In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream, "Please Stop Making Unnecessary Prequels!"

Rating: 4/10 (26 May 2017)

Alien is a bona fide sci-fi, haunted house masterpiece. Aliens is a roller-coaster action film full of fun thrills. From there, the franchise has is a hodge-podge of less-than-stellar films struggling to find an identity. With these last two entries, director Scott seems to lean into his Blade Runner, marrying a darkly patient skin with a more philosophical, poetic underbelly. It's a decent idea; however, what was once a simplistically visceral mysterious-killing-machine series has become a frustrating head-scratcher. The in-the-moment scares of Covenant are eclipsed by predictable plot, confused thematics, and overwhelming pretension. We follow a new crew of stereotyped misfit Earthlings head out to colonize a new planet, when a mysterious transmission guides them towards a planet of monsters. Scott's direction is effortlessly skilled, and that skill shines in the gory sci-fi and the general design elements. Unfortunately, like the polarizing Prometheus, the underlying story is nearly impenetrable and the dialogue ranges from inanely clichéd to insanely stupid. My real problem lies in the very concept of these prequels. Comedian Patton Oswalt said it perfectly when talking about his hatred for the Star Wars prequels: "I don't care where the stuff I love comes from; I just love the stuff I love!" Here, we're presented with a lore that gives us the origin of this classic monster, effectively undermining the terror within the mystery of these aliens. This might bother me more if Covenant weren't so forgettable; luckily, there is so little character or story linking these to their much better predecessors that you can eject them from your memory as easily as an alien bursting from your chest.