Alien (film series)

ALIEN: COVENANT (15)

D: Ridley Scott

20th Century Fox/TSG/Scott Free/Brandywine (Walter Hill, David Giler, Ridley Scott, Mark Huffam & Michael Schaefer)

USA/UK 🇺🇸🇬🇧 2017

122 mins

Science Fiction/Horror

W: John Logan & Dante Harper [based on characters created by Dan O'Bannon & Ronald Shusett]

DP: Dariusz Wolski

Ed: Pietro Scalia

Mus: Jed Kurzel 

Katherine Waterston (Daniels), Michael Fassbender (David / Walter), Billy Crudup (Chris), Danny McBride (Tennessee), Demian Bichir (Lope), Carmen Ejogo (Karina), Amy Seimetz (Maggie)

**SPOILER WARNING**

Bridging the gap between Prometheus (qv) and the very first Alien movie, Ridley Scott's prequel trilogy is not only getting bogged down in evolution and existentialism mumbo jumbo, it's doing a major disservice to the original series of films.

The first Alien film really didn't need a prequel and the discovery of the planet with the alien eggs could have just been a matter of consequence, but Prometheus was released in 2012 to explore more into the expanded universe behind the 'Space Jockey' creatures which feature briefly in the first film. However, Prometheus was met with a lot of criticism by people who expected a direct prequel to Alien, so now we have this movie, which doesn't expand the universe at all. The alien is not a deadly creature from the furthest reaches of the galaxy, it's a science experiment gone wrong by a rogue android with a God complex.

Alien: Covenant begins on a vessel full of colonists and human embryos, destined for an Earth-like planet which can support life. A handful of the crew are woken from their cryosleep by a solar event which consequently kills the ship's captain (James Franco has never made easier money).

Acting captain Billy Crudup alters the flightplan to investigate a nearby planet with an Earth-like atmosphere and the rest of the crew tag along. Because they're stupid.

There's little time invested in character development before some of the crew members become infected and alien creatures start bursting out of their innards, and when their shuttle is blown apart by terrible gunfire aim, the survivors are left stranded. 

They are rescued from an alien ambush by David, the cyborg from Prometheus, who provides exposition before inviting him into his cave to bear his creations.

Though some of the questions left hanging at the end of Prometheus are answered, this film only poses more questions which will be answered in the next film because 20th Century Fox want even more money from this franchise. 

Unfortunately, it appears that Ridley Scott wishes to destroy his legacy with these prequel films, in the same way George Lucas did with his. This series of films really should have ended with part 3, which has been heavily criticised with its handling of the continuation, but it really starts to look a masterpiece with each new movie

4/10

ALIEN: ROMULUS (15)

D: Fede Alvarez

20th Century Studios / Scott Free / Brandywine / TSG (Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss & Walter Hill)

UK/US 🇬🇧🇺🇸 2024

119 mins

Science Fiction/Horror

W: Fede Alvarez & Rodo Sayagues [based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon & Ronald Shusett]

DP: Galo Olivares

Ed: Jake Roberts

Mus: Benjamin Wallfisch

PD: Naaman Marshall

Cailee Spaeny (Rain Carradine), David Jonsson (Andy), Archie Renaux (Tyler Harrison), Isabela Merced (Kay Harrison), Spike Fearn (Bjorn), Aileen Wu (Navarro)

“In space, no one can hear you recycle.”

A sequel to the Alien series that takes place in-between the original film from 1979 and its first sequel, Aliens, from 1986 and it’s fair to say that the audience needs to accept a lot of plot contrivances and coincidences for this one, which reverts back to the haunted house in space plot of the very first film and magpies a lot of content from all the various sequels.

A group of young miners, desperate to get away from their work post on a planet in perpetual darkness stow away on a company ship to scavenge a space station within their orbit for fuel & parts to aid their journey to a more desirable planet. 

Though the derelict space station does still hold the equipment they require, it is also populated with hostile alien creatures which they must evade after being separated from each other. 

Half survive the ordeal on the space station, setting up a conclusion with yet another comedy monster finale which isn’t quite as poor as Alien: Resurrection, but isn’t too far off either  

The ensemble here are okay for an Alien film with a Gen Z cast, with David Jonsson the biggest standout as an android who is conflicted over protecting his “sister” and carrying out his prime directive after being corrupted by the space station’s own artificial intelligence. The atmosphere, production design and visual effects are of the quality you’d expect for an Alien sequel, but it has to be said that you could have the same experience with this film if you merely wrote “Hey, remember this from the other movies?” on a wet fish and had someone constantly slapping it around your face. 

It is moderately entertaining, and is certainly an improvement on the previous film, but I don’t consider this to be a better film than Prometheus or even Alien 3, which at least tried to do something a little bit different.

The biggest gripe for me was using the late Ian Holm’s likeness and even recycling some of his lines to reprise his android character from the initial film with a different name.  Hollywood, please stop doing this, it’s highly distasteful.

6/10