Alien: Covenant

Rating: 6/10 (18 May 2017)

Prometheus was essentially a prequel to the original Alien movie, it was more about asking profound questions about creation and mortality, and did not really have an alien appear, this sequel however got things right back on track, directed by Sir Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, The Martian). Basically in the year 2104, colony ship Covenant is bound for a remote planet, Origae-6, with some two-thousand colonists and a thousand embryos, monitored by upgraded synthetic Walter (Michael Fassbender), who resembles earlier synthetic David. The ship is hit and damaged, some colonists are killed, Walter has the computer wake the crew from stasis, the captain dies in a malfunctioning pod and the repairs are made. The crew intercept a human radio transmission from a nearby unknown planet, Daniels objects against Oram (Billy Crudup) deciding to send an expedition team to investigate, and the planet appears to be even better for colonisation. The team descends to the surface, while Covenant remains in orbit, Karine (Carmen Ejogo) conducts an ecological survey, while the others find the crashed Engineer ship, the signal was from David and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) following the disaster of the Prometheus mission. Two of the team members, Ledward (Benjamin Rigby) and Hallett (Nathaniel Dean), are inadvertently infected with an alien spore, contained in microscopic particles, Ledward is taken back to the landing vehicle by Karine, but Faris (Amy Seimetz) quarantines them. A Neomorph bursts from Ledward's back, killing him, while Karine is mauled to death, while Faris accidentally hits various gas tanks trying to shoot the creature, the lander is destroyed, while outside another Neomorph bursts from Hallett's throat and kills him. The remaining crew try to communicate with the Covenant to get help, the Neomorphs attack them and kill Ankor (Alexander England), one of the creatures is killed, but Walter loses his right hand saving Daniels (Katherine Waterston). David (Fassbender), the sole survivor from the Prometheus, rescues the crew and leads them to an alien city full of corpses, David claims that a bio-weapon was released and killed the native population, the chaos caused his ship to crash and Shaw was killed. Inside the city, separated from the group, Rosenthal (Tess Haubrich) is attacked and decapitated by a Neomorph, David attempts to communicate with the alien, but is horrified when Oram kills it. Oram demands to know David's activities whilst he has been on the planet, he has been experimenting to create Neomorphs, from the samples of a parasitic creature that laid eggs inside its prey, he also used a black liquid as a catalyst, David then shows Oram a chamber filled with eggs, inside a facehugger jumps out, implants Oram with an embryo, and soon an Xenomorph erupts from Oram's chest, killing him. As the crew search for Oram and Rosenthal, Walter confronts David about his experiments, David had deliberately released the black liquid upon his crew, and murdered Shaw, whose corpse is seen severely mutated and dissected, Walter disables David and saved Daniels, but Walter reactivates, the two synthetics fight and Daniels escapes, Walter emerges victorious. Cole (Uli Latukefu) is killed by the Xenomorph, Covenant pilot Tennessee (Danny McBride) arrives in another lander to rescue Daniels, Lope (Demián Bichir) and Walter, they eventually kill the adult Xenomorph. However, Cole was impregnated with a Xenomorph embryo, it bursts out and kills him, grows mature and kills crew members Ricks (Heroes' Jussie Smollett) and Upworth (Callie Hernandez), but eventually, with the help of Walter, the creature is cornered by Tennessee and Daniels, and flushed into outer space. The Covenant returns to its original mission, destined for Origae-6, and the crew re-enter stasis, but as Daniels is put under sedation by Walter, she realises he is actually David, but she cannot escape, in the end David accesses the colonists' cryosleep quarters and regurgitates two facehugger embryos, putting them in the refrigerator, ready to continue his experiments. Also starring Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland and James Franco as Branson. The cast all do their parts fine, with Fassbender being both creepy and attentive as two robots, and Waterston as the heroine, Prometheus was perhaps too intellectual for some viewers, this one bringing back the monsters we wanted does make for more entertainment, you could argue the story is not quite there, but it does also bring the scare factor back, there are some well done jumpy moments, and the special effects are fantastic, so overall it is a worthwhile science-fiction horror. Good!