Alien:Covenant Review

Alien: Covenant 
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast Headliners: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, others
Original Release Date: May 19th, 2017

        The Alien franchise has been on quite a journey. It's jumped between timeline placement, directors, lore ideas, transmedia and more without any real sort of true consistency. Alien: Covenant is in a way “Prometheus 2” in Ridley Scott's new prequel series that attempt to tell the “definitive” origins and events leading to the classic first ever Alien film. This time, more philosophical elements and ambience of the 2012 film are blended with older-school classic Alien staples to make something that's fittingly messy yet impressive in its carnage like the xenomorphs themselves.
The movie begins with a brief flashback with the android David(Michael Fassbender) and a welcome cameo by his (younger luckily no silly makeup) Peter Weyland(Guy Pearce) as the creator and createe discuss deep manners in a stark beautiful setting. This definitely foreshadows the events to come that are set after Prometheus.  The movie really picks up in setting of a colonization mission by the spaceship Covenant. Another android Walter(also Michael Fassbender pulling amazing double duty) deals with the de-thawing and aftermath of a interstellar accident. The event leaves many crew members dead within the first intense moments of the film. Things soon transpire into unsettling uneasy chillness however there is plenty of excitement in the film ahead.
The main survivors and active de-thawed members of the expedition , aside from Walter, are the human crew of the Covenant. Our protagonists in a sense include Daniels(Katherine Waterston), Tennessee(Danny Mcbride), Oram(Billy Crudup), Lope(Demian Bichir) as main players with very bit roles by others including Karine(Carmen Ejogo), Maggie(Amy Seimetz), Upworth(Callie Hernandez), Jake(James Franco in a all too short blink and you miss minor role), and more.  The thing about most these characters is that...they're hard to tell apart. This is true of many of Ridley and other's takes on Alien and similar sci-fi tales. The human characters mostly serve as cannon fodder and some small moments of ok if slightly stupid humor. They mostly ask obvious questions or die bloody deaths often.
  As with the original Alien(handled well) to Prometheus(handled only a bit less well) the movie is a slow burn. There are large portions on the spaceship before a distress call brings them to a mysterious (and unplanned for) world.  However the mysterious slow burn pays off in time.
It turns out this is the world where David and Dr.Shaw(Noomi Rapace) had gone to after the events of Prometheus. As for the specifics of where they are now and how their path intersects to the newer heroes it must be seen firsthand. For all the deep ideas attempted to build the world, it's a shame that the connective tissue between this film and earlier and later ones is still either vague or non-existent. There's some decent reveals and twists in that regard as to why things went down. But when it appears, and often there's holes whether intentional or not by Ridley, it's often briefly shown or rushed through.
The movie is about the present thus. About showing results rather than giving explanations in terms of the crazy worlds and xenomorphs at play. It's an adventure where the audience is taken along the crew through this horror world.
What a world it is. Without a doubt Ridley Scott is a master of the visual. Whether in very retro inspired spaceships (ala older Aliens) or on the gorgeous mysterious world (ala Prometheus) the visual aesthetic is breathtaking. This is fine craft in a cinematic sense by this director, as always. Lush dark landscapes.  Intense zoomed in views.  When creatures do show up(duh) they appear very much real for the most part aside from some momentary obvious CGI. The “Neomorph” creatures are a scary fresh take on the classic. The classic Xenomorphs also return, with tweaks, to look as awesome as one remember.  So yet also at times this CGI is used for surreal views and unique perspectives.  There are moments of intense, at times shaky at times clear, action. There's more blood than ever to attain that R rating.  That stuff delivers on the true horror , xenomorph bloodfest.
What is less effective is some of the pacing , plot, and performances. There is a sloww buildup that becomes exciting. Then slows down again. Then becomes exciting. Then slows down again. Then becomes the most exciting with the cheese fully reaching its head with almost kung-fu combat going on. Then seems to end the film. Then (pleasantly surprisingly) picks up again before the true end is reached. All over the board persay. The story , as mentioned, can be vague on what we wish we could have learned about the Engineers and reasoning behind the Xenomorphs existence though it is touched on.
Most human characters make very dumb mistakes which can be a detraction. However it also odds to the gory fun. Through all the xeno-fodder, some shine. Waterston's Daniels is an ...alright heroine. She goes through a lot of pain, like Ripley and Shaw did. But she never quite manages to be as charming or badass as either. She's just kind of ...there but gives an attempted alright performance. Crudup's Oram is a solid highlight. He is fierce, strict, and odd as one would want from a commander of such a mission although the focus goes away from him as time goes on. McBride is of course pretty good and actually isn't too much of a comic relief character although he has his funny lines. He's more of a badass himself than anything.  Other usually talented actors, like Bichir and Franco, aren't given enough content to shine. This is especially true for Rapace as Shaw as well especially after she was so good in the first film.
Through it all, the most shining memorable element is both of Fasssbender's performances. Despite looking similar visually David and Walter couldn't be more different. David is the shinier star of the stars.  He was awesome in the first film with his vile cold scientific curiosity. Now that returns and is dialed up another notch plus has the addition of a sense of utter insanity. See the film to see why this is so memorable. Conversely, for every bit as untrustworthy David is, Walter is a good robot person. Even more robotic in his speaking style and mannerisms yet also through his actions he shows more kindness than anyone. The interactions and plot between these two Fassbenders is gold, even in its cheese. It is great that there is the emphasis that there is on them because they are now so important to the overall Alien saga lore. However at times they are lost in the horror/excitment shuffle of things. But when they show up its nearly always amazing.
Overall, this is an interesting new take on the Alien series and follow up to Prometheus by Ridley Scott. If before he was trying something almost completely new, here he tries to bring in some more staple elements and it mostly works. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and it ends on a bit of a frustrating yet surprising cliffhanger once again. But the blood and beauty are mostly worth it, and it leaves one wanting another film even more to hopefully really get those true answers. Hopefully with more true deep philosophy as well.  8.55 out of 10