Rating of
3/4
Alien: Covenant - Review
Matthew Brady - wrote on 05/19/17
"I'll do the fingering"
I liked "Alien: Covenant" a lot. Didn't have much expectations going in and was pleased of what I saw. It improves a lot of the issues people had with "PROMETHEUS" and brings the original horror back to the series. While I can't say "Covenant" is a great movie or anything (or just another alien re-hash). However, at least this movie gives it's prequel a purpose and opens doors for future films. It's a movie for both fans of Alien and Prometheus.
For me, I really liked Prometheus and was interested in the ideas it brought up. I mean, I do agree the character's were idiots, but I wouldn't call the rest of movie complete sh*t because of that. The criticism were so heavy that it made Ridley Scott change his mind of the original plans for the sequels. By giving us the alien, the space crew, and lots of blood.
How lovely
Ridley Scott once again knocks it out of the park. The intensity, beautiful landscapes, and the almost poetic feel to it. Leaving you sinking in your seat with the amount of terror and gory details on screen. Pretty much a trademark for Scott. It's a slasher film in space, but steps away from being anything generic.
I ain't the first to say this, but at this point I don't care, because Michael Fassbender is such an amazing actor. One of the most versatile actors working today and he kills it in every scene. Playing double roles as David / Walter - who are the most fascinating characters with some compelling scenes together. Quite honestly, he's scarier than the Xenomorphs themselves and the movie is aware of this. The aliens are pretty much afterthoughts. That's how good he is.
However, Covenant has it's flaws. The mash up of Alien and Prometheus could have been a lot sharper, as it kept switching tones and should have been one thing. Especially in the third act which suffers from that tone problem and was too overblown. Without spoiling anything, but there's a twist at the end which was absurdly obvious and easy to predict.
Speaking of predictable, every time a character is going to die (or bite the dust if you like), the film makes it very obvious who's going out. It would have been great if there were some surprises. Like a major character who we thought is the lead, gets killed before the horror starts. It's nothing new, but it's something.
Overall rating: Despite my issues, I was surprise of how much I liked this. I already know this is going to be ripped to pieces by people in a few months time, but like always, I don't care.
Not much is answered in Alien: Covenant - although the unknown is more terrifying.
