Movies: Alien Covenant

 

(Drivebycuriosity) -"Alien" is one of the strongest movies ever made. The film, released in the year 1979, influenced science fiction and the horror genre as well. And it spawned a franchise. Now the newest product of the franchise is in the cinema theaters: "Alien Covenant" (imdb) shot by Ridley Scott again, the creator of the iconic first "Alien" film.

"Convenant" is not as strong as the first three Alien movies but watchable (this is a spoiler free blog. You can find a synopsis here   wikipedia). Many parts - and the basic structure - follow closely the first "Alien" and they are more or less variations of it. Some scenes also are interpretations of later Alien movies and I could spot influences of Kubrick´s "2001: A Space Odyssey" and other movies of course.

"Covenant" is more philosophical and ambitious than the early Alien movies. Unfortunately the movie also refers to Ridley Scott`s film "Prometheus" from 2012 ( (it´s actually also a sequel of this movie ). I didn´t enjoy Prometheus" and I forgot about it.  The references make "Covenant" unnecessary complicated.

I enjoyed "Covenant" anyway, mostly because of the stars of the film: The Aliens. The animated predatory creatures moved extremely swift and hyper-agressive. That caused intense horror/action scenes, the strength of the movie. The film was partly set in an awesome landscape (apparently partly based on New Zealand`s Fiordland National Park). These images make want to got there (new Zealand not the planet of the movie).  I also liked Michael Fassbender who had an interesting double role, but I missed Sigourney Weaver`s character Ripley badly.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the next step of the Alien saga.