ALIEN: COVENANT REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

In 1979, director Ridley Scott shocked audiences when his second feature film, Alien, was released. I don't think anyone was prepared for the level of horror that awaited them as they sat down to watch an alien invasion movie. The film surrounded a crew aboard a spaceship and are hit with disaster after an alien bursts out of one of the crew member's chest and starts killing the entire crew. Almost four decades later, Alien is regarded as a sci-fi/horror classic and it shows one of Sigourney Weaver's career defining performances as Ellen Ripley. Because it was a box office success, James Cameron's 1986 sequel, Aliens, was released with Weaver reprising her role as the brave and fierce Ripley. Despite both films proving to be a hit with both audiences and critics, the following sequels, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection were not best received. After the release of the latter, people assumed that that was the end of the Alien films. Fortunately, they were wrong and Scott began developing a prequel to Alien in the early 2000s. In 2012, Scott's prequel, Prometheus, was released and, whilst it lacked in the alien department, it was still full of thrills and dark and tense moments. It also explained the origins of the human race and began to explain where the xenomorphs came from. Prometheus ended with archaeologist, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and android, David (Michael Fassbender), on their way to find out why the Engineers created them and then tried to destroy them. Now, five years later, the follow-up, Alien: Covenant has been released and it gives more background on the xenomorphs.

Alien: Covenant is set in the year 2104, a decade after the events of Prometheus and opens on board the titular ship which is in the middle of journeying to a new remote planet, Origae-6, with about 2,000 colonists and a 1,000 embryos, which is monitored by the android, Walter (Fassbender) who resembles David but is an improvement on the latter. Unfortunately, disaster strikes, waking the crew up early and resulting the death of its captain (James Franco). As the crew repairs the damages, a transmission is intercepted from a nearby planet. Oram (Billy Crudup), who is second in command, makes the decision to visit the planet, despite Daniels' (Katherine Waterston) objections. When the crew lands, the planet seems perfect but it doesn't take long for things to take a dark and violent turn. 

Despite Prometheus receiving a mostly positive reception from both critics and audiences, most complains were about the lack of aliens. Those who complained will not be disappointed here. Within hours of landing on the planet, two members of the crew are inadvertently infected with an alien spore that kills them, after one bursts out of the back of one crew member while the other escapes through the mouth of another. Alien: Covenant has a high level of violence and gore so those with a weak stomach may want to give this film a miss. The intensity increases and, just when you think everything is okay, Scott shocks us by using unpredictable twists and jump scares. Like in most of the films in the franchise, no one is safe and people die in shockingly violent ways. Once again, Scott has succeeded in crafting a horror film.

Unfortunately, where he is less successful is the characters. In my opinion, in Prometheus, I think that the characters were more memorable because of the actors portraying them and their performances. The stand-outs for me were Rapace, Fassbender and Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers, who monitored the situation. Of the three, Fassbender is the only one to return, however, Rapace's character, Dr. Shaw, is frequently mentioned. Waterston gives a strong performance as Daniels who, despite her initial fears, remains brave and doesn't stop at trying to kill the monstrous neomorphs (which are forerunners to the xenomorph). Waterston previously appeared in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and proves her ability to play two completely different characters. Hopefully, these roles will get her more recognition as I think that she's an underrated actress. Solid supporting roles come from Crudup as Oram and Danny McBride as Tennessee, who is the chief pilot. For those seeing Alien: Covenant for James Franco, you're going to be disappointed.

Fassbender made David an interesting and mysterious individual, however, in this sequel, we see a different side to his character. We learn that he is manipulative and, ironically, has more human emotions than the humans themselves as he almost tears up when he talks about Shaw. He is unpredictable and we never know what he is going to do next. Fassbender also successfully achieves the task of portraying two different characters at the same time. Walter is a more mature, friendlier version of David. The relationship between the two androids is interesting to watch. David's evil actions leads to a brilliantly choreographed fight that results in a surprising twist.

Much like Prometheus, Alien: Covenant features some impressive visuals. When the crew arrive on the planet, the dark and grey setting implies that it's far from the paradise they had hoped for. As the intensity increases, the setting becomes darker, 

At the time of Alien: Covenant's release, Scott announced that there will be a sequel that'll lead into Alien. I won't reveal anything but Alien: Covenant does end on a cliffhanger, indicating there is still more to come. 

While I don't think it's as good as Alien, Aliens or Prometheus (which I enjoyed more than most), Alien: Covenant isn't as bad as Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. It's a welcome return to the 'Alien' franchise and is full of thrills and dark and intense moments. 

7/10

PROMETHEUS REVIEW

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In 1979, Ridley Scott released his second feature film, Alien, and it proved to be a huge hit both at the box office (earning over $80 million, leading it to become the sixth highest grossing film of that year) and with audiences and critics alike. It featured a breakthrough performance from Sigourney Weaver and it had a dark and tense atmosphere. The film surrounded an alien invasion aboard a ship in space and how the members of the crew fought for survival. At the time of its release, there hadn't been a film like Alien, a blend of science-fiction and horror and now, thirty-eight years later, it is now regarded as a classic. Seven years later, James Cameron directed the sequel, Aliens, and Weaver reprised her role as Ellen Ripley, who was the only one to survive the traumatic events of the previous film. Despite Alien being incredibly thrilling, Aliens, like Cameron's 1984 film The Terminator, featured a lot more action. We also saw another side to Ripley who became a motherly figure to Newt (Carrie Henn), a young girl whose family were killed by aliens. The sequel, like its predecessor, was a huge success, making over $86 million at the box office. However, despite both sequels being successful, the same can't be said for the two sequels, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection which were released in 1992 and 1997. I haven't seen either of these sequels so I can't make an opinion but from what I've read in reviews from critics, both films failed to live up to the quality of the first two films. After the release of the fourth film, many thought that this was the end of the Alien franchise, however, in the early 2000s, development of a fifth film began. Both Scott and Cameron developed ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Alien. By 2003, the development of Alien vs. Predator took precedence, and the project remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. Jon Spaihts wrote a script for a prequel to the events of the Alien films, but Scott opted for a different direction to avoid repeating cues from those films. In late 2010, Damon Lindelof joined the project to rewrite Spaihts's script, and he and Scott developed a story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to that franchise. According to Scott, although the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas.

None of the characters that were in any of the Alien films feature in Prometheus. The film revolves around a group of entirely new characters and feature solid performances from its cast. 

Prometheus is set in 2093 and takes place in the same universe as the 'Alien' films. A group of explorers, including some archaeologists, are on an "undisclosed" mission. They arrive at a moon trillions of miles away from Earth. The team spot what they believe to be signs of civilization. They go to investigate and find more than just signs, they find conclusive evidence. But some of them have an ulterior motive for being there, including the Weyland Corporation. They believe that this is where the human race actually came from. Things soon turn from excitement to survival once inside their discovery.

While Prometheus may not be as good as Alien or Aliens, it's nowhere near as bad as Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection were. Because Scott is brought back to direct, this is an improvement on the latter films. He understands how to generate tension and how to create action-packed sequences. In this prequel, Scott takes chances and, while some of his choices don't work, the film is never far from interesting. Prometheus does weigh heavily on more familiar science-fiction themes than action, adventure, horror or thriller elements. However, this doesn't mean its less horrifying than its predecessors. Most of its violent and goriest moments occur halfway through the film and there's one scene in particular that may be too stomach churning for viewers as it features one of the characters removing an alien from their womb. Scott doesn't shy away from showing the gore in this scene which was the main reason why it received a 15 rating (R in the US). 

Scott also made some good decisions regarding certain members of the cast. If there's a Ripley-type character to be found in Prometheus, it's Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw who is an archaeologist. To help aid her method acting, Rapace developed a complete backstory for Shaw and, because she's Swedish, she worked with a dialect coach to help with her achieve a British accent. She is the most rounded character because we learn details of her childhood and we understand what motivates her. Because of this, we respect and understand her strength and survival instincts. 

Charlize Theron is the leader of the expedition, Meredith Vickers. For most of the film, she is mainly on the ship, making most of the decisions. She treats the other members of the crew like her employees, which they are, and believes she always speaks for the company's wishes. 

Michael Fassbender portrays the android, David, with a mixture of curiosity, detachment and arrogance. In developing his character, Fassbender avoided watching the android characters of Alien and Aliens, and instead studied the replicants in Scott's 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner, with a focus on Sean Young's character Rachael, whose "vacancy" and longing for a soul interested him. Fassbender drew further inspiration from the voice of the HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the "funny walk and economy of movement" of Olympic diver Greg Louganis and the performances of David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth, Dirk Bogarde in The Servant, and Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. 

Idris Elba is the captain of the ship, Janek. Elba described his character as a "longshoreman and a sailor" with a military background. He also said that Janek being a captain is his life and the crew is his responsibility and he is a realistic, pragmatic character. Other recognisable names include Rafe Spall, Guy Pearce (looking unrecognisable underneath his incredible old-age make-up) and Sean Harris. While some of the characters may be less developed than others, every member of the cast gives a solid performance.

Where Prometheus succeeds the most is its stunning visuals and impressive special effects. The computer-generated imagery has improved a lot since the release of Alien in 1979.  Because the film takes place in 2093, the futuristic setting is brought to life via the advance technology we see in the film. The visual effects were a big highlight of the film so it's no surprise that they were nominated for an Academy Award in 2013. The visual effects are probably at their best over halfway through the film where David finds a star map that highlights Earth.

When I first watched Prometheus, I had no idea what to expect as I hadn't seen either of the Alien films. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. It exceeded my expectations and convinced me to finally watch the Alien films. I'd recommend this to those who haven't seen any of the films in the Alien franchise. Because it's a prequel, it makes perfect sense to watch Prometheus before the original films. I think that you're more likely to enjoy the film if you go in thinking less about Alien and more about Scott, with his emphasis on images, tone and atmosphere over - sometimes at the expense of - plot and story.

Scott's ambitious quasi-prequel to Alien may not answer all of its big questions, but it's redeemed by its haunting visual grandeur and compelling performances, mainly from Rapace and Fassbender.

8/10

ALIENS REVIEW

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In 1979, Ridley Scott's second feature film, Alien, went on to become one of the most iconic science-fiction motion pictures ever released in cinema. Its dark atmosphere made it an incredibly tense film and Sigourney Weaver in a career-defining performance. She made Ellen Ripley her own and portrayed her as a strong and brave individual. After its release, it went on to become a commercial success and made over $80 million at the box office. In this sequel, Weaver is the only actor to return and James Cameron takes over the directing reigns from Scott. 

Due to the events of the previous film, Ripley is the last surviving crew member of a corporate spaceship destroyed after an attack by a vicious, virtually unbeatable alien life form. Adrift in space for half a century, Ripley grapples with depression until she's informed by her company's representative, Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) that the planet where her crew discovered the alien has since been settled by colonists. Contact with the colony has suddenly been lost, and a detachment of colonial marines is being sent to investigate. Invited along as an advisor, Ripley predicts disaster, and sure enough, the aliens have infested the colony, leaving a sole survivor, the young girl Newt (Carrie Henn). With the soldiers picked off one by one, a final all-female showdown brews between the alien queen and Ripley, who's become a surrogate mother to Newt. 

Creating a sequel that is as good as its predecessor can be a challenging task. Nevertheless, director Camera has succeeded as Aliens capture the dark atmosphere from the previous film. With an alien on board the ship, this film is never loses its intensity. Throughout the film, we're constantly wondering when the alien is going to make its next appearance and whether anyone will survive. 

Despite its 137 minute runtime, it still moves at a quick and brisk pace. In the opening of the film, Ripley tries to convince her employers at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation what happened to her and her crew, unfortunately, they are skeptical of her claims. After losing contact with a colony, known as Hadleys Hope, the Corporation sends out a new crew to investigate the disturbance. Because Ripley is traumatised by her encounter with the Alien, Ripley initially refuses to join the crew but she relents after experiencing recurring nightmares of the creature. However, she makes the crew promise to exterminate the Alien rather than capture it. This leads to another thrilling and action packed encounter with the Aliens. 

Weaver improves on her performance in Alien and makes Ripley more dimensional. We see a new side to her when she is given the task of looking after Newt, a young girl whose family were killed by aliens. We see Ripley become a motherly figure to Newt and brings out a softer side. However, she hasn't lost her fierce personality and isn't afraid to stand up for herself against the other members of the crew. She is determined to kill the Aliens once and for all and even encounters a battle with the Queen in the brilliant climax. Because of her strong performance, she received an Best Actress nomination at the 1987 Academy Awards. This was the first ever for an actress in a role in an action movie.

Henn is perfect as Newt as she captures her true fears really well. We know she's recently lost her family and instantly feel sympathetic towards her. However, we're soon reassured when Ripley takes her in and cares for her. We know that Ripley isn't going to let anything happen to her. 

Another actor worth mentioning is the late Bill Paxton who plays the technician, Private Hudson. According to him, he improvised many of his lines including "Game over, man! Game over!" which made him one of the most memorable characters. He also featured in a scene where another member of the crew plays a knife trick on him by placing his hand on the table and moving the knife quickly between his fingers. This scene wasn't in the script and the adding of Hudson's hand to the trick was discussed with almost everyone, except Paxton himself. 

While Scott opted to have the deaths occur off-screen, Cameron shows plenty of violence and gore which has a deeper impact on the viewer's reactions. There are also a lot of jump scares making unsuitable for the faint-hearted. The most tense sequence occurs halfway through the film when members of the crew visit the Aliens' colony and are soon viciously attacked. Cameron barely gives his viewers enough time to breathe as he plunges his characters from one dire situation to the next. It's because of this film and The Terminator why Cameron is regarded as one of the best directors working today. This films gave him the success and further lead him to creating heartbreaking drama, Titanic, and the visually stunning, Avatar. 

Cameron co-wrote the script along with David Glier and Walter Hill and together they've written a deeply intense and incredibly thrilling sci-fi horror. The blend of sci-fi and horror works exceptionally well, especially in this sequel. At first, Weaver didn't want to return to the sequel, however, she was impressed by the high quality of Cameron's script, specifically, the strong focus on Ripley, the mother-daughter bond with her and Newt and the incredible precision with which Cameron wrote her character. Because of this, Weaver agreed to feature in the sequel.

 It's not hard to understand why this and its predecessor, Alien, are known as classics. Sigourney Weaver shines in her career-defining performance as Ripley. While Alien was a marvel of slow-building, atmospheric tension, Aliens packs a much more visceral punch.

8/10

ALIEN REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

In 1979, director Ridley Scott's second feature film, Alien, went on to become a science fiction classic and showcases one of Sigourney Weaver's most iconic performances. The film's title refers to a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature that stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. Despite the limited use of special effects and $78million budget, Alien still generates a lot of tension throughout and never fails to be anything less than a horrific yet thrilling alien invasion motion picture.
A close encounter of the third kind becomes a Jaws-style nightmare when an alien invades a spacecraft in Scott's sci-fi/horror classic. On the way home from a mission for the Company, the Nostromo's crew is woken up from hibernation by the ship's Mother computer to answer a distress signal from a nearby planet. Capt. Dallas's (Tom Skerritt) rescue team discovers a bizarre pod field, but things get even stranger when a face-hugging creature bursts out of a pod and attaches itself to Kane (John Hurt). Over the objections of Ellen Ripley (Weaver), science officer Ash (Ian Holm) lets Kane back on the ship. The acid-blooded incubus detaches itself from an apparently recovered Kane, but an alien erupts from Kane's chest and escapes. The alien starts stalking the humans, pitting Dallas and his crew (and cat) against a malevolent killing machine that also has a protector in the nefarious Company.
Back when Alien was first released in 1979, sci-fi films were really popular. The trend started with the first Star Wars film, A New Hope, which was released in 1977 and, by the time Alien was released, anything connected to space and/or aliens was guaranteed to raise interest. Because of this, it's no surprise that Alien became a huge success both with audiences and at the box office. It received over $80 million and was one of the highest grossing films of 1979.
It's not hard to understand why Alien is regarded as one of the best sci-fi films ever created. Ridley has crafted a unique sci-fi film that's unlike anything that has been seen before. Because it was incredibly dark and tense, it stood out alongside other sci-fi films that had been released such as Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, which also dealt with an alien invasion, albeit in a family friendly way. However, Alien is not suitable for the whole family. The characters featured in this film have to deal with an unstoppable alien and must beat the odds of surviving. People do die in this film in incredibly violent and gory ways. Scott shocked his audience by showing an alien burst out of Kane's chest. The violence doesn't end there, though. Throughout the film, Scott doesn't hold back and the shocking deaths made it a more memorable film. It's because of Alien that many filmmakers have tried to create an alien invasion film that's just as thrilling, however, nothing has ever come close to capturing the pure fear that Alien left you with. It's hard to believe that this is only Scott's second feature film (his debut was 1977 The Duellists). It was because of Alien and his 1982 film, Blade Runner, that Scott has gone on to become one of the most successful directors working today.
In addition to being one of the first films to blend sci-fi with horror, it was also one of the first films to feature a female protagonist. While Ripley does become a heroine in the climax, for the majority of the film, she's just one of seven crew members trying to survive this horrifying situation. Despite this, Weaver makes Ripley a brave and fierce individual who isn't afraid to stand up for herself. However, Scott initially planned a different fate for Ripley at the end of Alien. The ending shows Ripley being the sole survivor after she jettisons the alien from the spaceship. She records a message describing her traumatic ordeal and sets off to return home to Earth. While this was a great ending, mainly because it shows Ripley ability to defend herself, Scott had planned a much more darker ending where the Alien kills Ripley by biting her head off and, in the escape shuttle, sits in her chair, and then starts speaking with her voice in a message to Earth. Apparently, the production company, 20th Century Fox, wasn't too pleased with such a dark ending, and only allowed the additional scene if the Alien would die. In my opinion, I'm glad that this wasn't the ending as I think that it might have had a negative reaction on audiences. Having Ripley as the hero of Alien was an interesting twist. In 1979, viewers automatically assumed that Skerrit's Captain Dallas would fill that role. Not only because he had top billing but mainly because he was a man.
Despite Weaver gaining most of the attention and being the stand-out performance, there are still some solid portrayals from the cast. The two most recognisable names are John Hurt and Ian Holm who both went on to have successful careers in film. Despite having his on-screen appearance being limited, Hurt still makes the most of his role. For the chestburster sequence, Hurt stuck his head, shoulders and arms through a hole in the mess table, linking up with a mechanical torso that was packed with compressed air (to create the forceful exit of the alien) and lots of animal guts. The rest of the cast were not told that real guts were being used so as to provoke genuine reactions of shock and disgust. It's one of Hurt's most memorable roles purely due to this scene. Holm's character is Ash, who is the ship's science officer and, later on in the film, is revealed to be an android. Despite the Alien being the main protagonist, we see a darker side to Ash towards the end of the film. It's a great performance that features a twist I don't think anyone saw coming.
Performances aside, the design of the Alien is impressive. It doesn't take long for the Alien to grow into a towering creature and its razor-sharp teeth are enough to provoke fear in anyone. Because computer generated imagery was very limited in the late 1970s, Scott opted to find an actor who would fit in the Alien suit and that was Bolaji Badejo who, at the time of filming, was a graphic artist and was discovered at a pub by one of the casting directors. He was 7 foot 1 inch tall with thin arms which is just what the directors needed to fit into the costume. He was sent for Tai Chi and Mime classes to learn how to slow down his movements. A special swing had to be constructed for him to sit down during filming as he could not sit down on a regular chair once he was suited up because of the Alien's tail. The creature is never filmed directly facing the camera due to the humanoid features of its face. Scott, determined at all costs to dispel any notion of a man in a rubber suit, filmed the beast in varying close-up angles of its ghastly profile, very rarely capturing the beast in its entirety.
Scott has successfully crafted a blend of science fiction and horror that works exceptionally well and has lead to it becoming the biggest alien invasion-based franchise ever created. This is truly a dark film that never fails to grip us and isn't anything less than intense. It's because of this, and Weaver's strong leading performance, that it's gone on to become a classic.
This is a must-see for those who are fans of science-fiction, horror and films that involve an alien invasion.
Overall, Alien blends science-fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.
8/10