Ridley Scott defined Sci-Fi horror in the times of mushy, figurine science fantasy of Star Wars. In 1980, Scott gave the world what would become a cult in Alien pathogens and a spine-chilling edge of the seat thriller. Then, revisiting his world, he introduced the prequel of his grumsy Alien in 2012 with Prometheus. Again, he revisits the same genre with the sequel to Prometheus with Alien: Covenant and much to fans rejoice, doesn't disappoint. A full onslaught film brings up the thrill of the Alien which Prometheus failed to abide, despite being entertaining.
Alien: Covenant takes place 10 years after the event of Prometheus, where a colonising spaceship carrying around 2000 breeders in hypersleep and hundreds of preserved human embryos. The ship is headed to Origen 6, a fully tested planet until ship's captain decide to follow a ghost signal and starts off an ill-fated event that shaped the entire franchise, more or less. This latest chapter is essentially a “Prometheus" sequel with aliens in it. Though the current movie is named for its spaceship, the Covenant, its plot concerns what became of Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender’s Prometheus characters, Elizabeth Shaw and renegade robo-butler David, after they escaped a planet that looked like an insidiously dangerous version of Iceland.
The franchise has gone through a lot but Alien: Covenant feels like a return to both Scott and the originally meant status of the series: a rigid sci-fi horror movie, featuring ferocious, acid-dripping space crustaceans, an evil robot and a bunch of dead-meat crew members.
In short, the film follows suit its 1980 original in thrills and chills combined, which is a relief too. However, if one is expecting some path breaking sci-fi show, this might feel like a letdown. The personal enjoyment you derive from the film probably depends on what you thought of Scott’s 2012 semi-prequel, which essentially was a high-minded sci-fi chiller that presumed to explain the origins of not just the Alien series but of mankind itself.
Scott teased as much by suggesting that the off-canon entry contained the DNA of the Alien series, though its creatures weren’t nearly as scary and the mission was ultimately seen as a disappointment for the franchise fans. Maybe that was the reason that Scott took a step back and brought the much-loved gruesome nostalgia which you can't help but get scared, despite knowing what might be up next.
Go for the film to get a scary dose of nostalgia and you will come out with a certain satisfaction, otherwise just re-watch the classic and assume what all mystery lies of humankind in space.
Ratings:3/5
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