Alien Covenant. Saw this on Thursday. In short I enjoyed it. I think it does a very nice job of tying in with Prometheus and making more sense of a story that was quite disjointed. Girlfriend who has never seen an Alien film thought that there were some “scary moments”. I would agree. So no spoilers just sit back and enjoy. I think the re-watching of Prometheus will prepare you well.
I think that Michael Fassbender was very good here.
I also watched Extras in Prometheus and others (Alien and Aliens) and think there are some parts that could have made aspects of Prometheus more clear. I will likely see Alien Covenant again or at least get the blu-Ray.
Here are Prometheus extras:
Now that it is Tuesday and Alison has seen Alien: Covenant I can add a little more commentary here, without spoiling too much.
First, these deleted scenes would have been helpful in Prometheus. They provide some colour and background that are necessary to better understand Peter Weiland and his ambitions. It also talks about the goals to wipe out all human based religion. The one interesting thread of Alien Covenant and Prometheus that comes through for me is the idea of a God, and what meeting and knowing about the entity that created you can do. Weiland believes because he can create a living robot, that he has become a God. In Prometheus, David seems to have a moment of clarity with his Creators (or Engineers if you prefer) when he was speaking to Dr Shaw’s boyfriend, when he was at the pool table. David seems to be disappointed, and he puts the black goop into this man’s glass knowing that he will be changed forever.
Then the events unfold as they do in Prometheus and David and Dr Shaw leave to go and try and find the Engineers. Dr Shaw wanted to know why the Engineers wanted to destroy them, David has other plans with his alien ship payload.
Then in Covenant the opening sequence again builds on David speaking with Weiland. Weiland had believed that by being a God that he would live forever. This was not the case as he found out. In Covenant, David in his discussion with Weiland talks about his God (Weiland) dying whereas David would not. He wondered aloud about that fact, to which Weiland changes the subject for some tea. David is exploring this whole aspect of being a God, and creation, and what it all means. His ideas just don’t have the frail human body as the highest level on the hierarchy.
For me, the beauty of Covenant is how this aspect of the story is moved forward. It was so muddy in Prometheus, but it was picked up and carried forward in a way that made both movies make more sense. Along the way, sure we had some scary bits and some adventure, but at the core it was the search for the Divine, and explaining creation. Interesting too that the James Cameron contribution to the Alien story in Aliens of the Mother Alien is utterly dismissed. The eggs aren’t created and birth by another Alien. Ridley Scott keeps firmly to his own vision.
I know that, like Prometheus, I will see Covenant more times. I will pick up on more to be sure. I will have questions, for example, why would they need James Franco to “play” the Captain of the Covenant, but I will see and pick up on more details. But in the end this movie worked for me. And was enjoyable and I walked away, as you can see, thinking about it further. Another movie of course is to come. I look forward to it.
Mondays With Robbie 