- Nate Lemann
ALIEN HORROR SUMMER - NO. 13: ALIEN: COVENANT
Ridley Scott’s follow-up to “Prometheus” has more focus on Xenomorph violence than its predecessor, is a more tightly written thriller/fun blockbuster, and still has plenty of existential questions on its mind.
by Nate Lemann
I NEED TO STATE: At this point of the Alien Horror Summer countdown, every film I rewatch makes me rethink my list order. That is how good things get from here on out. Almost all of these films are out-and-out masterpieces. All I highly recommend, without reservation. Now on to "Alien: Covenant":
When I first watched Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” in theaters in 2017, I remember the distinct feeling of feeling confused as to what I just saw: the film was marketed as a departure from the first prequel’s existential tone and philosophical pondering on the nature of creation. While the first half of this new entry was what was promised, a second half reveal brought this film right back to those existential roots:
* (Spoiler Warning Here on Out) *
Our film introduces us to the spaceship Covenant, a settler/colony vessel on its way to a new home world to start a new outpost for a dwindling humanity back on Earth. The ship is full of 200+ hyper sleep colonists and a large score of frozen embryos. The only waking “soul” on board is Walter (Michael Fassbender as a new version of android that is all business and no homicidal tendencies, like his prior iteration in "Prometheus"). When a freak solar flair puts the ship in peril, Walter is forced to wake the ship’s skeleton crew early to get things back in order, but not without certain tragedy befalling the ship’s captain.
After the dust settles on this crisis, we get to meet the ship’s crew (who are all couples, on purpose): our hero is Daniels (an amazing Katherine Waterston), who was with the captain who perished. She is grieving her tremendous loss, especially considering this whole trip was her now late husband’s idea. The new captain is Oram (Billy Crudup), who has a severe inferiority complex, especially given he is a man more of faith than science. His spouse is biologist Karine (Carmen Ejogo), who tries to support but also hold her spouse's baser instincts in check. Pilots Tennessee and Faris (both a great Danny McBride and Amy Seimtez), who are close with Daniels and her late husband. Other members of the crew are security leader Lope (Demián Bichir), comms experts Ricks (Jussie Smollett) and Upworth (Callie Hernandez), among a handful of other more nameless crew (a fact that bodes well for their survival…wink, wink).
While getting the ship back in order, the team comes across a distant radio signal (one of the oddly many 2017 movies to reference to John Denver’s “Country Roads”). They find the signal is coming from a planet that looks to have better settlement prospects than their thoroughly vetted destination. Oram takes this as a sign, while Daniels only sees an opportunity that is too good to be true. Afraid to go back to sleep after their first catastrophe, the crew opts to give this new world a closer gander. Oram is leading a team down to the new world, with Daniels and Walter tagging along (the two having grown closer after Daniels’ loss, with Walter surprisingly a calming presence, even though he is less human than his predecessor - makes you think, huh?).
As they make touchdown, they find fresh water and actual fields of wheat. The question becomes who planted it. The next (and even more troubling) question becomes where are any signs of animal life if this land is as promising as it seems. Things quickly go sideways as two crew members are infected by some airborne spores that have horrific effects on them. Namely, one of the security detail has what may be the most gruesome burster experience so far in the franchise: a back-burster exploding from him and giving birth to…a Neomorph. This creature, similar to the famed Xenomorph, is more innocent looking but hellishly violent, immediately killing many crew while exploding the team’s transport off-world. As another Neomorph bursts threw another crew member's throat (also hellishly horrific), the surviving crew are left to fend for themselves from these stalking alpha predators.
This is where the film turns from alien horror bonanza into something else entirely: David (also Michael Fassbender), with longer hair and his Laurence Oliver-inspired gold locks now highlighting tips, reveals himself and leads the crew to safety. We come to learn he and Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw arrived on this planet that used to be the home of the Engineers from the first film. David informs the Covenant crew that as he and Shaw were making a landing on this new world, the bioweapons we saw wreck havoc from the first film accidentally released, unleashing this airborne spore virus that either kills the infected or gives birth to alpha predators that will kill out all life on the planet (the sequence we flashback to showing this event is one of the most inspired of Scott’s career). David claims Shaw was killed shortly thereafter following their crash landing; he has been on his own ever since, dodging the remaining predators, while studying them, as well.
With David’s introduction, the film becomes an even more twisted “Island of Dr. Maraeu” tale. David in his isolation has begun to dabble in creation, learning from the last film that he may be the one most well-equipped to give birth to a perfectly designed being, an apex predator who can evolve quickly to rise to the top of any food chain. Daniels and team quickly learn that David is not the benevolent host he claims to be. His confrontation scenes with Walter are some of the most amazing performances of Fassbender’s career, playing two widely different versions of AI, having an existential debate about the merits of humanity (a more nihilistic version of the Vision vs. Ultron final deabte scene in the second "Avengers" film). As the team look for ways out, it becomes a game of survival as David has a few more surprises for the crew up his sleeve.
I think this may be the best Scott has been in his late career, teaming up again with his “Gladiator” scribe John Logan for this film. This film has very little fat on it and is a lean, mean narrative machine, even in the more ponderous second half. It feels like Scott and team really nailed the mix between larger existential themes and blockbuster action and mayhem that he was going for with “Prometheus” but never fully achieved perfect harmony in. I’ve rewatched this film multiple times since first seeing it in theaters and it has consistently grown in estimation each time. It really moves at a great clip and the pacing is just an example of the remarkable control one of our very best directors can display. It also helps this is one of the best looking films of late-stage Scott’s career, with an opening that is so flawlessly pristine, it immediately will take your breath away (more that in a moment).
Waterston is so goddamn good in this. She is a performer I am consistently impressed with and also upset that she hasn’t exploded as big as her talent says she should have (we did get two great, smaller performances from her last year in “Slow Horses” and “The End We Start From”). She has innate compassion and warmness that she augments here with a steely resolve and mental fortitude (without turning into a terminator figure, still showing her humanity as she bears witness to unspeakable violence in this). Before I see what Cailee Spaeny does in “Romulus” later this month, I have to say this is the successor to Sigourney Weaver we have been looking for (a shame this film doesn't appear to be getting a follow-up). McBride is also really fantastic here, channeling his supernova comedic energy into a very natural charisma and gravitas. Especially impressed with his ability to play the very dramatically fraught moments. I think the rest of the cast is fairly good here, having less to work with before the mayhem starts. Crudup is the one I go back-and-forth-on, his character oscillating between insufferable and repentant for his horrible decision making. He is a very flowery performer and while I don’t think he’s the best fit for this film, he does offer a very offbeat energy.
Again, these prequel films are showcases for Fassbender. His duel roles each are very worthy of their own Oscar consideration. Walter is a very interesting foil to David, designed to remove his “imperfections”: his curiosity and human demeanor that we are told was even off-putting on Earth. His form is more stoic and controlled, never once cracking a smile. That said, he does have great aforementioned chemistry with Daniels, able to provide comfort and support to her in her grief, even with his more detached persona. He denies feelings of favorability toward Daniels but we can clearly see they are on the same page. He even is treated much better than David was by the Prometheus crew, a valued member of the crew who they invite to more ritualistic events. David is another story altogether: he has evolved into a mad scientist, viewing organic life as very expendable. There is a showstopper of an opening sequence where we see the origins of David’s distrust of humanity. He and younger Guy Pearce (as Peter Weyland from the first movie) are testing out David as he first comes online. They are shot in one of the most gorgeous white rooms overlooking a beautiful lake in Scandinavia. It is the ultimate power play, with David following the logical progression that if his creator will one day die but he won’t, then doesn’t that make David number one on the food chain? Pearce, in just an amazing one-scene performance, quickly puts David in his place by giving him a very demeaning task that he can’t refuse, showing David that the real power belongs with him. This sprouts the seeds of David’s discontent and what he has evolved to once they meet him on this new planet is the progression from benevolent servant to horrific experimenter. The juxtaposition of David’s disdain for human life and compassion (like a perversely proud papa) for the evolving Xenomorphs is such an amazing bit of characterization. What Scott and he were able to accomplish with this character is nothing short of marvelous. Time will be kind to this work, with David eventually taking his place as one of the preeminent science fiction characters of our time.
This is not on the level of the original films but is far superior piece of entertainment than “Prometheus” and one of, if not the best of Scott’s films in the last 10 years.
FINAL RATING: 4.5/5 Stars (Propulsive horror action with deep mediation on the ethics of creation).
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