Alien: Covenant

Alien: Covenant is a visually appealing film that once again showcases Director Ridley Scott’s mastery at creating immersive cinematic experiences. The sinister design of the alien, the sleek and meticulous layout of the spacecraft, combined with elaborate landscape shots of outer space scenery, Covenant has all the right ingredients for a picturesque sci-fi adventure.

While audiences are likely not looking for character development in a monster movie titled “Alien: Covenant”, the human characters have the potential to act as vehicles for us to latch onto, not only for a sense of familiarity, but also for evoking a sense of empathy within the audience so that we can better comprehend what is at stake here. But In Covenant, none of the characters are particularly likeable or memorable enough to fulfill that role. If the film’s objective is for the audience to not get too attached to the characters, then it definitely succeeded as I did not find myself looking forward to spending more time with these individuals. There is also something about Michael Fassbender teaching Michael Fassbender how to play the flute, while making sexual innuendos at Michael Fassbender and waxing poetic about human existence to Michael Fassbender, that reeks of pretentiousness. The biblical imagery and discourses about existentialism are meshed so clumsily with the actions that it ultimately did nothing more than garner a few eye-rolls.

(Originally posted on 26 May 2017 @projectunwrapped)