A second Ridley Scott prequel to the movie Alien (1979) is our subject today. With the franchise original reviewed by Matt Lynn Digital here, and the first prequel Prometheus (2012) reviewed here, we pickup the tale for how the menace we first encountered back in 1979 came to exist as the menace we first cinematically met some 44-years ago. The name of this movie is Alien: Covenant (2017).
The story of Alien: Covenant picks up neither with the remaining crew of Prometheus expedition, of the 2012 movie Prometheus, nor with the crew of colonization ship Covenant. Instead, we are given a prologue that predates the both movies with the introduction of the android David, whose role had been instrumental in the original prequel movie. We see David with his creator, Peter Weyland, in the moments following David’s animation. Guy Pearce and Michael Fassbender portrayed Weyland and David, respectively.
Eleven years after the Prometheus expedition, we meet the crew of the expedition ship Covenant. The Covenant, with 2000 colonists in stasis and 1,140 human embryos preserved for future life, is seven years from the planet the flight intends to colonize, Origae-6. Walter, an advanced android that resembles David and is portrayed by Michael Fassbender, wakes his 14 human crewmates when a solar flare damages the ship. In the reanimation process, ship’s captain Jake Branson, as portrayed by James Franco, dies.
It is during the ship repairs that a human voice from a habitable nearby planet captures the attention of the Covenant. Despite the arguments against investigating this nearby planet as made by Branson’s widow, Daniels as portrayed by Katherine Waterston, new captain Christopher Oram decides the crew will investigate. The investigation takes them to the planet encountered by the Prometheus expedition, which is where the group encounters David, eventually learning the fate of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw of that original expedition. Oram was portrayed by Billy Crudup. Carmen Ejogo portrayed Oram’s wife, Karine Oram. Noomi Repace portrayed Shaw.
The investigation of the planet sees husband Tennessee keep Covenant afloat in orbit as his wife, Maggie Faris, flies a lander to the planet’s surface. Danny McBride and Amy Seimitz portrayed the pair, respectively. The action and horror of this science fiction movie take off at this point with the experiments of David driving many of the storylines that follow. The personal connections among characters that underpins much of the remaining story development does the movie credit in avoiding some of the problems present with the David Fincher directed Alien 3 (1992).
The movie Alien: Covenant did much to align the Prometheus movie with the Alien franchise overall. What remains of the prequel stories, especially in what becomes of the characters portrayed by Katherine Waterson and Michael Fassbender in getting to the character portrayed Sigourney Weaver, remains a fascinating possibility to be explored. It is from this place that I grant the movie Alien: Covenant as directed by Ridley Scott 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.
Matt – Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Matt Lynn Digital 