Dull and uneventful. Third tier Alien entry.

Rating: 4/10 (13 May 2017)

After the ambitious but divisive Prometheus, veteran filmmaker Ridley Scott promised a more straight-up prequel to his original 1979 masterpiece. What we're given, however, is actually more akin to a remake, and a shallow one at that. Scott attempts to combine the philosophical head-scratching of Prometheus with the body-horror eeriness of Alien, but somehow fails to achieve either. Covenant is not chilling enough to be scary nor clever enough to be worthy of debate, sitting somewhere in the dissatisfying middle of the two. It's also not especially fun. There are a few gory moments of delight, but after an exciting early sequence where a newly born xenomorph wreaks havoc, the set pieces slowly deteriorate into uninventive excuses to kill people off in exactly the order you assume they'll go. For a director who so excellently builds tension and sustains suspense, it's a shock to see so many sequences go straight for the easy kill; the under-the-skin terror Scott is capable of has been swapped for B-grade violence. As per normal Michael Fassbender provides plenty of awesomeness amongst the mess, his dual role performance as a pair of androids showcasing his immense talent as well as elevating the material to a semi-watchable standard. In her second big role after Fantastic Beasts, Katherine Waterston turns in an acceptable Ripley-wannabe performance yet never fully convinces as the hard arse heroine, whilst Danny McBride sticks out like a sore thumb as a cowboy pilot. On the surface this has what is required for a great instalment into the franchise, although ultimately it never succeeds due to what appears as a lack of commitment from the man behind the camera and a lack of ingenuity by the screenwriters. Covenant has its moments of passing excitement, but nevertheless is a disappointingly dull sequel/prequel that adds very little to the Alien canon.