Alien: Covenant – Return to Form or Complete Misfire?

The reviews for Alien: Covenant aren’t that hot. That said, before you decide not to see it, remember the reviews for Blade Runner (1982) were downright atrocious. When the film was first released you’d have thought that Ridley Scott was washed up. Turns out, he was simply ahead of the pack, way ahead. Blade Runner is now viewed as one of the most defining science fiction films of the last 50 years (so much so that Ridley’s doing it again). So even though the critics haven’t exactly been kind to Scott’s new film, that’s not necessarily a measure of quality.

The new Alien film bears the added weight and expectations that come with being, that guy—Ridley Scott—now regarded as one of the preeminent auteurs of the age. As part of the Alien series, it does something important, it pushes into new territory. Ridley and his crew seem to have taken the lessons learned from Prometheus, and applied them to the new film. Many fans griped at the fact that Prometheus wasn’t an exact prequel to Alien, thinking the connection was just too tenuous. They wanted a more concrete connection to the original film. Well, Alien: Covenant is just that. It’s a firm Alien film. They even have the xenomorph’s head prominently displayed in the trailer—Repeatedly.

The film also appears to have abandoned many of the core threads and characters from Prometheus. Instead, a whole new cast of characters adventures out into space to contend with the alien. It’s almost as if the picture itself is almost saying “we know you didn’t enjoy that last film, we’re gonna do right by you this time.”

Which… may be a misstep.

Ridley Scott is a director who doesn’t work well with others. He doesn’t sacrifice his vision no matter which executive or producer happens to disagree. He pushes his team to the upteenth degree, then demands more, to exacting standards. Gruff, mercurial, and hyper-intellectual, Ridley Scott is someone who you’d think would have no interest in kowtowing to anyone’s wants or even returning to worlds he’s already made i.e. the worlds of Alien and Blade Runner but here he is and here we are.

And is the cool reception of Covenant nothing more than a repeat of what happened with Blade Runner during the 80’s? Is Scott still so far ahead of the pack that we need to let this new movie sink in and percolate? Or, is he just nostalgic in his old age, revisiting the past? Perhaps he’s concerned with his legacy. Perhaps he want to assemble those strange bits of the worlds he’s created into new stories, new transmissions from his imagination into our own.

Only Ridley himself can say.

But, on the business side, Alien: Covenant looks to be exactly what Fox needs. They have an A-list director on a flagship film franchise with a storied past. Check, check, check.

And the film looks to be a beautiful cinematic wonder that doesn’t supersede its stylistic ventures. One that, critics have said, (NY Times) never pushes past it’s lofty ideas.

So what will the future have to hold for Alien: Covenant? Who knows?! But one thing’s for sure: the legacy of the franchise is already cemented. How do we know? We’re here, forty years later, still talking about Alien movies. Whether or not Covenant has what it takes to stand on it’s own as a fully-realized film, it’s an interesting embellishment on the already sown tapestry of the Alien franchise.