Call of Duty: The Franchise Strikes Back

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2017)

This movie, at its tin heart, portrays a battle between avatars for the notions Duty and Love. The ability to Love is associated with the ability to create, and Duty with mere faithful mimicry, i.e. the inability to create something new.
Many reviewers here have noted the parade of clichÃ©d contrivances, direct quotes, horror stereotypes, The Ripley-lite nature of Daniels, the derived score... generally the sheer lack of creativity in the project. Walter's movie.
The movie's story actually begins with two prologues that precede the release of the movie. First, "The Crossing", a film short with a title that is loaded with emotion and subtext. Who was crossed, or is cross? This short is later quoted in the movie, but only through the "lens" of the Engineers' holo-view.
That prologue was followed by the equally heavy symbolism of betrayal and sacrifice embodied in the title "The Last Supper". The Promethean symbol is of course, Fire. The prologue begins with the captain of the ship--the mission leader, the movie star--leaving a Good-Night party prior to cryo-sleep early, because he is "burning up". The next time we see him is at the beginning of Covenant, being burned alive in his cryopod... Stillborn. Like Ridley's original story concept.
The rest of the movie is a litany of dutiful horror and Alien tropes, symbolized by the dippy bird stolen from the Nostromo, doomed to drink from the same well over and over again. And so Scott must feel. And so we are forced to.
The movie begins and ends with a tune from Wagner's Rheingold, the satyr play from his masterpiece, The Ring Cycle. Satyr plays are, of course, the origin of our present-day satires, and one of the three types of Classical Greek Drama. They are as notable for their over-the-top, Bacchanalian, ribald nature as they are their commentaries on religion, politics, etc. They feature a chorus of 15 actors, as does our crew here.
And thus we have as a story framed between these two renditions of Wagner's piece (the first merely played out on the keys of a solo piano, and the other a triumphant full orchestra involving over-the-top clichÃ©s and stereotypes that satirize the "Alien Movie Purists" who insist dutiful tribute paid to the series as a great creature feature (and nothing much more).
Slasher movie victims are typically dumb and forgettable couples. Both qualities are amped here to the point of ridiculousness. And we are beaten over the head with the coupling nature of the crew. Repeated slips in blood lead to outright laughter and provide another metaphor for what Scott feels he is forced to film. The cowboy trope is over-the-top. The storm plot device hackneyed AND a quote. The signature one-liner at the moment of victory is a word-for-word repetition of the signature one-liner from the series' fanboy favorite. Nosferatu bites a girl's neck in one bathroom scene, and in another, the Psycho shower scene is doubled up, with some Bacchanalia going on, providing the movie with its perfunctory Horror Movie Nude Scene. Not to mention we all know what happens to characters stupid enough to have sex in a horror movie.
The bawdiness continues on its over-the-top way with a phallic scene involving a Pan pipe, an attempted tongue rape by a eunuch robot, an attack with a dead husband's nail, a vaginal Venus flytrap death scene...
The Statue of David and King David are well-known symbols of defiance and rebellion. The eponymous android is a reflection of Scott's own feelings. He plays the Trickster here. Pan. Idle hands. Satan from Paradise Lost, rebelling against his God, the Father. And like Scott, David feels the abilities to love and create are defining features of intelligent life. Free will.
After feeling each other out, Duty and Love battle for control of the movie, with Creativity at stake. We should probably be grateful we are only led to believe, as we were in the marketing build up, that Duty, ie Walter, wins.
Ridley must've been some kind of angry when he decided to lash back and enact this cinematic Revenge of the Myth on those that want to constrain his vision. It's a very dangerous game he's playing. The movie is far more meaningful when it is read the way I've presented here, but it also means Scott risks "alienating" fans of the franchise. After all, they're part of what is being satirized, and have been left unsated and displeased by this horrific string of clichÃ©s, even if they don't get the satire.
And maybe that's the intent--to alienate--so that Scott can finish the Prometheus arc according to his vision, unfettered by those viewers who don't care for its new direction. I'm willing to see where he and David want to take us, but I don't know how many of the franchise's fans will be coming along for the rest of the ride.