A colony ship on their way to an Earth-like planet investigates a signal
​from a nearby world and must escape a group of freakish monsters.

HORROR/SCI-FI

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Written by John Logan and Dante Harper

Starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston,
Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo,
Amy Seimetz, Jussie Smollett,​Callie Hernandez, Nathaniel Dean

Prequel to 1979's Alien

Sequel to 2012's Prometheus

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Connor Eyzaguirre

May 20, 2017

8/10

Alien: Covenant was a glorious return to form for the franchise. Not only did we get to see the long-awaited return of the classic Xenomorph creature, but we finally were given a logical, interesting origin story for it. Covenant provides a good answer to every question brought up by Prometheus and brings Scott's prequel trilogy closer to the world we saw in 1979's Alien. It does have some flaws, but it certainly seems like Scott learned his lesson with Prometheus. This film is far less confusing, far more horrifying, and feels more like an Alien film than anything we've gotten for almost thirty years.

The crew of the colony ship Covenant receive a signal from a nearby world that they feel they have a duty to investigate. What they find is a horrible mutated virus that infects several crew members and gives birth to monstrous creatures. They are saved by the sole survivor of the Prometheus, the android David, who is slowly but surely revealed to be up to something sinister just as before. Michael Fassbender deserves an Oscar for his dual performance as twin androids David and Walter. While David was morally ambiguous in the previous film, he is the full-fledged villain this time around. His motives and his grand design are absolutely brilliant and thanks to him, the Xenomorph is born.

Apart from Fassbender, the rest of the cast is either uninteresting or annoying. It's the creature designs and the script that keep Alien: Covenant from a low score, as I did highly enjoy the film. There are elements that work, and some that don't, but the good heavily outweighs the bad. I don't want to give too much away, but it has the same spirit we've come to expect from this franchise, and that could only be done by Ridley Scott. After all, who knows this franchise better than him?