By Paul Hall
The colony ship Covenant is bound for a remote planet to establish a new society. On the way, the crew hears a strange radio signal and investigates the source. That investigation leads them to a beautiful planet, but something doesn’t seem quite right. Little do they know their intuition is correct and they are about to stumble upon a truly harrowing experience in the new film Alien: Covenant.
As the expedition team hits the surface, they are eager to find out what might have been making the signal that caught their ear. A planet that seems life-supporting and hosts lush greenery also appears desolate. Progressing towards the location from which the signal is emanating, it is clear this planet is quiet — too quiet. The crew, now with their guard up, encounter creatures who seem intent on devouring every individual from the ship. Just as they have nowhere else to turn, a mysterious man appears and leads them to safety. But it may not be as secure as it seems.
Director Ridley Scott is back for this installment in the Alien franchise. The man who was behind the camera for the original as well as the 2012 spinoff Prometheus puts a talented crew of actors through their paces in this latest chapter. And Scott’s signature style is present during virtually every frame of the film.
Michael Fassbender returns as a cast anchor and bridge from Prometheus to Covenant. Fassbender’s Walter is an upgraded version of David, the android introduced in Prometheus. Walter is able to understand and complete more tasks than David could, and Fassbender delivers the robotic heart and soul of the character. And with the remainder of the crew portrayed by Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride and others, this feels like a natural extension of the Alien franchise with another typically solid cast.
Where Covenant works is in establishing the tension and mood. Action sequences throughout the film come at you with reckless abandon reminiscent of some of the better scary and gory sci-fi films. Moments are built and the hammer is dropped when we are just not ready for the result. Unfortunately, a number of major plot points are obviously telegraphed and visible from a mile away.
The real Achilles’ heel of the film is the pacing. Some may call it methodical, and needed to build tension in the movie. I call it way too slow, almost to the point of tedious. The pace detracted from the film much as it did in Prometheus.
Despite the pacing problem, I did find myself enjoying this good old-fashioned sci-fi gore and horror movie. As new aliens came to life, the film took me back to what I loved about the original. And for that I can say it didn’t feel alien to me at all.
Alien: Covenant is quite good. If we could even out the pace a bit and clear some of the clunky plot points, this would be a truly great installment. But I’ll take this ride any day of the week.
Paul’s Grade: B
Alien: Covenant
Rated R
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup
Director: Ridley Scott
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