"Alien: Covenant" Is A Vast Improvement Over "Prometheus" That Focuses On Expanding The Series' Mythology

Rating: 8/10 (10 May 2017)

"Alien: Covenant" is directed by Ridley Scott and is the second "Alien" prequel and the sequel to 2012's "Prometheus." In "Alien" Covenant," the crew of the ship Covenant, make way to find a planet that they can colonize, only to be terrorized by creatures hunting them down and an unknown inhabitant that lives on the planet.
I went to a press screening go this in Boston, and going into this screening I prayed and hoped for it to be better than "Prometheus." I only saw Prometheus once when it was first released, and just watched it again for the second time earlier today to prepare for "Alien: Covenant." Prometheus was a bland, very uneventful movie. It answered none of the questions that Ridley Scott wanted it to answer, so I was skeptical about this sequel. Luckily....it turned out to be good. "Alien: Covenant" is a vast improvement over Prometheus that really expands the series' mythology and is a very entertaining and enjoyable ride.
One thing I noticed was that shaky camera was used for the action scenes, but used very well in a way where you could still tell what was going on. Not a lot of directors, barely any for that matter, can perfect that, but I think Ridely Scott was on point when it came to how those scenes were shot and directed. It gave the film this kind of realness that I did not expect it to have.
Luckily, there is more action in this movie than there was in its predecessor. The action scenes are really fun. They're bloody, they're gory, they're everything we want an Alien movie to be. No, nothing was all that ground breaking when it came to writing and crafting these scenes, but these scenes present a sense of claustrophobia since most of them are filmed in small locations and in the dark. The final action scene in the movie feels very similar to the way the first one ended but doesn't feel like a complete ripoff of that film.
This is visually the best movie of the year so far. The cinematography is lush. The vast landscape from this planet is so well captured and so well realized that you get a sense that planets like the probably do exist in this universe.
Many, not all, but many questions about where the Xenomorph comes from are answered in this movie. There are still some blurry spots, still some things I'm not too sure about or a little hazy on, but for the most part most of the questions we have regarding the Aliens and where they come from are starting to get answered and our remaining questions will be (or should be) answered by the time the third prequel comes around.
This movie felt like it breathed new life into a series that was waning. Ridley Scott seemed to take all of the complaints fans had about Prometheus to heart and set out to create something that would both please those fans and create new fans. It's almost like he knew Prometheus wasn't a good movie and accepted the fact that fans were right, and made a movie for the fans. It is a good blend between the claustrophobic, psychological horror of "Alien," and the sci-fi action adventure of "Aliens," with the worst parts of "Prometheus" chucked out the window.
This movie does have its faults, and most of those faults lie within the characters and the decisions they make. Nobody in this movie is really all that fleshed out, save for Michael Fassbender's characters. There's nothing really there emotionally to help you latch on to these characters. None of the really have backstories. Katherine Waterston's character has somewhat of a backstory, but even then it's not much. I did not find the need to care for these characters or even care at all if I had to because most of these characters aren't fleshed out and are just expendable. The characters aren't very smart either. When you see a giant egg covered in goo, probably a good idea not to touch it...right? Or shoot an alien that's calm just to make it mad...right?
Another problem is predictability. This is easily the most predictable movie I have seen this year. Just judging from the trailer you knew which of the crew were gonna die. There were certain plot points that I guessed about halfway through, and something at the end that I saw coming from a mile away. It just did not sit well with me. When I can predict things like that, it brings the movie down for me.
Overall, a solid return to form for the "Alien" franchise. Nowhere near as good as "Alien" or "Aliens," but LOADS better than Prometheus. The other two don't count.
I'm going to give "Alien: Covenant" a 7.7/10
Check out my video review on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06cSmrtQRH4&t=1s