Obcy: Przymierze

Let’s not get stuck in the past. A classic will live forever, in “lonely perfection” as David would call its place in history. And now, after thirty years, it’s time to try a new take on the premise – simple but effective, fun at the level of a contemporary, not that of groundbreaking films in the sci-fi genre. I enjoyed Alien: Covenant because it’s a hardcore sci-fi horror flick with fantastic esthetics, breathtaking locations and music that (finally) references the atmospheric scores by Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. I enjoyed the escalating thrilling scenes (the first scene showing the return to Lander that takes as much as ten minutes ranks among the best in the whole series), and the nicely designed situations in which characters are killed off in accordance with the genre rules. Before the characters get out of one mess, the viewer already knows about another that will make everything even worse for them. Not to mention the healthy dose of blood and brutality. SPOILER ALERT: The script explains the origin of Giger’s creatures and I find this self-destructive notion that the ultimate evil is created by an android created by man rather compelling. Thematically, this is another version of Cameron’s Skynet. The android confrontation gives the Alien universe an interesting new dimension. And the pessimistic ending offers great possibilities for further development in future installments. I look forward to those! (16.05.2017)

It’s worse than Prometheus and the least interesting film in the entire saga. While the much-criticized Prometheus somehow matures into a better experience with repeated viewings, Covenant is an overripe and completely squeezed lemon. The mythology built around the most famous space killer is not interesting and the result is like a mediocre movie by a mediocre director, which takes place half of the time at night, in darkness, in dim light (Prometheus was much, much more visually engaging and colourful in this respect) and you won’t find any sign of Scott’s visual bravado. The crown is put on by the WTF mutual welcoming of the android and the newly hatched alien, which is like a cut from a Zucker brothers parody. What was that, dear producers? Please let Alien be a milestone in film history where it belongs and don't milk it like a cash cow, the poor thing is already barely hanging on. (23.05.2017)

Someone finally understood the kind of role that viewers would like to see James Franco play. Unfortunately, it involves the only moment when the film allows itself to be concise. Like Prometheus, Alien: Covenant is torn between an effort to provide first-rate fan service through a return to the horror roots of the first Alien (which is referenced through conspicuous allusions) and the ambition to be epic (with captivating shots like those found in Ford’s westerns) and deep-thinking sci-fi along the lines of Stanley Kubrick (to which it comes closest with its minimalist prologue). Following the formula of a mediocre 1980s (i.e. pre-Scream) slasher flick, with characters making the most basic mistakes (climbing and looking where they shouldn’t, often alone rather than in a group, having sex with each other), it is thus impeded by discussions on chance, fate and creation (Mother and various fathers play a role here), which suffer from the same lack of development as the colonisation storyline. The new Alien is paradoxically a good film until an alien appears in it. It works relatively well until the landing on the alien planet, as it offers a number of possibilities for the direction that the narrative could take and for a long time it isn’t clear which one the filmmakers will take. For example, the conflicts between faith and science, between the captain and Daniels (instead of cross around her neck, she wears a bolt, which comes in handy later) start out promisingly, whereas we see an android playing the flute and reciting Shelley in the second half, which, although fascinating thanks to Fassbender, is a somewhat different theme and a slightly different film. Scott is suddenly much more fascinated by the artificial beings and aliens than by the humans with whom we have spent nearly an hour of the film (however, the pairing-off of the characters doesn’t much help the viewer’s emotional involvement, because for a long time it isn’t clear who is sleeping with whom), and he starts to address all of the complex questions of existence by biting off hands and tearing off heads. This smart-looking film thus becomes a goofy (but entertaining) action-horror B-movie with some rather disgusting gore effects, which I didn't entirely care for, especially thanks to the likeable Katherine Waterston (though an android remains the only well-developed character). Though the new Alien is inventively constructed, looks great and offers one very well-made action scene (with an axe), it comes across as half-baked in most respects, as if there wasn’t time and space to flesh out many of the ideas (I consider the inorganically incorporated flashback, which could have been replaced by dialogue, to be not only an example of tremendous screenwriting laziness, but also a sign that the whole thing could have worked better if the film had paid more heed to the point of view of the reminiscing character). 55% (16.05.2017)

Once again it’s not the hit we were hoping for, but I think it’s at least a decent sci-fi horror flick. In any case, it’s a pity that it’s so half-assed and unfocused, because the plot arc potential is big. Unfortunately, it’s watered down by dense characters, dense dialogues and some dense scenes, too. The birth of the first real alien was actually funny. Overall, it has the same problems as Prometheus, but a couple of positives things on top. And if you were pissed off at explorers taking their helmets off too soon in Prometheus , here when landing on a new planet, they won’t even bother to put them on. Edit: I have to say that this wore off quite fast. Much faster than Prometheus, to which I returned after the screening. When I think back about Covenant, I mostly remember the negative aspects, which in the previous one was the opposite. And this is a relevant reason to lower the rating. (17.05.2017)

After the light-footed The Martian, I assumed that Scott's age is just a number that comes from subtracting the number on his ID card from the number on the calendar, so I wouldn't blame it on senility. Rather (and this is worse), I attribute it to creative indiscipline and an overgrown ego that has become a tumor of a uniquely creative mind that neither respects the canon nor offers a new approach. The opening is confusing and the characters have no background, so we're following a group of really, really stupid assholes. The plot is very transparent, with the banal (the bloody mess) taking precedence over what is in fact really interesting - and in terms of the development of the series - more important (the creature). Scott wants to impress, but the character of David could stand in for Kryten in Red Dwarf, so instead of holding your breath, you're both laughing and cursing through your teeth. Visual variety, Scott's long-standing asset that has saved many a film, is also absent, with this often looking like a more expensive episode of Stargate, which is the level where the rest of the film actually belongs in terms of its quality. PS: Kurzel's audio is a dark nervous fantasy that the film is not worthy of. (13.07.2017)

Ridley Scott is going crazy in his old age and so he’s trying to squeeze as much as possible out of his child – the Alien. Because I don’t really get the new Alien trilogy starting with Prometheus. Sure, the first one was a bit interesting, but the Covenant is not only stupid, it’s outright a copy of the first Alien. Why? And don’t even get me started on the CGI that sometimes looks like it’s made by a below-average Nigerian IT student. The Covenant is downright stupid and has no redeeming qualities in terms of the Alien saga. (18.05.2018)

Nope. Ridley Scott didn't make another Alien, he made another Prometheus. And what didn't work in the first one still doesn't work here, and maybe even more so. The characters are even duller, half of them are practically there just to die, and there's really no personality to speak of. On top of that, Katherine Waterston is an utterly insipid and unimaginative female lead. And unfortunately Ridley has this whole boring bunch babbling, sniffing things on an unknown planet, getting lost, splitting up and dying in such an undignified way that the word "cliché" doesn't even begin to describe it. Scott is still trying to make a movie with transcendence; philosophical, religious and thought-provoking, but again, the whole thing is dull at best and usually laughable, just like the villain David. It doesn't work as a horror film, it doesn't even want to do much, and the whole thing felt like a movie in which the aliens appear more or less only because it can't be called Prometheus 2. What you love about Alien, you don't get here. Because the senile Scott is going head to head with the wall and has probably decided to finish his Prometheus saga despite the fact that nobody really wants it. (15.05.2017)

A film where someone alternately screams hysterically in confusing scenes and alternately philosophizes about the issues of the space game show quiz in far too clear shots. Everyone behaves so erratically that the Prometheus crew reminds of professors of logic on a trip to the land of the eight-way. After a totally WTF birth scene, I decided that Alien had just died for me. One star for Franco's compression without having to utter a bare sentence on board. That is the right decision. The only one. (15.05.2017)

The fourth best Alien. Or the second worst, if you want. Anyway, the second Prometheus makes more of the same mistakes than a regular fresh take on a fifth entry of a franchise. It's mainly saved by the visuals, Fassbender and a few moments of impressive intensity. (17.05.2017)

Ridley Scott stands at the threshold between a spiritual continuation of Prometheus and an honest addition to alien encounters. He is slightly more successful in the first case, when I forget to breathe during the dialogue of two androids, my brain is racing in a pensive atmosphere at full speed, and somewhere in the background, a quiet voice whispers to me that many people will hate this chapter precisely because of those calm passages. The bloody meetings with the legendary adversary surprisingly do not have as much space as the trailer campaign promised, which explains the incomprehensible departures of viewers from the cinema long before the true beginning of the uncompromising confrontation. Because I have long admired the entire mythology of the xenomorphs and I happily watched Prometheus twice five years ago, I remain content. However, I am saddened that there was so little missing for the highest rating, specifically a slightly unfortunate necessity of a dramatic arc that Alien: Covenant must close in a separate chapter. I would easily leave the plot and mood scissors open even wider, and I would completely put the editor's scissors aside, because two hours are really not enough for perfect immersion. (18.05.2017)

The creationist line from Prometheus is enhanced with quotes from the original Alien. The crew suffering suicidal tendencies fights against the symptoms of a weird pathogen and then against those ever-popular droolers. Apart from McBride, the crew is eminently forgettable. In, Fassbender dominates in his double role and is certainly one of the most interesting characters of the entire Alien universe. Scott maintains his high standards visually, and the destroyed civilization scenery is incredibly convincing. (19.05.2017)

If James Cameron watches this, he’ll probably gloat at how some of the elements in Covenant worked so much better 30 years ago in his classic Aliens. The only thing Ridley Scott does better, leaving the shadows of previous works are the heady visuals and the production design. Otherwise, this is a big disappointment. The script is pulled out if thin hair, the protagonists have no zest, there are few Aliens, and an android playing a flute, really? Scott stuffs philosophy and wannabe deep thoughts either where they don’t belong or are fine but in a different form. The paradox is that he’s the one who should know best because he gave life to this spectacular monster. Again, there’s a dropship, a signal from settlers on an unknown planet, soldiers oblivious to threats and established security procedures, a carnage, a rescue pod, heavy equipment, an airlock. With some minor variations and shifts, basically the same thing repeated over and over again. Next episode, please get the Alien on Earth, drop it in cities, and make it WWIII so we finally have some fleshing out after 20 episodes. (21.05.2017)

This equal or slightly better sequel to Prometheus, which I also liked, pleasantly surprised me several times. Since I'd only seen about one trailer, I really had little idea of the plot, so I simply let myself be invited to explore another planet, from which another signal came and where something hungry was apparently lurking... So the true alien basis was there, spiced up with something new from the mythology, and especially an interesting idea about how and why someone can rebel against their creator. Ridley Scott shot it all brilliantly, and Michael Fassbender’s performances are both excellent. (19.05.2017)

A dud by no means, Covenant is still very appealing and coherently told, with an interesting use of a double role for Fassbender and a few scenes of amazing genre calibre. Unfortunately, I still can't shake the feeling that it's not quite an Alien, even though it wasn't a rip-off of Ridley by any means. A decent 70% for the time being. (23.05.2017)

From an audiovisual perspective, the film is top notch, and even the continuation of the development of the alien mythology is gratifying. But that's about it. Covenant repeats many of Prometheus's mistakes and adds a few new asides, which superficially seem to be innovations, but in fact distance the Aliens even more as iconic monsters from what they once meant. In the first film from 1979, the Alien was the embodiment of absolute and almost invincible evil, from which horror extended for miles. In Covenant, the Alien is degraded into a moderately effective deadly tool, which has no chance of scaring anyone, because this time the main villain is someone else, which puts the Alien on the side-lines (and it does not appear again until the last half hour). Otherwise, the heroes are mostly introduced only briefly and insufficiently. They once again idiotically move about an unknown planet without spacesuits. The film once again suffers from a long start and demented philosophizing, which begins with debates about the meaning of being and the purpose of life, ending with showing which of the debaters can play the flute better and quote literary authors better. This method of conceiving the alien saga seems a bit unfortunate to me... (15.05.2017)

Poor Scott, he wants to make a philosophical, weighty, and ironic trilogy about questions of existence, anything, and everything, and instead he turns out a first-rate camp film on A-grade funds. And it's camp with all the right stuff, from the retarded "oh, a mushroom, I'm gonna kick it" character actions to the unguarded pomposity, culminating in a unique scene where two androids blow whistles to each other with the help of lines like "Gently blow into the hole. Let me do the fingering. Oh bravo!" This allows Covenant to at least minimally entertain, and is helped by the excellent effects and monster design that the film doesn't skimp on, though in complete contrast to the original Alien. It's just that when you want to make a big work of art and all you're left with afterwards is a relatively entertaining New Year's Eve slasher, it's not a bad idea to start scratching your head about who you are. And that's a question you don't want to answer through high-flying androids playing patty-cake with newly hatched aliens, let alone when you've kicked the visionary young creative that is Blomkamp out of the director's chair for it. (22.08.2017)

I read the reviews here before watching the film, which I don't usually do, which made me rather cautious. But after I managed to ignore all the illogicalities and, from a certain point on, predictable ending, I was quite pleasantly surprised. The biggest issue for me was Katherine Waterston, who I just couldn't get used to and who really annoyed me in this film. I was pleased to see that the humanoid lizard was no longer the greatest evil and that the owls were not what they seemed. (22.08.2017)

Ridley Scott simply made a film that does what it was meant to do. It connects Prometheus to the Alien franchise. He does it in a way that's not very obvious, but it's also not particularly thought-provoking. The fan gets what they expect, plus they can follow some continuities. It's action-packed, it's fast-paced, and it's visually stunning. But unfortunately, at times, it's a bit empty. (24.05.2017)

I liked just about every scene, except for the one with the alien, which is probably a bit of a bummer for a film with “Alien" in the tile. Visually everything works beautifully, great cinematography, great sets, even the visual effects are great. The big Alien was cool, but the white hybrids were unnecessary, though I guess I understand they were trying to come up with something new. It could have been a great film, but unfortunately there are too many "oh noooo" moments where I almost rolled my eyes (the main prize here goes to the "birth"). But it wasn't as bad as Prometheus, so I'm giving it one more star. The actors were excellent, although I was a bit surprised by the choice of the duo "The Prince and the Pauper", but that's not a complaint, on the contrary, I can't fault the actors, but I would love to ask Scott if he is really happy with his "work". (15.05.2017)