Worth your time

Rating: 9/10 (28 June 2017)

It was comforting tonight walking into 'Alien: Covenant', the sixth installment of the series counting 'Prometheus' but not the awful 'Alien-vs-Predator', knowing that it was directed by the original 'Alien' & auteur director Ridley Scott. Many would agree that the first two, 'Alien' & 'Aliens' were two of the best horror/sci-fi films of all time and with great reasons aplenty. The movie opened with a brief but deep philosophical conversation between an Android & its human creator which, in a nutshell, formed the basis of the plot. From then on it was a ride of familiarity, but a rather exciting one, on-board a spaceship with a mission to inhabit a new planet with 15 crews on board including an Android. Successions of accidents & incidents quickly introduced the human characters, many were given 'blinked-and-you- missed-it' screen time. The excitement quadrupled as soon as 'that signature first attack' by the parasite happened on screen. The way an embryonic alien bursts out of an egg or one's torso and face-hugged its victims still shock like it was the first time. Just when you think it was all a bit too familiar the second act quickly diverted deep into 'Prometheus' territory and clearly established the new direction to the plot - one where the aliens no longer always taking the center stage. The final act had all the spectacular & thrilling action pieces we had come to expect from the A-monster, the femme-fatale factor, a 'new' villain and, of course, a sequel (yes!). This movie is a Michael Fassbender's vehicle into the franchise (and he was terrific) with newcomer Katherine Waterston as the heroine playing a convincing second fiddle. In the reliable hands of Ridley Scott, this movie pulsated with great balance between riveting action pieces and quieter moments of philosophical exchanges.