Review: Alien Covenant
What does one expect going into Alien: Covenant, the latest in the Alien franchise? If one expects a return to the glory days of the first two Alien films, then one may be sorely disappointed. Director Ridley Scott may have come back to weave more tales out of the franchise he birthed but, as evidenced by 2012's Prometheus, this current strain of Alien films is but a guise for what Scott is interested in, and that is less a scare-you-out-of-your-seat horror thriller than a philosophical rumination on the origin of the species, whether it be man or monster or a hybrid of both. Which is not to say that the R-rated Covenant is lacking in blood and gore - faces are hugged, chests and backs are burst, throats are used as birth canals - but the violence is deployed more as a palate cleanser between discussions on gods, creationism, free will, and the survival and betterment of the species.
Set ten years after the events in Prometheus, the film introduces the Covenant, a colony ship carrying about 2,000 hyper-sleeping colonists and 1,000 embryos. Their charted course to a remote planet, Origae-6, is disrupted when the vessel is hit with space debris, forcing synthetic Walter (Michael Fassbender) to awaken the all-couples crew earlier than scheduled. Secondary systems are damaged but, more significantly, the Covenant's captain (James Franco in a barely there cameo) dies when his pod malfunctions. Oram (Billy Crudup) assumes command, though his insecurities about being a man of faith have to be assuaged by biologist wife Karine (Carmen Ejogo).
When the crew receive a mysterious human signal from a human planet showing signs of an inhabitable biosphere, Oram decides to redirect the mission much to the strenuous objections of the former captain's widow Danny (Katherine Waterston). What they find appears inviting enough but it isn't too long before two of the more disposable characters are infected and become reluctant incubators for the new breed of aliens, which are spikier and develop at an alarmingly faster rate than previously seen. The surviving exploration crew also encounter David (Fassbender), the sole survivor of the Prometheus mission, who has been marooned on this literal graveyard of a planet, and whose very presence intrigues Walter, who has been designed as a less complicated version of him.
The meeting of these two synthetics - one capable of empathy and sympathy, the other of a curiosity that curdles into contempt - is the essential core of Covenant. The film snaps into focus, not only because their exchanges encapsulate the film's themes so well, but also because Fassbender, as to be expected, delivers a masterful dual portrayal. The seamlessly CGI'd flute-playing scene between the two may border on camp, but the homoerotic charge adds an unexpected layer to a scene that is all about two different approaches to playing God.
It's evident that Scott is enamoured with David and why not? Aside from Sigourney Weaver's iconic Ripley, Fassbender's David is the most compelling character in the Alien franchise. Yet this also poses a problem in that one is more inclined to root for the monster than the designated hero or heroes. This is not a knock on either Noomi Rapace, who played the doomed Dr. Shaw in Prometheus, or Waterston, who proves her mettle in Covenant's multiple final acts. Both actresses do their best to live up to Weaver's incomparable grit, but neither the characters nor the actresses are a match for David and Fassbender. Even setting David aside, none of the casts possess the spark and personality that the actors had in Alien and Aliens. One felt for those characters because actors like Veronica Cartwright and Yaphet Kotto from the former and Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein made them more than one-dimensionally written alien fodder. Of the Covenant crew, only Danny McBride as chief pilot Tennessee manages to distinguish himself from a mostly forgettable group.
Serving as a transition gap between Prometheus and the first Alien movie, Covenant is not as egregiously expository as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It does have its merits - excellent production and sound design, to name but two - and, depending on your investment in Scott's intention on expanding the Alien narrative, is satisfying enough that it may whet one's appetite for another installment. But only if Michael Fassbender returns as David for David is the alien to be truly feared.
Alien: Covenant
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: John Logan, Dante Harper
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Amy Seimetz, Guy Pearce, James Franco
