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Hey everyone, hope all is well.
I am still buzzing right now, because only a few days ago I was at the world premiere
of Alien: Covenant, the latest sci-fi horror instalment from Ridley Scott.
There in Leicester Square London, I got to share the red carpet - or should I say green
carpet - with the likes of Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride and of
course my lovely friends.
There were so many people and yet somehow I managed to get better seats than I normally
would at my local cinema: Dead centre.
It was such an incredible experience, which followed an excellent Alien Day, 1 week earlier
where I got to drink Alien themed cocktails, get a Weyland Industries temporary tattoo,
meet one of the on-set Xenomorph artists, check out props from Alien: Covenant, which even included
wearing the actual spacesuit. So freaking cool!
And I have to say, peering into one of those eggs was no easy task.
20th Century fox then brought us to their London HQ to meet face-huggers, and watch
Prometheus and the Director’s Cut of Alien on the big screen.
And so a huge thanks to everyone at 20th Century Fox and Substance Global
who made this all possible. It was fantastic.
It’s been quite a while since I last gave a movie review but after all of that, how
could I not feel compelled to make one about Alien: Covenant.
It takes place in the Alien universe, as a sequel to the 2012 movie Prometheus.
If you haven’t seen Prometheus yet, then I do recommend checking it out first
before watching this review.
So, Alien: Covenant tells the story of a colony ship - named Covenant - in which the crew
members discover a planet that appears to be an uncharted paradise.
Upon their visit though, they soon become exposed to hostile alien life-forms which
turn their initial plans of starting a new home into a brutal fight for survival.
When I think about the elements that exist in the movies I love most, Alien: Covenant
has all of them: Atmosphere, commentary on the human condition, and connection.
So firstly, atmosphere: As you might expect from Ridley Scott, it is beautifully directed,
capturing perfectly the vastness of space, the mystery of exploring new planets and the
dread that comes from realising the frailty of human life.
Secondly, commentary on the human condition: As was the case with Prometheus,
it looks at the notion of creator vs creation.
It also poses questions about what is is to be human vs machine.
And thirdly, connection: The fantastic cast and script provides the audience with characters
that they can really care about.
So their laughter is our laughter, their fear is our fear, and their desire for resolve,
is our desire too.
Now if you enjoyed the movie Prometheus like I did, then you will more than likely enjoy
Alien: Covenant as it continues the story whilst also introducing us to a new one.
However, if you didn’t enjoy Prometheus, because you were expecting something
closer to the classic Alien movies or didn’t like there being so many questions with hardly
any answers... (two things that personally didn’t bother me about the movie by the way.)
Or like me, found the characters difficult to care about and were baffled by some of
the questionable decisions that were made on what was clearly a dangerous mission,
Alien: Covenant is the fix you are after.
It felt like an excellent hybrid of Prometheus and Alien.
It has the thought provoking storytelling of the former, and the prevalent sense of
dread and urgency of the latter.
Alien: Covenant answered many questions, but left many for us to wonder about too.
The characters were more engaging and believable, as were their actions... for the most part.
And the script was much tighter with a constant sense of progression.
The film was just over 2 hours long, but with the great pacing in storytelling and so many
great scenes, it certainly didn’t feel like 2 hours.
There are so many aspects to Alien: Covenant I could talk about,
but here are just a few that stood out.
Firstly, Michael Fassbender playing two roles in one movie was fascinating.
He portrayed two quite different Synthetics: David and Walter.
Without giving too much away, there is a scene where one is demonstrating something to the
other, and seeing two Michael Fassbenders right up close to each other having dialogue,
with the camera not moving across, but around them; That was very impressive.
Ridley Scott has a reputation for building big sets to help immerse not only the audience
but the cast too during filming, and Alien Covenant was no exception.
It looked great.
However I was surprised by the amount of CGI used in places.
Now i’m not one of these people that if something looks like CGI, goes
“Oh look, CGI! That sucks”.
There were many times in the movie it looked amazing.
However, there were occasions where I did find it slightly jarring, but I think that
may be because it also relates to another slight issue I had.
And that was visibility of the threats.
When we look back at the classic Alien movie, it proves that what you don’t see is often
more powerful than what you do, because your mind fills in the blanks.
Furthermore, we are used to seeing creatures in the Alien universe navigating through tight
dark environments, playing on that sense of claustrophobia.
Now I get Alien: Covenant is its own movie, but it’s difficult not to draw comparisons,
and I just felt there were occasions where we saw too much and less could have been more.
Something else I can never make up my mind about are the amazing marketing campaigns
these movies have.
I was so hyped to see Prometheus because of all of their trailers and promos, but come
screening day and I found myself wishing that I had stayed away from it all so that I could
have approached the film with no expectations.
And yet, Alien: Covenant presented the same dilemma.
I watched all the trailers, all the promos and at the screening I thought: I wish I had
stayed away from it all.
Will I ever learn?
It caused many of the films moments of danger to feel more obvious and punctuated, helping
me prepare for what was or at least what I thought was going to happen.
However I will say that the two awesome prologues released: 'Last Supper' and 'The Crossing'
contained footage that did not appear in the movie, like many people feared.
Finally I will say that this movie felt like a great middle piece to the story arch we
know Ridley Scott is working on.
It sets us up well for a sequel, taking us one step closer to slotting right in the back
of the original Alien movie.
And although there were a lot of great answers given to us directly in the film, it strangely
made me miss even more the abundance of mystery that engrossed the world of Prometheus.
And in a way, made me question whether I really want to know who the Space Jockey was in the
original Alien movie, which we all know was the key inspiration for Ridley Scott making
these new prequels.
So to summarise - in a way that is simplistic and somewhat silly - my feelings of Alien:
Covenant went like this: It started with 'wooooaaaaahhhh' to 'mm, okay' to 'wooooooaaaaahhhh'
to 'mm, okay' and finally it went to, 'nice!' *laughter* I don't know if that made sense to anyone.
Alien Covenant is such an awesome movie, and actually strengthened my belief that the Prometheus/Covenant
story arch is a future classic in the making.
It makes me like Prometheus even more, and it makes me excited for what comes next.
So if you like sci fi, horror, action, the Alien universe, then you don't want to miss
out seeing Alien: Covenant on the big screen.
Thank you for watching.
Please click the like button and leave your thoughts in the comment section of this video.
Are you a fan of the Alien franchise?
What did you make of Prometheus?
And what are your thoughts on Alien Covenant and the things that i've said about it, whether
you are yet to see the movie, or have finally had the chance too?
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Take care, and adios ‘til next time!