Alien: Covenant

ALIEN:COVENANT (2017) had the deck stacked against it going in. It had the arduous task of both trying to live up to Ridley Scott's more revered '79 Alien masterpiece as well as James Cameron's widely acclaimed action sequel, '86 Aliens, PLUS it had to both somewhat make up for Scott's dubious '12 prequel Prometheus with it's mixed reaction. Prometheus was a movie that was hyped to the hilt and made a ton of money, but alternated between being hailed some ethereal "people just don't get it" masterpiece (a la 2001) versus a pretentious, bloated, flashy, terribly acted CGI exercise that was nothing more than hot garbage. Count me in the latter group! LOL I really dislike Prometheus and can't get past it's utterly stupid characterizations which sank the film for me. At the end of the day, I think character trumps CGI, something I randomly preach in my reviews. I'll take character over effects any day of the week and twice on Sunday. For myself, in terms of characters, Alien:Covenant absolutely craps on Prometheus for the simple fact that not a single character in Covenant ANNOYED me, while virtually every single character in Prometheus accomplished that dubious feat! To me, Covenant is the 2nd best Alien film (minority opinion, I know) and it's not really saying much as Scott's '79 film Alien is one of the great multi-genre (sci-fi, horror, thriller, character study) of all time. The overrated '86 sequel Aliens is just an abrasive summer action flick, nothing more. Then there's the underwhelming Alien3 and Alien:Resurrection. And of course the massive disappointment Prometheus. So Covenant didn't have much to overcome. What Covenant did that Prometheus failed to do is keep it simple: simple story, simple characters, simple plot and in doing so, culminates in a very re-watchable, enjoyable summer movie experience. Also, unlike Prometheus, Covenant actually makes me look forward to the next sequel! Covenant starts with a prologue sequence of the creation of the android David (the best character from Prometheus, reprised by the great Michael Fassbender) in the early 21st century by billionaire Peter Weyland (well played in esteemed fashion by Guy Pearce, also reprising his role, but this time as the young version of Weyland). Peter and David converse about the human condition and the irony that even though Weyland created him, David will actually live forever while Weyland is destined to expire, like all humans. Flash forward to the early 22nd century and the colonial spaceship Covenant, maintained on it's way to the habitable Origae-6 planetary system by the ship's synthetic being Walter (also played by Fassbender in a completely believable dual role). The ship encounters a solar flare which causes it's life-support systems to malfunction, compelling Walter to get the ship's main computer "Mother" to awake the 14-member crew from cryosleep and fix the ship, which is also carrying 2000 colonists still in cryosleep and over 1000 embryos for building a new world. With the incident causing the original Captain's cryotube to fail and burn up, the leadership role is taken over by Captain Oram (excellently played by veteran actor Billy Crudup). Oram is a man of faith and a bit shaken by the incident and unsure of if the crew trusts his leadership style. The 2nd-in-command is the feisty Daniels (strongly played by Katherine Waterston), the wife of the original captain who must soldier on without her husband. Rounding out the main characters are down-to-earth ship's pilot Tennessee (winningly played by Danny McBride), stalwart crew biologist and Oram's wife Karine (stolidly played by Carmen Ejogo), crew shuttle pilot and Tennessee's wife Faris (confidently played by Amy Seimetz), security team leader Sergeant Lope (cheekily played by Demian Bichir), and married crew co-pilots Upworth and Ricks (solidly played by Callie Hernandez and Jussie Smollett). Upon repairing the ship, the crew discovers a transmission on a nearby (and apparently life-sustaining) planet and go to investigate the distress signal as well as research and map out the planet as a permanent home in lieu of traveling for another 7 years to Origae-6. Upon touching down, the planet at first appears perfect, but as the group further investigates, it's not long before things turn out to good to be true, and the group runs into trouble and must navigate their way out of it somehow. Surprisingly, the film has a healthy amount of action and the scenes are all tense and edge-of-your-seat. The aliens are pretty intimidating and agile in this as Covenant combines elements from the 3 most popular films of the franchise Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus. Yet I feel as if Covenant stands well on it's own as an entertaining horror-thriller-action movie. I feel as if Covenant took the "less is more" approach and succeeded in spades! I had to re-watch Covenant (glad to do it) to realize how perfectly modulated the supporting performances were and how in sync the actors played off each other to resonate as a real crew. Just subtle things showed these people had known each other for a long time and I liked the way their rather by-the-numbers dialogue bounced off each other very naturally. While Fassbender easily stole the show as Walter/David (doesn't he always?), the rest of the actors should be commended for being very natural in their performances, unlike the characters in Prometheus who felt like cardboard cutout cartoons most of the time. I think the people roasting this movie for bad performances and weak, stupid characters do it a major disservice. I think they are conflating it too much with Prometheus, which is an abomination in terms of both character and acting. The characters in Covenant behaved very real to me, the way they reacted to the rather crazy circumstances they encountered. The shocks, the jump scares, the reactions all felt genuine. I might say that I tend to agree that the CGI wasn't the greatest, but as I've repeatedly said, I'll take character over CGI anyday and for me, the characters worked in this film, along with many other elements that kept it entertaining from start to finish. I would say this movie is underrated and give it a few years and people will re-visit Covenant as the deserving addition to the Alien franchise it truly is.

Does the Alien series have a fluid story- from start to finish? I always wonder, especially after Prometheus and this movie... were the movies made after the Alien series began (like the two previously mentioned), made to fit a story already out there- or did those who created the Alien series- have this general idea- the back-story of how Aliens came about- set up from the very start (which was what, 1979- a long time ago) I will say that I have no fluid idea of the Alien movies- from start to finish. I have watched all the movies at one time or another- and before I go to the great beyond- if I ever get to the sub-set of my bucket list where figuring out the Alien series is listed, I will fulfill this need for knowledge. But Alien Covenant, I believe, fits in somewhere in the storyline and I have so many more movies to watch again- to figure out where.... Of all the Alien movies- this one- definitely rocks- and is thought-provoking (as you can tell from my review). In it, there is a robot, created by man. You meet a later creation (Walter) of the same robot that was the first (David) when they are both all alone on a planet (except for the little space crew left) and you see, because he was the first- he has SO MANY flaws. But the flaws are there because, it seems, of what humans forbade him to do. The one thing this robot (David) seems to want most- is to create. Because humans denied him the ability, David says to Walter (when they meet)- "to create even a simple tune" (or something like that). David's drive in life seems to be fueled by the anger over this- and it makes him want to "create" all the more. For some reason the ship David was on (ten years before this new crew stumbles onto the planet) carried a virus he released- maybe he manipulated what they had while in the air- after- but it seems when it ate all the people on the planet- well, that was never clear to me- just that all the people were gone on the planet because of what David did (and some aliens on the planet attacked this new crew that had the back luck to land on it). After that, since he is all alone, he seems to manipulate this virus further- to create the aliens- or a version like the ones we know (the eggs where the jumping aliens come from). When you see the body of a woman on the ship he claims he once loved (I think her name was Elizabeth, who he now has a stone with her name on)- her body looks lacquered, and cut and pried open- and that maybe something came out of it, was taken out of it. But David has done a lot of studying in the ten years he has been on the planet- and has parasites ready for human (or any) DNA- so that they can alter their form into an alien. You easily learn that this virus- when mixed with a living form- creates a new product- an alien. This virus brings birth- a new from- and kills what it comes out of- destruction in creation- and David finds it beautiful The irony of the story is David has this love of creation for these things- these aliens- as animalistic and violent as they are- and he destroys humans (and all other living things) to create them. It seems that David only has a love for the things that he can create- and no care for what he will destroy to make these creations. David destroyed an entire world- not even knowing the people on it- and there he sat for ten years, waiting- hoping- to destroy more. He may have even lured the ship that came to him....Ten years later, the ship with Walter and his crewmates shows up- and- in the end- we see how the creation of aliens gets off the initial planet it destroyed (as we so often see at the end of Alien movies as a ship leaves, with an alien hiding on it)....Fuuny there is a twist to this Alien cliffhanger ending... It's a great movie, although one you have to watch several times to get the entire story (as you can tell from my review) but to put the whole Alien saga together to get a fluid picture of how and why this happened- you're going to have to pay a lot of attention- to many movies- This, I would say, is where Aliens begin- with David who was essentially created by man- and created aliens to punish his creator for denying him his right to do what they can But remember, these are my thoughts and opinions only. Please take them for what they are and when you enjoy this movie on your own- develop your own- which may be the same or different- regardless, enjoy the movie- I know I did! Thank you- Happy Viewing!

Good movie.

En primer lugar tener la película Alien Covenant para mí colección de cine de ciencia ficción, segundo lugar la película de Riclet Scott es muy buena y eso que era de segunda mano imagen y sonido bien .

Just to let people know the 4k disc has german writing on it and the bluray disc has english writing. I have tested the disc and its in english audio but once you open the case your faced with german writing which i dont like.

Si eres adicto a las películas de Alíen, ésta es recomendable por su imagen y sonido Película en buen estado, sin daños y llegó antes de tiempo Gracias!

Alien: Covenant in Blu-ray continua la storia dei primi film della saga e amplia la lore in modo interessante. La qualità video e audio è ottima, con immagini nitide e dettagliate, perfette per il grande schermo di casa. Trama coinvolgente, con tensione e colpi di scena, ideale per gli appassionati della serie e per chi vuole approfondire l’universo Alien. Consigliato.

Very very good ! Highly recommend amd ive purchased other things that were successful amd good condition quick to arrive! 5 stars !!!