Alien: Covenant (2017)

Genres

Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Director

Ridley Scott

Country

USA

Cast

Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demian Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Amy Seimetz, Callie Hernandez, Jussie Smollett, Nathaniel Dean, Tess Haubrich, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, Uli Latukefu, James Franco, Guy Pearce

Storyline

The crew of the colony ship Covenant land on a small planet resembling the Earth with the intention of doing a peaceful exploratory mission but it will soon turn into a desperate rescue operation. 

Opinion

I saw the trailer to Alien: Covenant only once and waiting for rental seemed to be the best option. Although that way I missed the chance to see a gigantic Michael Fassbender wearing a white suit while having a tedious conversation with Guy Pearce which was easily the best part of the film. And probably the only good thing about it as well.

It wasn't a surprise though. After the disastrous Prometheus, I had no doubt Ridley Scott would bring to the screen another terrible prequel to his flawless Alien and that's exactly what happened. The story is beyond boring, the plot isn't very well thought through - actually, it's not thought at all, also proved by the huge amount of plot holes that will make you question your sanity for deciding to watch this film, and twists you can see coming miles away -, and there's so much nonsense, it probably makes its own genre. Not even science fiction allows so much nonsense. Nor fantasy.

What's worst in a movie like this, however, it's not the plot, as impossible as it may sound. That place belongs to the characters. I don't know, maybe the writers tried to make up for the excess of plot holes with a complete lack of characterization, but they are all the same. There's nothing to differentiate one from another. And you just don't care for them. I guess that's why I can't remember a single name other than Michael Fassbender's characters. Yep, he's got two characters, David from Prometheus (that's why I remember the name) and new entry Walter (and I remember the name because when it first appeared I was like, wtf wasn't him David?). By the way, Fassbender did a pretty good job considering how messed is the script. Also, there's a part of me who believes they gave him a double role to make up for all the other lacks of this film. Or to keep people watching from start to finish, because who can say no to all this Fassbender? I sure can't.

I should have thought twice before writing that the characters are the worst part of the film, the visual effects are so much worse. That's something I sure wasn't expecting from Scott and from a 2017 movie. Not only they don't hold up to other films of this year, they also are a huge step down from Prometheus. The year was 2012, just in case you didn't know.

And I'm done. I don't want to waste any more of your time (and mine) to talk about this poor excuse of a prequel. It's kinda the sequel Prometheus deserved though.