Entertaining and disappointing at the same time!

Rating: 5/10 (25 May 2017)

I wanted to love Alien: Covenant. I've been a huge fan of the Alien franchise since I first wandered into that movie theater in 1979 with no expectations and came out blown away. Finally in Ellen Ripley, we had the perfect heroine—smart, beautiful without vanity, nice enough but no-nonsense. I just loved her and wanted to be her. And the first Alien was such a simple, classic, "and then there were none" plot, filmed with such style. That so much of it was improvised still amazes me. I have a clip of a Brett and Parker scene on my iPhone—"Riiiiight". Alien managed to create distinct characters so quickly and succinctly. Aliens, while quite different from the first film, was great, and I was even able to enjoy Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection because first of all, they still had Ripley, and secondly, there was some kind of continuity with the original—which of course is because they were sequels rather than prequels.
Then came Prometheus. I had been very eager to see it and I liked it more than most people I know. But I liked it as something altogether separate from the Alien movies. It was a prequel but it seemed to be in its own universe. Elizabeth Shaw was also a brave, resourceful heroine, though the writers decided to weigh her down with emotional baggage, which made her quite different from Ripley. Meredith Vickers, if she hadn't been so unpleasant, could have been a more direct ancestor of Ripley.
Now we come to Covenant and with the radical spaced A L I E N in the title, well, that's part of the Alien franchise, right? I pushed my husband to go with me to the IMAX to see this and was surprised when he turned to me at the end and said, "I liked that better than Prometheus". Huh? He's not quite the Alien fan I am. Was this an entertaining movie? Yes? Did it give an interesting twist to the origin of the xenomorph? Yes, I'll give you that. Was it worthy of the Alien franchise?, eh-- about as much as Prometheus was.
I could see that they were trying for that same feel of the original, starting with the motley crew like the one on the Nostromo, this time being married couples heading off to a colonize an earth-like planet (I coincidentally recently reviewed Spacecraft IC-1, whose crew had a similar mission). But I just didn't get that same immediate recognition of colorful character types that I had with Alien. I found them all rather bland, even Danny McBride, an actor I love, as Tennessee, was pretty much the same as he is in everything he's in. They weren't remotely memorable like the crew in Alien. Michael Fassbender, as the dual synthetics, was wonderful, as he is in everything, but I think the strong concentration on the characters of the androids at the expense of the humans was also a turn-off for me. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want Alien movies to be about androids—I want them to be about humans against the xenomorph.
There were also a few atmospheric nods to the original film in things like heavy, clinking chains and dripping water, Danny's undershirt and unfortunate utilitarian haircut, and the grand finale was definitely trying to give us a Ripleyesque battle. But I think these nods only made me miss Alien and Aliens more.
I also found that there were several small plot devices that seemed a bit pandering. Not to spoil, but finding Elizabeth's photo right where they were speculating about her? How convenient. David doesn't know who wrote Ozymandias? No way. I was shaking my head a lot. But biggest of all, and I do sometimes get accused of a lack of willingness to suspend disbelief, the whole premise of them deciding to explore a planet that wasn't part of their mission was absurd--especially when you consider the human payload they were carrying. This would be so outside of any kind of protocol as to be laughable. I realize it was mirroring what happened with the Nostromo, but the Nostromo had a reason to respond to a distress signal.
Finally, there was also a little too much going on in this movie--too much action is usually not a plus for me unless it has a very specific purpose. For me, simpler plots, simpler premises are usually more satisfying. One good, well-placed, suspenseful face-hugger, chest explosion scene has more impact than a string of them.
Now here's a part that perhaps other fans can help me with. How does the original alien--not the xenomorph who eventually became known as the alien, but the downed, petrified pilot whose distress signal brings the crew of the Nostromo to him (I always think of him as the first alien)—how does he fit into the whole Prometheus-Covenant-Alien timeline? Aren't these big guys all long gone, extinct, by the time our merry Covenant crew gets to its next destination? Was he already there and if he was, then wasn't the xenomorph also already there, or is "there" somewhere else? (My head is spinning) I guess maybe Scott, Whedon, Lindelof, or whoever gets involved in the next installment, will figure that out for us.
So final verdict—entertaining, but not the Alien thrill I was expecting. Guess that's what expectations get you!
(Anybody else worried about the new Bladerunner?)