A tale of two movies

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2018)

"No one will ever understand the lonely perfection of my dreams."
(Contains heavy spoilers)
Alien Covenant is a mess. A beautiful, glorious mess stuck between a desire to return to the straightforward effectiveness of the original classic, while also reaching for something deeper and contemplative. The result is a slightly awkward mish-mash between the two that I can't help but strangely admire for how fascinating it all is.
In terms of structure, there's not much in the way of surprises in Covenant's story - the crew of a civilian vessel (in this case, a colony ship) pick up a mysterious distress call, they follow it, find it's source, search the planet, then a character says "I'll be right back" and you know things are about to hit the fan. However, the competent, if flawed, plot disguises a set of themes which appear to be reaching to be something different from what the Alien franchise has previously delivered.
This is perfectly captured in the cold opening, by far the strongest scene in the film, which shows Peter Weyland testing his then-new David android. The scene is rich in the sort of poetic imagery Ridley Scott has always been so good at conjuring, the dialogue laced with intriguing themes of creation, purpose and AI sentience (if perhaps a touch pretentious, but at least it's trying). I came away rather disappointed with Covenant on my first viewing, perhaps because this opening scene promised something the rest of the film never really delivered. For all of its aspirations of grandeur, it's curious to note how the most effective moment in Covenant doesn't come from the aliens or the impeccable production design, but a simple moment of hesitation from David when Weyland asks for tea.
Regardless, the first two acts here are executed with verve and punch, despite the oft-mentioned daftness of the character's actions. There is a disappointing lack of depth in this film's characterization - Waterson turns in an excellent performance that matches Weaver's original, but otherwise most of the characters seem to serve little other purpose than to be meaty punching bags for the alien scenes (which, to be fair, pack some rather unexpected jolts that managed to shock even me). Where the film really shines is in Fassbender's riveting performance.
David is such a fantastic character - a modern recreation of Milton's Satan: as charming as he is despicable (the script even makes a few nods towards Paradise Lost in the dialogue), yet somehow always intriguing. I can't recall the last time I saw such a perfect marrying of actor to character as this one - Fassbender manages to take the smallest cues and turn them into crucial character beats, which carries through to the chilling horror of the movie's closing scene. His obsession with creation becomes a focal point of the film's second act, and while some may find these scenes pretentiously written, they're also the most interesting parts of the film, where the writers are trying to add an extra layer to the conventional storyline. This culminates in Covenant's obligatory chestburster scene - it's such a bizarrely framed moment that I can't help but smile wryly at whenever I see it. Who could've guessed that the most moving part of this film could be something that's usually portrayed as horrifying?
Sadly, the third act is where Covenant struggles to bring these many ideas together into a coherent whole. Rather than trying to properly link the heady themes with the down-to-earth grime of the previous Alien films, the film instead spirals out into a chaotic series of gory action scenes and a rather predictable finale, saved entirely by the ending itself, which turns the 'last survivor' cliche on its head somewhat and points towards an ambiguous future for the series.
On the whole, I can't deny that Alien Covenant is a bit of a mess - both of the main story threads would work fine on their own, yet here they're competing for space, resulting in a film that's not so much poorly made as it is missing something vital in its emotional core. At the same time, there are moments of sheer brilliance (the medbay and grass attack scenes being some of the terrifying cold-sweat moments I've seen in a film) and occasional majesty (such as David's arrival on the alien planet) that manage to elevate it beyond just being another boilerplate entry in the Alien series.
It may not match up to the first two movies, or quite up to Prometheus, but I found Alien Covenant to be possibly the most fascinating entry in the series, despite, or indeed maybe because, of its flaws and conflicted identity. I have no idea what Ridley Scott could possibly be intending to conclude this series, but I still can't wait to find out...