Spoiler Free Review: Alien Covenant

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2017)

Okay, before I review Alien Covenant I just want to say something. I have seen so many people rate this film, like, a 1 or 2 so I wasn't expecting much. However, upon seeing it, I realized that this is in no way a bad film. It's actually a very entertaining thriller and it's a lot better than some of the other Alien films out there (Here's looking at you Alien Resurrection) and I think people aren't really judging it based on the film it's self, I think they are judging it based on whether or not it was as good as the original classic. Now, is it as good as the original? No. Is it a 1 star? HELL NO. However Alien Covenant was a bit disappointing as far as a film by Ridley Scott goes. Now for starters, the film looks FANTASTIC. Even the people who rated this a 1 will admit that the film is extremely well crafted and looks marvelous. It's definitely one of the best looking films I've seen this year. Scott really gets your heart pumping too, on multiple occasions I found myself gripping the armrests and holding my breath waiting for what was to happen next. Bottom line is, the man knows what he's doing behind the camera and he knows how to create a suspenseful atmosphere for the audience and he proves that again with this film. The acting was also very very good. I would say that Danny Mcbrides 'Tennessee' was my favorite character, and he was easily the biggest surprise of the film as he gives a great performance. Michael Fassbender (as usual) was also incredible and I'm trying to keep this spoiler free.. so I'll just say he has A LOT of weight to pull in the film. Everyone else was pretty good as well but those two were the real standouts to me. I also thought that MOST of the CG looked fine. I prefer practical effects and sometimes the CG was obvious, but it didn't really take me to much out of the film. Now we are really dipping into the negatives and my biggest flaw with the film, was by far the fact that they show way to much to the audience. Now before I make this point, I just want to say that I am not a squeamish person, I can handle quite a bit of gore, I am however a big fan of 'implied horror' and I believe it adds so much more to the tension. Ridley Scott does not hold back and this is definitely an R rated film do not expect other wise. Like I said I don't mind gore and I think you need some in an Alien film to really sell the Xenomorph's dominance, however I would of liked to have been able to think more about what happened. For some reason, the filmmakers decide to show the Xenomorph multiple times in complete daylight, which i thought kind of took away from the ambiguity of the creature and definitely took away some of the tension for me. WHAT WE CANT SEE IS SO MUCH MORE FRIGHTENING THAN WHAT WE CAN. Another problem I have with the film is that the characters are pretty disposable "horror movie" characters and on top of that you know exactly when one of them will die. It's pretty sad that they didn't at least try to be creative with the deaths in the film and just went with the clichéd route of conveniently isolating a character so they can die. Characters also make some VERY dumb decisions. I have seen worse decisions made in film but they make some bad ones here. So to wrap it up...
PROS: Directing, Acting, Editing, Sound Design, Production Design
CONS: Very Dumb Cliché Characters, Some Of The Gore, And Showing The Creature Too Much
This is in no way a 1/10. It's honestly ridiculous that people have been rating it that. This was a fun time at the theater and although it was a bit disappointing, I can see myself adding it to my Blu Ray collection and watching it again.
My Rating: 7/10