inventively constructed, looks great and offers one very well-made action scene (with an axe), it comes across as half-baked in most respects, as if there wasn’t time and space to flesh out many of the ideas (I consider the inorganically incorporated flashback, which could have been replaced by dialogue, to be not only an example of tremendous screenwriting laziness, but also a sign that the whole thing could have worked better if the film had paid more heed to the point of view of the reminiscing character). 55% (05/16/2017)

Ridley Scott stands at the threshold between a spiritual continuation of Prometheus and an honest addition to alien encounters. He is slightly more successful in the first case, when I forget to breathe during the dialogue of two androids, my brain is racing in a pensive atmosphere at full speed, and somewhere in the background, a quiet voice whispers to me that many people will hate this chapter precisely because of those calm passages. The bloody meetings with the legendary adversary surprisingly do not have as much space as the trailer campaign promised, which explains the incomprehensible departures of viewers from the cinema long before the true beginning of the uncompromising confrontation. Because I have long admired the entire mythology of the xenomorphs and I happily watched Prometheus twice five years ago, I remain content. However, I am saddened that there was so little missing for the highest rating, specifically a slightly unfortunate necessity of a dramatic arc that Alien: Covenant must close in a separate chapter. I would easily leave the plot and mood scissors open even wider, and I would completely put the editor's scissors aside, because two hours are really not enough for perfect immersion. (05/18/2017)

The creationist line from Prometheus is enhanced with quotes from the original Alien. The crew suffering suicidal tendencies fights against the symptoms of a weird pathogen and then against those ever-popular droolers. Apart from McBride, the crew is eminently forgettable. In, Fassbender dominates in his double role and is certainly one of the most interesting characters of the entire Alien universe. Scott maintains his high standards visually, and the destroyed civilization scenery is incredibly convincing. (05/19/2017)

Ridley Scott is going crazy in his old age and so he’s trying to squeeze as much as possible out of his child – the Alien. Because I don’t really get the new Alien trilogy starting with Prometheus. Sure, the first one was a bit interesting, but the Covenant is not only stupid, it’s outright a copy of the first Alien. Why? And don’t even get me started on the CGI that sometimes looks like it’s made by a below-average Nigerian IT student. The Covenant is downright stupid and has no redeeming qualities in terms of the Alien saga. (05/18/2018)