Underrated

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2020)

I'd put off 'Alien: Covenant' until today. A few weeks ago, I'd recorded it off TV. Having a dedicated home theatre, normally I'd only watch my movies either from disc (1080p or 4K Blu-ray), or on Netflix. But I'd been put off 'Covenant' for numerous reasons. Whilst I enjoy 'Prometheus' and thought it a commendable but flawed sci-fi effort, it seemed narratively far removed from the original Alien movie. And whilst an origin story perhaps needs time to develop, it seemed that the writers had written themselves into a corner with 'Prometheus'. In fact, they'd admitted as much themselves, as its release.
To my surprise, 'Covenant' connects the two films together well, whilst gradually bridging the gap between 'Prometheus', and how it could eventually lead to the Alien were were introduced to in the original 'Alien'.
Michael Fassbender is a great actor, despite having starred in some weak movies in his career. But I found his protrayal of android character 'David' to be the most enigmatic, interesting, and compelling of all of them in 'Prometheus'. He was also subtly sinister, his motives being unclear, particularly when he intentionally contaminates Dr Elizabeth Shaw's partner in 'Prometheus'. So it made perfect sense to make him the main protagonist in 'Covenant', and to build upon his unhinged 'creative' streak that began aboard Prometheus using the pathogen he'd discovered.
The rest of the cast in 'Covenant' are perfectly suitable and play their parts well, and Ridley Scott and the writers don't make the mistake of bogging the audience down with pointless backstory or boring exposition with characters who are ultimately doomed, instead effectively using them to drive the overaching narrative forward. I was pleasantly surprised with 'Covenant', and find it such a shame that a solid sci-fi movie, and a respectable addition to the Alien franchise and lore bombed at the box office.