When you have an original Saga and you now have to make a sequel to the prequel, you are entering film making minefields that very few writers and directors have ever had to navigate. Forgive me if I am wrong, but if my memory serves there is only one film maker that has attempted this feat and that is George Lucas. Let's not forget how that project worked out for him and the damage that it did to the franchise's reputation. Of course you have Star Trek and Terminator that have entered the prequel arena, but both of these had the sense to use the time travel reboot as a get out clause and provide the writers with a level of freedom.
On the other hand, this film should become the middle of a trilogy and with that you are entering into the areas of middle film expectations which, let's face it, are usually the best due to not being beholden to finishing on a positive note or come to any real conclusion. Empire Strikes Back, Desperado, Matrix Reloaded, (some would say) Mad Max 2 to just name a few. But I will steer clear of saying anything further on this for sparking a fierce debate, I have been down that road with Mad Max, a debate that is still going years after it started.
With all this in mind, you would be forgiven for having either high expectations for the second film of a trilogy or low expectations based on the only previous attempt to make the middle film of a prequel trilogy.
In the timeline of events, the opening of this film takes us back to before the events of Prometheus. We are witness to a conversation between David and Peter Weyland, an advancement of the theological debate between creators and their creations that was successfully portrayed through David in the previous film. David asks the question, if humans created synthetics then who created the humans, a far too obvious throw back to Prometheus.
The title sequence is a welcomed return to the angular slow reveal of the film's name and the rear shot of the colony ship Covenant. Much like the Prometheus, we are introduced to the custodian of the ship, another synthetic, another David (Michael Fassbender) and he's not alone in his responsibilities on the ship with the introduction of 'Mother', the ship's computer made famous by the exchanges between Ripley and Nostromo's governing computer system of the same name. However, the Covenant's custodian is actually Walter who now does not model himself on T.E Lawrence but in fact has an American accent.
'When in Rome' - Walter (Michael Fassbender)
After a routine power cycle there is the obligatory disaster that brings the crew out of stasis, the obligatory death of the Captain and the obligatory friction between the now defacto Captain and the crew. I'll be honest, alarm bells were ringing for me at this point, what Alien films have been able to do for such a long time is not fall into these cliched sci-fi traits. What was surprising was the revelation of the actor cast as the deceased ships leader, so quietly put in you could easily blink and miss it. If you don't see the brief appearance in a video memory you would never know James Franco has such a brief 3 minute role. Speaking of his death it's really not a nice way for someone to die, not that there is a nice way to die in space. Let's face it, every way of expiring in space is pretty gruesome no matter which way you look at it.
A lot of films fall into the trap of following a set pattern of events, just the odd tweak and variation here and there, unfortunately Covenant seems to have jumped head first into that trap without hesitation. The now 'First Mate' was married to the captain, all the other crew members are paired up and have someone to lose, the new 'Captain' is a nervous man of faith that does not have the confidence of the crew and so on and so on. Whilst these are not big issues if you look at this as a standalone run of the mill sci-fi film, I can't help seeing this as a Alien Saga film that needs to be held up to a higher standard.
A poor quality transmission is received from what turns out to be the Prometheus, very much as a homage to the transmission received by the Nostromo, and thus brings about the decision to explore the origin of the signal that is coming from a habitable planet. This leads to the arrival, a landing on the planet, a planet surrounded by electrical storms, ionic interference and what seems to be a major lack of sunlight. There are far too many clunky overly obvious hints as to what may or may not be a factor late in the film, once again if this was a different film it wouldn't be such a big issue.
Now I don't want to give too much more away about the plot but we have the reintroduction of David (Michael Fassbender) who has been on the planet for 10 years now. This leads to another great acting performance from Fassbender playing both the learning, theological thinking David and the improved, learning restricted Walter. The interactions between the two are compelling and interesting, once again exploring the relationship between creator and the created. There are some obvious camera movements to demonstrate how good the graphics are at allowing the same actor to seamlessly play different characters, but they don't affect the enjoyment of the scenes too much.
As for the rest of the cast, the only other stand out actor is Danny McBride. He plays his role extremely well, portraying emotion and realism that I have never seen from him before. As a comedic actor he never really demonstrates these abilities. The only other thing worth mentioning is the role of Daniels (Katherine Waterston) who in true Alien Saga style becomes the de-facto leader/badass of the film, but that is not to say her acting stands out above the rest. This is more a criticism on the script rather than the actors themselves, there is only so much that can be achieved with a less than inspiring script.
Once again, both prequels have done well in their interior set design and the overall cinematography feel. In this instalment the score is better than in the first and captures the mood and emotion in a far better way that is closer to the Quadrilogy, but I am afraid that is where my praise finishes with this film. If not for Fassbender and McBride the cast and characters would be average at best; the plot is far below par, the tension and suspense is so obvious I cannot imagine that any die hard Alien fan would accept this as a part of the franchise.
Prometheus just managed to get away with it, due to you being able to accept it as a film based in the same universe with small hints at the original franchise, but this being a sequel to the prequel along with a title firmly cementing it as an Alien film, I am afraid Covenant does not have that luxury. With these aspects in mind there is no choice but to review this as a prequel film of a Saga that is so far superior that it makes Alien Covenant look like the Batman & Robin of the Batman franchise. Where this could have been a very simple but epic introduction building of Prometheus it feels like they wanted to go bigger, bolder and more action packed which as result leaves the film lacking the intelligence and care it deserves.
There should clearly be a follow on film, however if you believe the rumours of a permanent hold, which if true means they either are struggling to write a screenplay that redeems the damage made or they are not sure if they will make it at all. I would hope and beg it's the former because if it's not, Ridley Scott has well and truly damaged one of the best stories in cinema history.
Farquaad's Score: 2 stars or 4/10
IMDB: 6.4/10 (234,056)
Metascore: 65 (52 Critic Reviews)
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