Alien: Covenant

A film where someone alternately screams hysterically in confusing scenes and alternately philosophizes about the issues of the space game show quiz in far too clear shots. Everyone behaves so erratically that the Prometheus crew reminds of professors of logic on a trip to the land of the eight-way. After a totally WTF birth scene, I decided that Alien had just died for me. One star for Franco's compression without having to utter a bare sentence on board. That is the right decision. The only one. (15/05/2017)

After the light-footed The Martian, I assumed that Scott's age is just a number that comes from subtracting the number on his ID card from the number on the calendar, so I wouldn't blame it on senility. Rather (and this is worse), I attribute it to creative indiscipline and an overgrown ego that has become a tumor of a uniquely creative mind that neither respects the canon nor offers a new approach. The opening is confusing and the characters have no background, so we're following a group of really, really stupid assholes. The plot is very transparent, with the banal (the bloody mess) taking precedence over what is in fact really interesting - and in terms of the development of the series - more important (the creature). Scott wants to impress, but the character of David could stand in for Kryten in Red Dwarf, so instead of holding your breath, you're both laughing and cursing through your teeth. Visual variety, Scott's long-standing asset that has saved many a film, is also absent, with this often looking like a more expensive episode of Stargate, which is the level where the rest of the film actually belongs in terms of its quality. PS: Kurzel's audio is a dark nervous fantasy that the film is not worthy of. (13/07/2017)

Let’s not get stuck in the past. A classic will live forever, in “lonely perfection” as David would call its place in history. And now, after thirty years, it’s time to try a new take on the premise – simple but effective, fun at the level of a contemporary, not that of groundbreaking films in the sci-fi genre. I enjoyed Alien: Covenant because it’s a hardcore sci-fi horror flick with fantastic esthetics, breathtaking locations and music that (finally) references the atmospheric scores by Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. I enjoyed the escalating thrilling scenes (the first scene showing the return to Lander that takes as much as ten minutes ranks among the best in the whole series), and the nicely designed situations in which characters are killed off in accordance with the genre rules. Before the characters get out of one mess, the viewer already knows about another that will make everything even worse for them. Not to mention the healthy dose of blood and brutality. SPOILER ALERT: The script explains the origin of Giger’s creatures and I find this self-destructive notion that the ultimate evil is created by an android created by man rather compelling. Thematically, this is another version of Cameron’s Skynet. The android confrontation gives the Alien universe an interesting new dimension. And the pessimistic ending offers great possibilities for further development in future installments. I look forward to those! (16/05/2017)

Once again it’s not the hit we were hoping for, but I think it’s at least a decent sci-fi horror flick. In any case, it’s a pity that it’s so half-assed and unfocused, because the plot arc potential is big. Unfortunately, it’s watered down by dense characters, dense dialogues and some dense scenes, too. The birth of the first real alien was actually funny. Overall, it has the same problems as Prometheus, but a couple of positives things on top. And if you were pissed off at explorers taking their helmets off too soon in Prometheus , here when landing on a new planet, they won’t even bother to put them on. Edit: I have to say that this wore off quite fast. Much faster than Prometheus, to which I returned after the screening. When I think back about Covenant, I mostly remember the negative aspects, which in the previous one was the opposite. And this is a relevant reason to lower the rating. (17/05/2017)

The creationist line from Prometheus is enhanced with quotes from the original Alien. The crew suffering suicidal tendencies fights against the symptoms of a weird pathogen and then against those ever-popular droolers. Apart from McBride, the crew is eminently forgettable. In, Fassbender dominates in his double role and is certainly one of the most interesting characters of the entire Alien universe. Scott maintains his high standards visually, and the destroyed civilization scenery is incredibly convincing. (19/05/2017)