Alien: Covenant (2017)

The Alien film franchise has had its fair share of ups and downs ever since the Xenomorph burst, pun intended, onto the big screen in Ridley Scott's 1979 masterpiece. Now after 1 average prequel, 1 good sequel, 2 bad sequels and 2 crossovers that sadly happened, the Xenomorph is back in the prequel sequel that is Alien: Covenant. Ridley Scott directs his 3rd film in the Alien world and 2nd "Alien" titled film, which aims to link his two previous instalments to the franchise, Prometheus and Alien, in what is a fun genre thrill ride, but alas never reaches its true potential.

Ridley Scott is one of the greatest sci fi directors of all time, bringing us such classics as Alien, Blade Runner and recently, The Martian. Similar to Prometheus, regardless of what people actually think of the film, we can all agree that it looks beautiful. Scott yet again proves that his visual sense for sci fi is simply unmatched, the cinematography and sheer amount of in camera visuals are mind blowing, deeply disturbing and brooding as hell. Covenant's sci fi horror genre thrills are extremely effective, thanks to Scott's impeccable eye for the genre's in question, as well as his longstanding relationship with the Alien franchise. He was the man who introduced us to H.R Giger's iconic monster.

The genre thrills in Alien: Covenant are most effective, in my opinion, because you care for the characters within the Covenant team. With all horror films you know many characters are simply disposable. In Covenant however this isn't entirely the case. There are obviously some characters that you know are dead the second they walk on screen, but a lot of relationships are established and thus emotional involvement is encouraged with our hopeless protagonists. I found myself drawn to the character Daniels, not necessarily because of Katherine Waterston's performance as she wasn't that great, but because of the personal story she is given throughout the film.

Speaking of performances, the acting was top notch in this film and actually surprising. Katherine Waterston is decent in this film and I believe I owe her a little more credit than I've given in my last statement. Also, to my surprise Danny McBride didn't play the terribly annoying comic relief you would expect in horror films, he was actually one of the best actors in this film with what is easily the performance of his career. Best of all is Michael Fassbender's characters, who are both extremely compelling and to which the scenes they share are simply an masterclass in sophisticated acting.

It is a shame however that one of the films biggest flaws lies with the treatment of Fassbender's character towards the films close. The films twist is hinted at quite subtly at first but in the films climax the clues given are far too obvious that you can see the twist immediately. There are several shots Scott should have cut from the film in order to maintain the mystery, rather than clumsily giving it away before the third act has even started. This loss of subtly subsequently takes all impact away from what could have been a fantastic ending and leaves all who watch it rather disappointed, regardless of what they thought of the film as a whole.

There lies Covenant's greatest let down, it offers interesting concepts but fails to follow through on that idea to its full potential. The Neomorph is one of the biggest missed opportunities with this film. Far from the monstrosity that was the newborn in Alien: Resurrection, the Neomorph has a very gruesome introduction that is morbidly satisfying, even if Faris (the mechanic/medic) was extremely annoying. As well as this, the Neomorph's development to something almost humanlike is absolutely fascinating, but unfortunately this is only the free trial, if we want to see more we'll have to wait for Alien Prequel 3/ Prometheus 3, and hope there is more to the Neomorph than what we have already seen. Please Ridley don't let us down…….. Again.

Alien: Covenant as a whole offers some very interesting ideas which it unfortunately doesn't utilise to its full potential. The film also leaves us with a lorry load of questions which leave you wanting more, but at the same time underwhelming unsatisfied. However with a surprisingly strong cast and a legendary director, Alien: Covenant is an enjoyable genre film that acts as the 'The Empire Strikes Back' of the Prometheus trilogy (although obviously not a patch on 'The Empire Strikes Back'). I'm intrigued as to the possible 6 films Ridley Scott has planned for the franchise, "Are you not entertained?"