Title: Alien: Covenant
Age: 15
Released: 11th May 2017
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction, Thriller
Rating: ***/**** (3.5/5 stars)
About: Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, members (Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup) of the colony ship Covenant discover what they think to be an uncharted paradise. While there, they meet David (Michael Fassbender), the synthetic survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. The mysterious world soon turns dark and dangerous when a hostile alien life-form forces the crew into a deadly fight for survival.
Review: So this is the first time that I have ever given a 3.5 rating.
I gave the film this rating because when my dad and I went to go see the opening weekend, we weren’t too sure how we felt about it when we left.
One thing for sure is that this film does not drag at all, considering how long it is, it actually finished pretty quickly – and I would say that this is a good thing. The main problem was that for the twenty-minute drive home from the cinema, my dad and I could not stop talking about it and came to the conclusion that we were very confused by it.
This confusion is very strange and I say this because my dad is an avid fan of the ‘Alien’ franchise, so the problem for me, is then how can someone who is so keen on these films be so confused.
It did feel at times as though the film had skipped out on some key information but at the same time, the audience is still able to follow along. I have a feeling that this was done purposefully. I say this because my father and I did come to the agreement that it certainly makes people want to rewatch the ‘Alien‘ films, and further, buy this film when it comes out on DVD (or even see it again in cinemas), just to double check that there aren’t any further clues to make sense of the film’s plot holes.
I think maybe the confusion comes from the fact that Alien: Covenant works as a sequel to Prometheus, but also moves closer to setting up the original Alien — Prometheus being a separate part of the Alien franchise, even though it has similar features.
One thing is clear, there are very similar repeats of things that occurred in the other films. But don’t be alarmed, I didn’t think that this caused major problems with the film because it does have its own story.
I liked the cast in this film and besides Michael Fassbender, I did feel that the rest of the cast was fairly unknown. However, I do think they were very good in their roles, so please don’t hate on me if I’ve insulted you somehow.
My main problem with this film, though, is how stupid the characters were. The ending is no surprise really (not that I’m going to spoil it for you), but when you think about it, their actions do justify the ending (and what a nice little twist it was, even though I’m still trying to figure it out).
All I can say is, go see it. See how you feel about it and maybe, you’ll understand it better than I did. You’ll certainly enjoy it, you just have to go along with it and not question anything.
CastlesandTurrets 