Alien: Covenant (2017)

Directed by: Ridley Scott | 122 minutes | horror, science fiction, thriller | Actors: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Amy Seimetz, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, Uli Latukefu, Tess Haubrich, Lorelei King, Goran D. Kleut, Andrew Crawford

“In space, no one can hear you scream”. That was the tagline for the 1979 classic ‘Alien’. Director Ridley Scott brought the audience an intense horror experience that terrified many people. Many years have now passed. Follow-up films were taken under the care of other directors and Scott’s career took a big plunge. It wasn’t until 2012 that Scott returned to the world of ‘Alien’ and gave the masses an insight into the basics of the monster that was introduced in 1979. The reactions were mixed, the horror was exchanged for a quasi-philosophical science fiction film and that was a disappointment to many fans. However, it turned out that this was only the first chapter of Ridley Scott’s return. The director now comes with ‘Alien: Covenant’, the film that proves that the 1979 tagline can still be extremely effective.

To start with a disclaimer, this part is not entirely a horror film either. It’s as much a sequel to ‘Prometheus’ as it is a prequel to the original ‘Alien’. For this project, Scott had to satisfy fans of the original and the popular sequel ‘Aliens’ (1986) as well as to promote a logical continuation of ‘Prometheus’. Scott juggles these different styles like a consummate circus performer, giving audiences the best film in the series since that critically acclaimed 1970s adventure.

The best man doesn’t do this alone, of course, the cast is really fantastic, with Katherine Waterston (the heroic XO Daniels), Billy Crudup (the forced Captain Oram) and Danny McBride (the experienced Tennessee pilot) particularly outstanding. There is also Michael Fassbender, who takes the film to a higher level with his double role as the androids David and Walter. The rest of the cast does a great job, but the characters are never really fleshed out.

In this case, this is not a huge trap into which to step. After all, we come to admire those nightmare creatures of artist HR Giger: the titular alien. And whoever comes for it will be richly rewarded. Prometheus promised to explore the origins of the monstrous Xenomorphs, but that film ultimately left viewers with more questions than answers. However, ‘Alien: Covenant’ lives up to that promise and even gives fans a few new species in the alien family. In addition to the familiar Xenomorphs and Facehuggers, there are now also Neomorphs, smaller albino aliens that are just as dangerous to the crew of the Covenant as the first two.

In terms of plot, the film follows the familiar lines that we are used to from the Alien films. The ship (the colonization ship Covenant in this case) receives an unknown signal and the crew decides to take a look. All hell breaks loose after that. But what’s great about this part is that Scott takes this simple plot outline and throws in some interesting geofiction without losing sight of the simplistic things like action and horror elements that made the earlier films so successful. Because even though it is stated earlier in this review that ‘Alien: Covenant’ is not a horror film pur sang, there are quite a few scary and intense scenes. Especially in the field of bloodshed, this film goes further than all its predecessors, but that pure feeling of isolation does not materialize.

Nevertheless, Ridley Scott makes it a feast for any lover of the Alien franchise. He combines the intensity of ‘Alien’ with the quasi-philosophical geofiction of ‘Prometheus’ and fills the last gaps with the hard action of ‘Aliens’. A feast for the eyes, and a rollercoaster ride that science fiction fans will remember for a long time to come.