Far From the Worst the Franchise Has to Offer

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2017)

Overall, Alien: Covenant is far from the worst the Alien franchise has to offer—but that's not really setting the bar very high, is it? Though I found the film interesting and entertaining, it is a clear step down from Prometheus.
Alien: Covenant is the second act in Ridley Scott's Alien prequel trilogy, following 2012's Prometheus. While I don't think Scott's lost his directorial touch entirely, the quality of his past few films has been admittedly uneven, ranging from mixed to great. One thing that is consistent however, is the fact that his films are breathtakingly beautiful, and Covenant is no exception. Though the visuals of Prometheus were arguably more polished, this movie maintains a similar quality in photographic direction nonetheless. Overall, Scott's direction is very competent, though the film's true flaws boil down to its writing.
Note that Alien is one of my very favorite films, and without a doubt my very favorite horror film. The horror in Covenant however, was just OK. It didn't feel like anything was special, or new, or more effective than it needed to be, and does little to expand upon the violative psychological allegories that made the original so effective. In fact, I think that the focus on horror may not have been the ideal direction for this film.
James Cameron's Aliens for example, is a well-regarded sequel, in no small part due to the genre-swap. I would also argue that what made Prometheus work was the philosophical thriller/adventure direction. Instead of running with that, we get a less- exciting fusion of Prometheus and Alien, I suspect due to complaints that Prometheus wasn't similar enough to Alien in the first place. Rather than expanding upon Prometheus' new direction, they try to "compensate" for it, which results with a clear step backwards. I was hoping for more philosophical musings, like an extension from Prometheus, but these ideas were only really teased. I like the idea that factions of the engineers had xenomorph-like gods, so they created them, as if reflecting the tendency of humanity to make up gods. "False Gods" aka "All Gods". Yet they kept it disappointingly vague and hardly explored it, which won't fare well in trying to justify the existence of this prequel-trilogy.
The writers' credits are all over the place, with resumes including everything from Green Lantern to Logan. There are six writers credited total: two for characters, two for story, and two for the screenplay, all different people. This is a problem. When you have so many writers, the overall point of things usually becomes muddled, as you have multiple interpretations going on. Perhaps this was actually responsible for the conflict in direction, but it contributes to other flaws of the screenplay as well.
For one, the Covenant's crew didn't wear protective suits when they went down to the planet in case of pathogens (which is a pretty basic precaution). If they didn't make that flaw, we wouldn't have a movie (or we'd just have a more thoughtful one in it's place). I also saw the David/Walter switch a mile away, though I admit that I liked how they eased you back into thinking it was Walter before the reveal at the end though. The story flaws are pretty basic and even clichéd at this point, yet despite this there are still redeeming aspects of the story, namely with world-building.
Besides seemingly drifting even farther away from the movie it's supposed to be building up to, there are still some solid additions to the Alien Universe. I really liked the expansion of the alien biology—how they outlined a hyper-aggressive evolutionary factor that vastly expands the possibilities of this alien pathogen. I also actually kind of liked the neomorph: it was eerily almost-human, and the idea of it being spread by spores kind of gets under your skin. The engineer city is also a nice visual, and David's study is endlessly intriguing.
As far as performances go, Michael Fassbender was spectacular! I mean, I'd really expect no less of him after the stunning resume he's built thus far, but his ability to portray both David and Walter with nuance and attention to detail was one of the most redeeming qualities of this film. And even if it wasn't anything truly outstanding, Katherine Waterston also did a pretty good job as the lead protagonist. The other performances were solid at their worst, and were functional within the movie.
The special effects were fairly mixed. When it comes to the spacecrafts and general stuff like planets/equipment etc. . . . it was fine. The Aliens however, were fairly poor, and sometimes even took me out of the film. The alien effects in Covenant didn't feel as convincing as they were in the 1979 film, which is rather disappointing considering that it's been nearly four decades since then. The aliens feel far too primal/animalistic, and are so over-animated that they lose their cold, otherworldly, lovable xenomorph- iness. This worked far better for the Neomorph, since they are new and had an identity that needed filling anyway, but it didn't work for the Xenomorph in the slightest. Basically, the way they looked and moved in covenant felt less believable/engaging than ever, with exception of the one (maybe two) scenes in which they used practical effects.
The score is by Jed Kurzel, with musical hints/themes from both the original Alien (Jerry Goldsmith) and Prometheus (Marc Streotenfeld). This score features various improvisations from the musicians as well, adding to the overall atmosphere of weird evolution and mystery. Though the score is adequate, it's not particularly remarkable or memorable, with exception of the Prometheus theme highlights.
This film also sets up for a (likely redundant) sequel, which I'm half-heartedly excited for. Overall though, it was still a mixed-positive bag for me. Alien: Covenant, while a very flawed movie, is still an enjoyable and interesting experience, and is worth a watch if it interests you.
Score: 7/10