Michael Fassbender Katherine
Waterston Billy
Crudup Danny
McBride
This version of Ridley Scott’s Alien series is
to serve as an origin story, explaining how the alien came to be, and following
up on his Prometheus production
(2012), in which the origins of humankind were considered. Alien: Covenant elaborates on that theme
and lets us know what happened to two of the characters that were in Prometheus and are now missing.
It helps to have seen the previous renditions
of Scott’s Alien films before viewing
Covenant because it explains the
origin of the alien in the first Alien
movie and some of the characters are referenced here, although it’s not
entirely necessary. This could
stand alone as a sci-fi thriller in its own right, showing the dynamics of a
group of people on a space ship for long periods of time, their encounters with
another planet and the beings inhabiting it, and the fascinating subject of
human-like robots in human society.
Captain Oram, taking over from the previous
captain’s sudden death is an unsympathetic character who appears far too weak
to lead such an important mission.
This character takes the prize for being the most annoying. He has significant disagreements with
Daniels (Waterston), the wife of the former captain and someone who is much
more forceful in personality. That
she seems more artificial has less to do with her acting than with the script
and direction. The most effective
and intriguing are the two robots both played by Michael Fassbender, on whom
the whole story turns. Fassbender
is incredibly good at playing both, who are similar, but with subtle
differences and very discrepant aims.
Exploring new worlds—especially in space—takes
courage, and in Ridley Scott films moral grounding as well, because ethical
choices crop up repeatedly. One
instance of that occurs when newly installed Captain Oram (Crudup) finds that
the spaceship Covenant is near a planet showing life and the possibility of its
being closer than the one they’re headed to, to start a settlement, prompts him
to want to explore it.
Disagreeing, Daniels reasons that that would put too many of their crew
and settlers at risk. The dilemma
is one of exploration with possibilities versus caution. Another instance of critical choices
occurs when Mother, the space ship’s computer, warns of dangers in getting too
close to a planet where some of Covenant’s crew is already exploring, the
pilots disagree about whether to go ahead or not. But the spouse of one of the pilots is down there, and he
insists on forging on down to save her.
Director Scott regards these dilemmas partly as a means to excite the
viewer, but to elicit a certain amount of agony of conscience as well.
Fans of the previous Alien movies, will relish the appearance of the alien creatures in
this film, their appearances heralded by an ominous bug entering the human’s
ear or nose, then bursting forth in a bloody birth. This takes place on the planet Oram insisted on exploring,
and they are accounted for by the appearance of a familiar figure. These encounters are the most exciting
and frightening scenes in the film, culminating in a furious battle on the
return ship toward home.
A very interesting account of the
origin of the aliens in earlier pictures.
No comments:
Post a Comment