ALIEN: COVENANT (Ridley Scott 2017)

[Chris Knipp]

RIDLEY SCOTT: ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)



Many monsters, and the two sides of Michael Fassbender

The new "Alien" movie is good, but nothing can match the early ones. And Sigourney Weaver, whose Ripley was their guiding spirit, and one of the strongest, most soulful female characters in the movies, is long gone from "Alien" now. Her replacement: Katherine Waterston as the plucky new captain. The novelty feature: Michael Fassbender as both Walter and David, two synthetics, a good one and an evil one. Fassbender is a marvelous actor, and the startling ambiguity of his nature was first wonderfully displayed in Andrea Arnold's powerful and disturbing kitchen sink-realist film, Fish Tank. (Fassbender's career exploded because of Tarantino and Steve McQueen, but my favorite performance is Fish Tank.) This new "Alien" movie is quality stuff, and features some awesome and magnificent spectacle. The plot has interesting twists.

But it starts out with something extraordinarily far-fetched even for blockbuster sci-fi. The crew has been traveling far out in space for years. They're sidetracked - and choose to land on a planet they come upon unexpectedly. Really? And because it looks like earth, they explore it unprotected. How dumb and unscientific can you get? Later the captain, Oram (Billy Crudup) admits he's made a mistake. I'd say!

The main point, I guess, is that there are plenty of aliens - whose spidery legs, mouthfuls of sharp teeth, and ability to grow from a speck in an orifice to a full-fledged bloody gooey destroyer in minutes follows the look and design of the original creator, German artist H.R. Giger. Gradually we, if not the spaceship crew members, find out the backstory of this Edenic-looking, actually horrible place. That and the double Fassbender characters are the features that keep you watching, other than the monster-multiplying.

"Alien" in titles is a sci-fi/horror franchise that goes back to 1979. The director, then as now, was Ridley Scott. It's acknowledged that the first one, with creatures designed by Giger, set a new monster standard for the genre. Giger's design, Scott's direction, and the presence of Sigourney Weaver in the cast are deemed the essential elements in what has been repeated with success (well, varying success) ever since. For me it was Sigourney as the tough, resilient Ripley - one of the really badass ladies of movies - particularly in no. 2, Aliens (how efficient just to add an "s"!), dated 1986, that made a genre I might otherwise have avoided begin to matter. The hideous spider-reptile critter exploding out of a hapless victim's chest in Aliens marked my movie memory.

There are fans of Meryl Streep and there are those like myself who prefer the gutsier less technically dazzling Sigourney Weaver. I say this because I'm one of them, and because of a story Weaver told on "Charlie Rose" once. It seems she and Meryl were in the same class at Yale Drama School, and people mocked Sigourney as a little rich girl - though her mother was a British actress, she came from money. Her father was NBC television executive and television pioneer Sylvester "Pat" Weaver. At Yale Drama, Meryl got all the accolades. Sigourney went on to be known as "the sci-fi movie queen," starring in numerous examples of the genre besides the "Alien"' ones. So be it. I root for Sigourney. Meryl's spot-on imitations of famous ladies like Julia Child, Maggie Thatcher, or Florence Foster Jenkins haven't made me care like Ripley.

After the second film came Alien 3 (1992), then Alien: Resurrection (1997); much later prequels beginning with Prometheus (2012) and now Covenant, which seeks to correct errors in its immediate predecessor. Ridley Scott has said Prometheus was a mistake. He also says he has three more "Alien" movies up his sleeve yet. I guess I'll go. But I'll continue to miss Sigourney.

And I'll remember that three years after the first "Alien" Ridley Scott directed the sci-fi noir classic, Blade Runner, which is more distinctive and matters more than all of these. Outside the franchise but indebted to it, I also personally enjoyed the recent sci-fi movie, Daniel Espinosa's Life, an "alien" story, more than Alien: Covenant. Life, which was not a critical success, has been described (by AV Club's AA Dowd) as "a B movie on an A budget, an old-fashioned creature feature that delivers its cheap thrills expensively." It also delivers them well; and because it delivers them simply, with economy of space and time, its alien story held my attention better than Alien: Covenant's - and stayed closer to the realm of possibility.

Alien: Covenant, 122 mins., debuted London 4 May 2017 (Lodon) (premiere). US theatrical wide release 19 May 2017. Metacritic: 65%. AlloCine: 3.3.

[tabuno]

I wondering if Chris might have it wrong that the exploding chest scene is to found in Aliens, the sequel, instead of the original Alien.

[Chris Knipp]

The first exploding chest scene was indeed in the original 1979 Alien

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSYuF6TI1dI

But I recall the chest exploding scene in the second film the 1986 Aliens because that is the first one I saw. I am describing my experience. If you read what I wrote that was what I was saying.

[tabuno]

Yup. Like usual, Chris is great on detail. Never mind.

[Chris Knipp]

Well, thank you, but I'm no expert on the "Alien" franchise.

I have, however, for quite a while been a big fan of Sigourney Weaver in it - enough to strongly feel her absence from it now, as does Anthony lane of The New Yorker in his current piece about the new film (and the series) titled (in its online form) "'Alien: Covenant' and the Too-Many-Monsters Problem." The androids have become a "dragoid" he says, "All of which makes you long for Sigourney Weaver. . ." Have a look at Lane's hymn of praise for Sigourney and her intense relationship with the monster, now lost in favor of sheer quantity. Because there are too many, they lose their effect. He's right there.

[Johann]

I'm seeing this tonight. Thanks for your review Chris. I'm only going because Ridley Scott is the director.
It should be good. Sounds good from your review, Chris.

[Johann]

I enjoyed the new Alien: Covenant.
It was everything an Alien movie should be, directed by the maker of the original- Ridley Scott.

I liked the new female lead character, even if she's no Ripley. I overheard a guy while leaving say that she was "weak!"
No- she wasn't weak. She was "emotional". She had the best line in the movie: ("Let's Kill This Fucker!"). She's also in arguably the best action sequence. This movie has blood, gore, horror, tense situations and great visual candy. Lots to ogle at. I loved the ships and outer-space shots more than the creatures/aliens.
The story/script could've perhaps been better, but then again, maybe not. These films are not high-brow. They are high-quality sci-fi.
And for what Ridley Scott has done, it's fabulous. I'm glad he's the one who made this. It was a treat at the cinemas.

You're right Chris: Michael Fassbender is a marvelous actor, probably in the top three working today actually. He's the anchor for this movie, and he makes the other actors look bad, he's so good. In fact, the supporting actors are all country bumpkins to me, not really qualified to be on a ship like the Covenant. "David" appears to be the only qualified crew member. Katherine Waterston is a great new addition, even if she's no Ripley...

I loved the production design- I really like the way the Alien Universe LOOKS.
The SFX are standard for today's tentpole movies, and I recommend seeing this in theatres. The surround sound and visuals are worth the price of the ticket. Fassbender's acting is also a treat- he's immersed here.
I sensed that Scott is competing with Star Wars- the recent films. This is a different franchise, obviously, but the level of Sci-Fi verismilitude is the exact same. We need more franchises like them. The more the merrier! Dune is one franchise that could compete, so why they aren't making one Dune movie a year?
Technically Dune should be the Grand Champ, right???

[Chris Knipp]

I'm glad you liked it. Why not? It was not a disappointment, though I still found the lesser alien flick of two months ago, Daniel Espinosa's Life (with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds) , more involving. You're right it's excellent production design. There should have been more attention paid to the cast. Think of who was the first one to have the chest-bursting alien in #1 1979: the last John Hurt! I mean - there was a cast. Here Fassbender does overshadow the others, they have to double him to make up for the weaknesses. I didn't think Billy Crudup was a real sci-fi movie actor. He's a good dramatic actor, excellent, but this is not his kind of stuff. The girl is okay, appealing, but not up to Sigourney - nobody is.

[Johann]

That's right- this film lacks the gravitas of Ripley. I can see how some would think Katherine is a weak character- she's crying more than I'd like, and she doesn't seem sure of herself on the ship, and became Captain pretty much by accident...

My main enjoyment of it was the visuals. It was a nice escape to another time/place/space.
The characters were not all that involving- they were servicable, they supported the movie, which is alien creatures causing havoc, not humans in peril...the CGI on the aliens was well-done. Editing was nice too. This was a polished movie, but it could've been a smidge better to me. If there was a little more meat on the story, this could've competed with the original. I guess Ridley's old enough now to get away with it.... hahaha

[Chris Knipp]

Soome say it's time for him to retire:). The landscapes, which were shot apparently in the same parts of New Zealand as The Lord of the Rings, are very grand and beautiful. If you get a chance watch Espinosa's Life H E R E is the trailer.
It's got the basic, classic alien movie elements. Much more visceral to me - and with a deeply ironic finale.