Alien Covenant Review

Alien Covenant is the latest in the long running space horror franchise where our slimy friends come out to play again, but with a group of colonists. It's the typical tale of incompetent crew members going off course and causing issues for themselves. It comes across as somewhat of a repeat within the series and is alright by the end of it. Some decisions don't make complete sense and it would appear that safety protocols for exploring unknown planets don't exist. The movie serves as a direct sequel to Prometheus and has many interesting connections that came across as somewhat disappointing when they were fully revealed.

The start of the film was somewhat interesting bringing us a larger scale than we've seen before only to immediately dial it down without the epic level of Alien carnage I was expecting. That's not to say that there wasn't some insane carnage, as gore took new heights yet I expected it to include more human numbers. With this smaller group I was at least expecting some higher levels of suspense or horror of which it only delivered in small bursts. It's a shame to some extent or perhaps my expectations for theme were too high. This isn't to say it's a terrible continuation of the Aliens franchise, but just another one.

What really shined here were the performances, it's basically become an android's series with Michael Fassbender taking the lead from here out. This is a shame since the series has been known for its strong female leads and it's laughed at here.

Still, Daniels (Katherine Waterston) was a compelling character as was the less impactful in screen time yet awesome Tennessee (Danny McBride) who delivers a serious role. The rest of the cast could have been interesting, but I wouldn't know since they were so lightly touched upon.

It seems like gore was more of the focus with some great scenes there, but it should have aimed for better scares or suspense. For the most part the CGI was fine, but some of the early Aliens looked a bit off and I felt this movie could have benefitted from a 3D viewing.

The Conclusion

Alien Covenant is an alright continuation of the series and helps bring closure to the confusingly open Prometheus. I didn't really like the direction it went in that regard and that went further with the terribly predictable ending. The story felt somewhat weak with underdeveloped characters, yet still enjoyable to watch.

It just basically existed while expanding the lore of the series and I feel that it's building perhaps to something grander. For now, I'm cautious towards what comes next with this just lightly filling the craving for a tension filled Alien film.

Alien Covenant Review at Theater with Standard Viewing

Rating Overall: 6.2