4 stars out of 5
I’ve had so much weird stuff come out of my abdomen in the past many months, it felt like I was starring in my own personal Alien sequel. But my interest in the actual series was re-sparked this winter when my friend Patrick rented Prometheus. It was much better than I’d expected. So with O.G. Alien director Ridley Scott once again on board, and events picking up 10 years post-Prometheus, I was excited for Alien: Covenant.
Michael Fassbender returns from Prometheus as the robot David, and also as a newer model, Walter. Now, between this, Fargo, Twin Peaks, that new Cate Blanchett movie, and this week’s Leftovers, the “same actor playing multiple parts” thing is getting a little played out. But Fassbender is fun to watch and I did enjoy his American accent.
Walter is aboard the good ship Prometheus, off to colonize a distant planet. But they happen upon a much closer, mystery planet that has a sign reading, “If You Colonized Here, You’d Already Be Home.” So the crew decides to check it out. Danny McBride and two others stay on the Prometheus, while captain Billy Crudup and an exploratory team take a lander down to the surface. They includes gentle Katherine “Sam’s Daughter” Waterson, who has experienced a recent loss but better toughen up quick if she’s to be compared to other strong female characters in the Alien series, and Demián Bichir, who I enjoyed very much on TV’s The Bridge but gets almost nothing to do here. Jim Gaffigan is not in this movie but he is in Chuck, which I forgot to mention.
On the planet they find David and, you guessed it… aliens.
Ridley Scott is still at the top of his game directing futuristic action. This is tense, edge-of-your-seat, totally fun filmmaking. Theme-wise, there’s nothing really earth-shattering here — God complex, technology out of control, etc. — but who cares? Settle in and have a good time.
If you insist, I’ll make a couple of tiny gripes. Two characters are exploring the terrain and one says “I gotta go take a leak.” You just know he’s going to bite it. Come on, Ridley, you can do better. Also, for these extry-long space journeys, they’ve got those cryo-sleep-pod thingies. And there’s a little readout on the glass saying who’s inside. Well, Danny McBride’s says “Tennessee,” which I’m pretty sure is his character’s nickname. I think an official Planet Earth Colony Vessel would be a tad more formal.
All in all, it’s a highly entertaining film which I’ll rate slightly above Rogue One in movies that share the same spot in the timeline just prior to late-1970s sci-fi classics.
Jack Silbert, curator