RATING
Alien: Covenant operates on multiple levels. There’s the allegory against too much reliance on artificial intelligence. There’s the parable nature warning of the dangers in playing God, a science-fiction spin on Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, initially the film’s subtitle. It is philosophical, it is visceral but never dull.
Alien first opened on May 25th in 1979, the sophomore effort of a 42-year old British director. Alien: Covenant is his twenty-fourth movie. When on form, Ridley Scott proves to be a master at his game. With cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, he composes his imagery like an artist. Little surprise, given that Scott started out as a painter. There’s a hypnotic and poetic quality to his visuals that is largely lacking in big-budgeted spectacle. There’s so much beauty in a simple shot of light spreading across the body of a spaceship. At times like this, I wonder what luminaries like Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick might have created with this level of technology at their disposal.
Alien: Covenant is gripping, horrifying. Part prequel to Alien, mostly sequel to “Prometheus”, Alien: Covenant pulses and thrums with the unease and dread of constantly being stalked and watched. It answers some questions raised by Prometheus and leaves new ones unanswered, adding to the expansive mythology conceived by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett four decades ago. This is a smart film made for intelligent audiences tired of the bland and bloated surfeit served annually every summer.
The film opens with a close-up of a startlingly blue eye, immediately drawing comparisons to mind Blade Runner. The eye belongs to David (Michael Fassbender), the synthetic android from Prometheus. This is David’s awakening by creator Peter Weyland (an uncredited Guy Pearce). In a stark white room overlooking a lake, David picks out his name from the replica of Michelangelo’s Statue of David. They talk about creation. Weyland promises to seek out mankind’s creator with David. It didn’t end well for Weyland.
In the year 2104, en route to Origae-6, colony ship ‘Covenant’ is hit by a neutrino burst. Captain Branson (James Franco) is killed in cryosleep. The crew, forced awake by android Walter (also Michael Fassbender), receive a strange transmission that traces to a remote and habitable planet. The late Branson’s wife, Daniels (Katherine Waterston) objects to deviating from their mission but new captain Oram (Billy Crudup) wants to investigate. Through a surging atmosphere of storm clouds, they emerge into a planet lush with water and vegetation, yet empty of life.
The exploration crew split up: Oram’s wife, Karine (Carmen Ejogo) takes security member Ledward (Benjamin Rigby) to collect biological samples while the rest continue searching for the transmission’s signal. It leads them straight to the downed ship from Prometheus. Inside, Daniels finds a tag inscribed “Dr. E. Shaw”. In a pod filled with water, she recovers a photo of Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) with her husband. Was the transmission from Shaw? And where is she?
Around this time, two things happen: in the downed ship, Hallet (Nathaniel Dean) inhales a spore that goes into his nose. In the forest, Ledward inhales an identical spore that goes into his ear. Both men rapidly sicken. Karine rushes Ledward to the landing vehicle while Oram and his team also make their way back. The infected men turn chalk-white, start convulsing and spout blood. What follows is the most horrifying gore-filled sequence since the original chest-burster scene, and by going all-out into R-rated territory, Ridley Scott has crafted a nightmare pulled from the darkest depths of depravity that could have been designed by H.R. Giger.
The stranded crew are rescued by a hooded figure, who turns out to be none other than David. He takes them into a gigantic arena that turns out to be a vast city, the ground littered with twisted figures. He explains that his ship crashed, killing Shaw on impact, and that he’s been stranded here ever since. But pay close attention and the unease only expands: David’s manner is less synthetic android and more human than in the opening. Something is not right; David harbours sinister motivations that hint at larger plans and have direct effect into the larger Alien mythology.
There’s an argument to be made that John Logan’s and Dante Harper’s script are riddled with logical flaws but then the same might be said about the Bible. We accept that inexplicability- if Cain and Abel were the second humans, then who created the settlement that Cain eventually found? Horror isn’t meant to be logical, it’s meant to inspire terror that speaks to the fears that linger in our soul and subconscious. Otherwise, there’d be an explanation for how Jack Torrance ended up in that photograph by the end of The Shining. Ridley Scott captures that foreboding atmosphere strongly and it is certainly a strong entry in his long line of films.
There’s a strong cast at work here. Billy Crudup, Carmen Ejogo, Demián Bichir, Callie Hernandez and Amy Seimetz add shades of dimension to their characters without being two-note archtypes. Waterston is another strong heroine to follow in the likes of Ellen Ripley and Elizabeth Shaw, and I particularly liked that Danny McBride played against type. But the film ultimately belongs to the xenomorphs and Michael Fassbender. To watch Fassbender play David and Walter in the same scene is to witness a gifted actor at work. His clinical and chilling demeanour only adds to the mounting horror. If you ever wondered what HAL 3000 might be like if he had a physical body, look no further than David.
Ridley Scott has admitted that he has no intention of slowing down with more Alien films, and it’s easy to see why. Even though Prometheus did not appeal to everyone’s tastes, it’s hard to deny that Scott thrives in this universe and the science-fiction genre. Alien: Covenant is no less sumptuous. Despite my abhorrence for sequels/prequels/spin-offs in favour of originality, it’s hard to argue that this is a rare instance where sequels are justified. After all, forty years on, everyone still wants to know the answer to one question: who was the Space Jockey in Alien?
~
DIRECTED BY: Ridley Scott
PRODUCED BY: Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam, Michael Schaefer, David Giler, Walter Hill
SCREENPLAY BY: John Logan and Dante Harper
STORY BY: Jack Paglen and Michael Green
BASED ON: Characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett
STARRING: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Watterton, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Amy Seimetz
~
The Snarky Quill 