A Gorgeously Thrilling 'Detour'

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2017)

Ridley Scott's long awaited sequel to Prometheus delivers an Alien-esque thriller as well as a continuation of Prometheus. Alien: Covenant is more of an Alien film -- made obvious by the title -- which for better or worse, is ultimately not the direction this film should have gone in. However, it does provide a lot of thrills, wonderfully stunning set pieces, and Michael Fassbender acting opposite Michael Fassbender. Yet at the same time it spews out a load of disposable characters, predictable outcomes, and just an overall lack of mythological depth that made Prometheus so interesting.
Some of the best aspects of Alien: Covenant are its visuals which can't be beat. The sets are so tangible it's like you are actually visiting another world. The performances are really good especially Michael Fassbender's masterful reprisal of David, the curiously malevolent android from Prometheus, and his new character Walter, a much more emotionally toned down android. His characters/performances really gave this film some much needed depth (if only briefly explored) with the philosophies regarding creators and their creations. Also there's Danny McBride whose natural comedic presence is a joy to watch. Ridley Scott expertly crafts some intensely thrilling scenes the Alien franchise is known for. There's a few alien body bursting scenes as well as a badass robot fight between Michael Fassbender's two characters. Ridley Scott really excels with creating dazzling visuals, gut-wrenching intensity, and horrific xenomorph scares.
After the criticism Prometheus received it's safe to assume that Ridley Scott took that to heart and just wanted to deliver the fans what they wanted: a superficial bloodbath with gore gore and more gore to scare the bejesus out of the audience. That only can take this movie so far; it needs more story and mystery. Alien: Covenant, simply, failed as a sequel to Prometheus where it didn't answer the questions raised in that film nor did it pick up its storyline as effectively as it should. It only created more questions like: are there more engineers out there? Why does David go psychotic and kill all the engineers? Why does David have long hair if he is a robot with artificial hair? Why was the engineers home planet not picked up by the scanners? Why did the space colonists not wear any helmets while trekking on an alien planet? Why is James Franco even in this movie?
Alien: Covenant is too visually stunning, thrilling, and Michael Fassbendery to be bad. Although it was too predictable, superficial, and simple to be memorable. It was a detour literally and figuratively. These colonists literally pit stop on a newly discovered planet only to meet their untimely demise. Figuratively not much is answered or expanded upon from Prometheus and Alien lore. Ridley Scott thought he could just distract us from unoriginality by just throwing in as much xenomorphs, gore, visuals, thrills, and Michael Fassbender as possible. And, surprisingly, somehow, he makes it work.