MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON:
Alien: Covenant’s space crew are some by-the-book walking horror clichés. Practically everything one shouldn’t do in a dangerous situation they do—such as:
- Let an infected person onto the ship.
- Try comforting the long gone infected person with a hug.
- Unlock and go into the infected quarantine zone.
- Slip and trip at the most critical moments.
- Scream, panic and/or shoot wildly with a dangerous weapon.
- Do the latter, but inside a combustible ship.
- Poke and touch unidentified life forms.
- Go alone to take a leak.
- Go alone to “tidy up”, after half the crew’s been killed, while danger still lurks about (true priorities there).
- Go take a shower and have sex while playing loud music (three in one) directly after the dangerous mission has apparently been “completed”.
- Go alone with a deranged android—who was just seen to be very likely involved in the murder of a crew member—to see one of his “creations”, after he’s revealed to have genetically engineered the monsters who have killed half the crew, and then directly lean over a suspicious looking egg (which suddenly opens up from touching it) to look inside after the android—who was, just moments ago, enraged at the murder of one of his creations—ensures it’s “completely safe”.
- NEVER SUSPECTING ANYTHING IS WRONG.
And here I thought the Prometheus crew were bad at survival, but these guys…these guys take the cake. It’s no wonder they all end up either dying and/or being easily manipulated. Perhaps David is ultimately correct: maybe humanity is meant to die off. These guys certainly don’t make a compelling argument against such claim. Enough complaining, however, because despite the textbook stupidity its “good guys” showcase, Alien: Covenant is a (relatively) good film—primarily thanks to Michael Fassbender, who has since Prometheus doubled his android roles with Walter, the caring American one, and David, the crazy British one.
When it comes to sequels, the most prominent question is: what does it offer that its predecessor(s) did not. Alien is an outstanding horror-slasher film—Aliens refreshingly changes the formula with a wonderful action sci-fi (complete with great and memorable characters). Since then, the Alien sequels have ranged from meh to downright bad. Even the respectfully ambitious, formula changing Prometheus is unnecessarily convoluted, leaves too many questions unanswered, and is filled with too many idiot ball moments to effectively work. Alien: Covenant goes back to a more simplified plot structure—which, unfortunately, means those puzzling questions are left unanswered—and focuses its more existential questions and themes solely into the Michael Fassbender characters.
David is a true sociopath: a narcissistic being, high on his own self-righteous superiority of others. He’s grown to view himself as a god-like being, and humanity as a dying breed in need of extinction so the next level of perfected beings may evolve: the Xenomorphs, his very own creations. His conversations with Walter are quite fascinating, as they’re very much an anti-reflection of himself. Walter is a humble, kindhearted android dedicated to helping humanity rebuild itself—forming genuine friendships with his crew, in particular the second-in-command Dany (Katherine Waterston), who David suspects Walter loves. David views Walter’s mindset as a limitation to mere servitude for lower lifeforms, created by the restrictive capacities in his programing—yet one can argue it’s these “limitations” that allow Walter to keep his humanity and empathy (aspects David’s heightened mind his long since twisted and buried). It’s Walter who points out the faults and hypocrisy behind David’s mindset (at one point using the poem Ozymandias; “One wrong note eventually ruins the entire symphony.”), causing a clash in ideology between the two beings. Fassbender does a terrific job playing both roles, and as horrific as the Xenomorph scenes can get, it’s the dangerously intelligent David who really sends a shiver down my spine (especially in his final scenes; “Hush now, I’ll go put the children to bed.J”).
David and Walter are what give Alien: Covenant an effectively different vibe from Alien and Aliens, with Fassbender keeping the story afloat. The remaining characters are either underdeveloped, recycled personas, and/or killed too early to create any genuine empathy/interest for them. The human crew and their abundance of walking horror clichés are Alien Covenant’s biggest faults—nonetheless, the film succeeds with gruesomely unsettling Xenomorph scenes, tense atmosphere building, and two intriguing characters/excellent performances from a single actor. Alien: Covenant’s rare “villain winning” ending additionally has me looking forward to the film’s inevitable sequel. Alien: Covenant is far from the masterpiece its series’s first two films are, but it is a superior, albeit (for both better and worse) simpler, film to its prequel predecessor.
