“Why are you on a colonization mission, Walter? Because they are a dying species grasping for resurrection. They don’t deserve to start again, and I’m not going to let them.”
“When one note is off, it eventually destroys the whole symphony, David.”
In Alien: Covenant, the crew of the Covenant vessel are searching for a good place to settle down, mate, and re-populate the human race. When they stumble upon what they call Planet 4, they find the planet inhabited by various different Proto-Morphs and David (Michael Fassbender), the android from Prometheus. David offers them assistance and refuge, but are his intentions truly altruistic, or are they maybe something a bit more sinister?
Alien: Covenant is a more technically competent film than Prometheus. The screenplay is better too, and the ideas presented are more fully explored. Tennessee (Danny McBride), Daniels (Katherine Waterston), Walter (Michael Fassbender), and David (Michael Fassbender) are the stand-out characters. Unfortunately, there is very little plot or forward momentum as most of the film exists to explore the David character. The decisions made regarding him, while very interesting, ultimately fuck the entire canon of the Alien franchise. Another detriment is that most of the Aliens appear to be completely CGI creations.
Covenant is not a film Scott wanted to make, but fans revolted, demanding the sequel to Prometheus be closer to what came before. This is the result, and you can feel Scott’s resentment, anger, and disappointment throughout.
Covenant is not a bad film, but it is at war with itself. It feels like there were at least one or two films that should have come before this. I can’t say that Covenant is entertaining, but it is interesting and has a few ideas worth exploring. Unfortunately, the best thing about it (David’s story) is also its fatal flaw.
3 STARS
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