I was born in 1997, the year Alien: Resurrection was released. It had already been the fourth installment of the main Alien series yet despite numerous movie streaming sites online, the crossover Alien vs. Predator series, and the 2012 prequel Prometheus, I still failed to watch a single Alien movie. But before you Alien fans bash my brains out the way those Neomorphs would, here’s what an Alien movie virgin thought of the latest Alien: Covenant.
Right off the bat I knew it wasn’t like any old stereotypical alien themed movie. The sight of Michael Fassbender was a welcome one since I’m a huge fan of the X-Men movies yet his stocky and stiff composure told me he wasn’t exactly playing a human here. His dialogue on existentiality with his supposed creator gave me chills and knew I was in for a ride. I mean, what could an alien movie juxtaposed with philosophical undertones possibly hold in store for me? Needless to say, I was bought.
From there on out everything just seems to go eternally downhill. Certain deaths, malfunctions, and whatnot. I’m not gonna elaborate too much so not as to spoil it too much for you guys (especially since I’m a very big hater of spoilers, myself). Not having seen the previous movies, I was afraid that a lot of the scenes would go right over my head, thankfully they were executed well enough to be understandable even if you’ve never seen a single Alien movie. The graphics were out of this world (literally) and it’s just one of the things I love about space movies. The wanderlust feels get so real with the highly detailed depiction of that dark thing up there so big and undiscovered we can only call it: space. In terms of graphics, this movie gets an A+ right up there with the likes of Interstellar and Gravity. That said, the storytelling might not measure up as well.
With so many story arcs for several characters, not to mention the ambitious biblical connotations, it often felt too rushed and hard pressed to get their individual points across. Obviously, 2 hours are far too short to effectively impact upon viewers such deep views that I think they would’ve been better off making two separate movies: one for the aliens, the other for the philosophical tale. Nevertheless, Ridley Scott is talented enough to make the two concepts work enough to make an awesome alien confrontation and a decent existential dialogue. Another thing I appreciated was the talented actors who portrayed their roles well. Then again, their dynamic didn’t feel as tight as other space crew actors.
Overall, Alien: Covenant is a decent enough movie. The gore, guts, and aliens were tastefully good but the philosophical objective was too ambitious to meet its goal. All in all, an enjoyable movie but definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. Or maybe I just need to watch the other Alien movies that came before to fully appreciate the concept. What do you guys think? Are there other good movies you could recommend or would like a movie review on? Tell us in the comments!
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