Couples Retreat with Aliens needs therapy

Rating: 5/10 (11 May 2017)

Covenant is the 6th movie in the franchise with director Ridley Scott returning. So what did they get right? Well as expected the visuals are always stunning. Scenery of the planets, art design and cinematography are aspects of Alien with Scott's direction I can always count on. In terms of acting, Michael Fassbender gives a chilling performance. He manages to portray creepiness, desire and obsession so well it got under my skin. He was given the most to do with his existential themes and creator complexity so that was expected. Unfortunately I still left the theatre underwhelmed. Scott clearly wanted to return to the roots of the 1979 classic so much, that it essentially BECOMES that. The film becomes the conventional horror flick it so started in '79 riddled with tropes (if they're alone; THEY DIE, if they're having sex; THEY DIE). It offers nothing new in the franchise as we've grown to see the scene where a dude looks into an facehugging egg, or a revelation that androids can't be trusted. It certainly tries sets up new directions they could've taken but never quite gets out of its comfort zone and in the end we get a plain "monster-picks-off-people-one-by-one" story. Also the CGI Xenomorph PALES in comparison to the mechanic puppet used in previous films. This lack of practical effects was also a bummer. In the end though it acts fine as a sci-fi horror if you're not too attached to how revolutionary Alien and Aliens are. Part of me wanted something a little more unfortunately.