Alien: Covenant Review

By: Justin Hopkins

Alien: Covenant hit theaters yesterday, and is performing extremely well in the box office.  The prequel to the originals and sequels to Prometheus.  Taking us further into the story of how the Xenomorphs came to be.  Despite the fact it had to clean up the mess that Prometheus made.  Still had high hopes for Covenant.  In some ways it delivered and other ways; came up short.

The movie starts off with a conversation between Weyland and synthetic robot David. A conversation talking about creations and creators, that plays out later, but largely not needed.  Then it jumps forward to the space ship named covenant. On a journey to a new world.  Fifteen crew, 2000 colonists,  and embryos. All in hyper sleep, except for synthetic bot Walter. When they were hit by a massive flare.  Killing their Captain. Setting up for why the new Captain decided on the change on plans and followed a transmission to a new world instead.  Where two would immediately getting infected and release two early forms of the alien. Getting saved by David. Where he had been creating new species,  and had been waiting for test subjects.

Alien has always been a movie that slowly built the suspense. Growing the tension till the climax, but this movie really pushed it at times. Even after being rescued by David. Can see where the movie is going and just want to get there already.  Kind of ruins it by the time it does pick up, and there is excellent parts to come.

Alien has always been about strong female protagonists. From Sigourney Weaver to Noomi Rapace and now Katherine Waterson. Who did a great job at playing the role of Daniels. From feeling her sorrow at the very beginning at her watching her Husband burn to death, and watching her grow to be a strong captain and fight two Xenomorphs. Her performance made the twist all that much more meaningful.

Then came the part I was waiting for. Sure it was fun seeing the early breeds of Alien, but nothing trumps finally seeing the original Xenomorph we all love and terrifies us, in all its glory.  Making it worth while sitting through.

Alien Covenant was a good movie.  Far better then Prometheus was.  Backed by strong performances from Katherine Waterson, Michael Fassbender, and Danny McBride. If your a big fan of the Alien series or horror junkie. Would suggest going to see it in theaters. Otherwise,  make sure to collect it on DVD because it is worth seeing it at least once.