Giger's Xenomorph

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2018)

The original will always be remembered as the best, as is the case in many franchises. But the "Alien" has come a long way since 1979.
Covenant (after Prometheus) continues to bring back the original artistic style that H.R. Giger imagined in his Necronomicon. He paired up with Ridley Scott back then and won the Academy Award for best design. Giger's airbrush paintings are being justified by the design and art style of this reboot because if how technology (CGI) has improved since the 1970s. Giger was able to achieve what he did because he was an outsider to the film industry and had complete creative freedom thanks to the producers.
He created this gorgeous monster and its desolate world without any obstruction, so much so that an actual human skull was used to create the face of the original Xenomorph Queen Animatron. The design was so intricate and specific simply because it came from one artist's undisturbed mind. And his expression is what makes Alien stand out from the rest and has become a benchmark for Extra-terrestrial movies.
Alien: Covenant embraces this dark horrific blend of steampunk-deep space-grotesque monsters just like Prometheus did and they look gnarlier than they ever did.
But all of this, in the end, is just the art-style of the movie.
Movies cannot entirely depend on the art-style. This is where Covenant, to an extent, suffers from the recent epidemic of "passable" movies.
You are enthralled by the detailed world that your characters find themselves in but the characters themselves feel... empty.
Astronauts from a dying world out on an expedition to find a new planet to live on, don't really make you feel for them.
So, if they die, it doesn't matter to you, because the movie never really makes you care about them.
Michael Fassbender returns as Walter, his renewed appearance might confuse you if you have seen Prometheus but all is explained in a timely manner.
Fassbender's character is what brings depth to this movie while others fail.
Except for a few well-constructed scenes, the story itself fails to deliver.
It starts like a well-made disaster movie that hooks you in but seems to lose its grip on the grander scheme.
What I liked about Covenant is the central, recurring motif of the "origin of all species" which is well devised in dialogue throughout the film, especially what Fassbender does with it.
An age old question is tackled in a very interesting manner.
"If you created me, who created you?"
Much is left for the audience to understand the answer to that question while hints are hidden behind the themes and lore of the two films.
If you haven't watched Prometheus yet, watch it before you watch Covenant, to completely understand the lore and continuity.
There is definitely going to be a third movie and Covenant felt like a set up for that.
It wasn't a solid 7 but because some scenes were beautifully captured and because I loved the acid blood filled rapidly evolving alien, I give it a 7/10 on IMDb.