Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller
2 hours and 2 minutes
Rated: R
Written by: John Logan & Dante Harper
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Produced by: David Giler, Walter Hill, Mark Huffam, Michael Schaefer, and Ridley Scott
Cast:
Michael Fassbender
Katherine Waterston
Billy Crudup
Danny McBride
Carmen Ejogo
Demián Bichir
Run.
Since its creation, the Alien franchise has been a cultural phenomenon that has seen droves of loyal fans and cinephiles eager and excited about any and every new installment within the series. And yes, some installments have faired better in the long run than others (surprisingly, Alien: Resurrection has developed a bit of a cult following and to be fair even Alien 3 has its merits - although they are hard to find through all the nonsense). When Ridley Scott, the man who began it all, announced in 2011 that he would be returning to the Alien universe with a prequel, naturally all the fans of his original film became ecstatic. And while Prometheus did see a mix of responses from fans and critics, its enormous box office success prompted Scott to have a spark of creativity and understand that the hype for these films is still very much alive and well, even forty-seven years after his original film (it's now been almost fifty!). Thus, we were promised more from the franchise's original auteur.
One of the largest complaints critics and audiences had regarding Prometheus was that it seemed too distant from the Alien universe. While there were overlaps and similarities, some wanted more and felt snubbed by the film lacking the franchise's iconic monster. With Alien: Covenant, Scott has made it clear that he has heard those concerns. Unlike Prometheus, Alien: Covenant is a return to the more horror and monster-movie elements that made the original Alien so incredible and memorable in all of our psyches. Once the story's action begins, the monster and creature effects hit the audience so fast and so hard we're barely given a moment to catch our breaths. Admittedly, it is a refreshing change of pace from Prometheus, which at times did feel majorly bogged down with philosophical discussions. Unfortunately, Alien: Covenant has a lot of this too and it actually doesn't work as effectively as it did within Prometheus. In the previous movie, we saw a group of scientists and rich corporatists searching for the creators of human life and discovering an unnerving truth. In that context, the philosophical dialogue made sense. In Alien: Covenant, the film concerns a ship that is carrying hundreds of colonists looking for a new home world to call their own. While some philosophical discussion in the way of dialogue makes sense (the sequences between the two Fassbender robots are truly remarkable), Alien: Covenant does feel a bit more weighty than Prometheus, meaning there are moments that feel to be moving much more slowly. The exposition at the film's start seems to drag on much longer than it ought to, and one is left wishing some cuts had been applied.
Not helping the lengthy exposition is the film's call-to-action, which is virtually identical to that of the original Alien. Anyone who has seen the original - or probably any Alien film - can guess what happens next. Not even halfway through Alien: Covenant, the entire story becomes evident and predictable to the point that one is left feeling disappointed Scott didn't notice just how predictable the movie really is.
Once the chaos begins, however, the film really does take a major turn for the best. Ridley Scott understands that the xenomorph creature has become such a cultural icon (you can buy plush children's toys of them - thanks a lot, James Cameron) and because of this perhaps isn't as terrifying as it used to be in Alien. It was terrifying in the original film because it played with our fears of the unknown. We never truly saw the creature in its entirety, as it was hidden in shadows, mechanical backgrounds, close-ups, and quick cuts. But Scott understands we all know what the xenomorph looks like now and it can no longer be a symbol for our fear of the unknown. Therefore, he brilliantly introduces a solution. He makes them fast - faster than they've probably ever been seen before. Most of the sequences with the xenomorph are filmed in low levels of daylight, allowing us as an audience to see the creature we all know and are familiar with. What we are ultimately scared by is our knowledge that these creatures are an unstoppable force of violence (as Ash said in the original film when Ripley asked him how to kill it, "You can't"). Add the unprecedented speed into the mix and we as an audience get a horrible feeling in our guts regarding the fate of the film's heroes.
Scott also adds some new creatures into the mix - the not-fully developed neomorphs. We're introduced to these ghostly, speeding, demons right out of the gate in one of the most grotesquely brilliant moments of the film (a moment, that surprisingly, pays homage to Lamberto Bava's film Demons which - when asked about the effect in question - Demons' special effects artist Sergio Stivaletti said was an homage to Alien - thus Scott brings it back full circle with the neomorph birth). The neomorphs are utterly terrifying and the presence of these new and unexpected monsters does keep the film in line with Alien's elements regarding our fears of the unknown.
The film's cast is terrific, as surely was expected. Michael Fassbender - as was the case with Prometheus - absolutely steals the show. This time around, Fassbender plays two characters divided purely in morals and principles. It's incredible to see this titan of a character actor perform dialogue with himself and play two characters whose only similarities are that they look alike. Katherine Waterston does a good job as the film's leading heroine, although perhaps her character isn't as memorable or well rounded as Noomi Rapace's Shaw in Prometheus and certainly not as much as Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. But, Waterston is a capable performer who answers the call to action just as anyone would expect a female lead in an Alien movie to do so. The film's supporting cast also are great and Danny McBride gives a surprisingly lovable performance in what is perhaps his most serious role to date.
All of these wonderful things considered, Alien: Covenant does have another problem ... and it is a big one. What made the original Alien so frightening was - again - its playing on our fears of the unknown. In it, space truckers stumble upon an alien organism that acts as a parasite attacking them all one by one. The film shines due to its randomness. It succeeds because the events within the film are seemingly random and shake up the characters' abilities to deal with reality. The problem with Alien: Covenant (and Prometheus too while I'm at it) is that it seems to be saying the events of Alien weren't in fact random at all. These prequel films are suggesting that humans, xenomorphs, neomorphs, face huggers, and engineers are all connected in some mysterious convoluted back story all leading up to the events of Alien. This is a major problem because Scott is essentially stripping away that randomness of the first film - the elements that made it so brilliant and so terrifying - and he is providing us as viewers with explanations for things that ultimately feel like they didn't need an explanation. Is it necessary to know where the xenomorphs came from? Was it necessary to know who the space jockey in the original Alien was and what his intentions were? Hopefully, with the continuation of this prequel franchise, Scott will pull back and understand that by providing these explanations he is undermining his original masterpiece.
Once one gets past the film's weighty exposition and largely predictable plot line, Alien: Covenant is truly a thrilling film that returns the franchise back to its horror/monster-movie roots by placing its iconic villain front and center. And while it may be problematic overall for the franchise, the extent of which has yet to be determined. In the meantime, Alien: Covenant is a whole lot of fun.
7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment