Review of Alien: Covenant (2017) by Scott G — 25 May 2017

Alien Covenant 4/5 stars.

Fresh from seeing this, i'm going to have to let it soak in awhile.

When I think "what makes a Ridley Scott film?" I think of gorgeous cinematography, visceral worlds, ambiguous endings, and hard questions about the nature of the human spirit, the choices we make, the meandering processes of evil and survival. And occasionally, no answers in sight. Covenant has all of that in spades.

Michael Fassbender just owns the screen for like two hours. A really engrossing performance. The supporting cast is solid but I can't really say beyond Katherine Waterston that anyone stood out to hook me in. This was all the Fassbender and Ridley show.

I would describe this film as a slow burn horror/suspense/sci-fi thinking man's story. There is an ocean of subtext here. With elements of just about all the Alien movies (including Prometheus, Resurrection, and even Requiem) , Covenant is kind of a comfortable, if creepy and disturbing return to Scott's universe. One where bad decisions turn into world bending nightmares and the heroes are always in over their heads.

And who *are* the villains of this story? Aliens? Robots? God? Science? Us..? it's us. I think.

Anyway, much of this is inexplicably weird. But it all has a purpose and something dark underneath like a shiny quarter you find in the street but it's stuck to the road with something black and sticky like tar, but you can't shake the feeling that the tar is alive and full of malice, so you leave it where you found it. Why isn't Ridley Scott the guy who they get to direct when a studio decides to make another movie from a Stephen King story?

Don't bring the children to see this. This will also make considerably less sense if you haven't seen Prometheus. Good stuff though. May release seems weird, feels more like an October thing. ah well.

Edit- As an aside, this film, like Gieger's original artwork is full of erotic undertones. Erotic in the most horrifying sense of the word. fascinating.