Ridley Scott’s creation of the original “Alien” rocketed the standards for the suspense and horror genres into intergalactic territory. What made the original film and its sequel “Aliens” so alluring to audiences and beloved by critics was its determined focus. This focus, unfortunately, has been lost in “Alien: Covenant.”
A video essay by Jack’s Movie Reviews argues that within “Alien: Covenant” there is a good movie. There are, however, three themes that are explored with little focus and with an inconvenience that places this film within the lower echelon of the standards set by the original 1979 entry. Moments of horror, action, and humanity are found in varying places within ‘Covenant,’ but they never work concretely to create a cohesive story that communicates something bigger.
Jack’s Movie Reviews argues ‘Covenant’’s attempts at suspense are plentiful. However, they become rather dogged and ineffective. The tensions in certain scenes, whether involving the crew or David (Michael Fassbender) are usually resolved and subsequently work as a plot device and not necessarily a means to add to an already exciting premise. The video essay continues to argue that while ‘Covenant’ tries to mesh tension into the story, “Alien” used tension as its backbone, with no resolve coming until the very end. Similarly, there’s a lack of mystery within ‘Covenant.’
Adding to the conceptualization of how to add horror to “Alien: Covenant,” the film does what “Alien” did not do: it shows the monster, the xenomorph. “Alien” has a story-to-tension relationship that works to build suspense. Its subtlety is what made it great, with small bursts of action that coincided with the tension already palpable. “Alien: Covenant,” argues the video essay, takes the concept in a completely different direction. The action sequences are the shortest, but they are the ones that take away from the film most.
Finally, the video essay discusses the role of a great message about humanity. Similar to Scott’s “Blade Runner,” the role of creation plays a part in ‘Covenant’ that the video essay argues takes away from the grander idea of the series itself. Revealed in the film, David’s obsession and need to create ultimately leads him to create a monster. While humanity and deconstructing the power roles that coincide with it is an interesting concept that can be (and has been) explored in other films, Jack’s Movie Reviews argues that this doesn’t apply to the ‘Alien’ series as its main roots are in Love Craftian Horror. The idea that we are not alone in the universe, and what is out there must be evil, has been the tether holding the ‘Alien’ films together. “Alien: Covenant” cuts itself loose from the tether in pursuit of something grander, but falls apart along the way.