I am convinced the Alien franchise has been stuck in limbo since that first entry came about to shake the science fiction genre up in 1979. Each entry to follow has been significantly worse, while managing to offer very little new to the story potential it holds. I remember unfortunately being quite excited when Prometheus came about due to this reason, curious as to how things might be stirred up a bit in order to finally give some more depth to the story and themes that it clearly wanted to explore. The first Alien film seems like your average space horror, in which humans are trapped aboard a spaceship travelling through deep space. Within the walls of the spaceship is a strange type of creature that hunts the characters down one-by-one as they struggle to survive with that limited space, against an alien being capable of things far beyond the Earth's current evolutionary processes. But beneath this narrative is an entirely engaging concept which remains heavily overlooked, even by the creators of the films.
I mentioned being excited for Prometheus for a reason. It wasn't Alien! This was assumed to be a film that would finally ditch the Xenomorph creature and ideally provide some context behind the animal's creation, as well as go deeper into our own existence within the universe. Well, Prometheus was yet another disappointment, failing to expand upon the ideas of creationism and instead being the same formula that had been done to death already. Alien: Covenant seems to have tried to distance itself from the disappointment that was Prometheus purely by name, but it is indeed a sequel to Prometheus. To highlight how much of a mess the franchise now is, these films aren't considered to really have any connection to each other due to the total abandonment of certain elements of continuity. While that isn't always a bad thing, it does raise the red flag here with the Alien franchise due to its troubled history after that first initial hit.
The thing is, I really want to love the Alien franchise, particularly as it ditches the alien and instead looks deep into the lore of where they came from, leading to the rabbithole of where we came from. But it just seems that the films refuse to really acknowledge any of it. Unfortunately, Alien: Covenant was no different.
Alien: Covenant
If my brain isn't failing me here, I believe the first Prometheus film was to serve as a sort of prequel to the Alien film, showing a space exploring humanity that had stumbled across a similar pattern detailing a star map within ancient cultures. Humanity's curiosity and ambition leads to a team being sent far out into space towards this cluster of stars in hopes of finding out information regarding their creation. I absolutely love this general idea. It sets up the stage for an incredibly engaging narrative that looks into philosophy, past literature, and culture in attempt to shed light on our most important question: why are we here? This idea of a star map potentially revealing all and found within ancient cultures seems something out of an Arthur C. Clarke story, sending humanity out into what could easily be their own demise in search of truth. As already mentioned, Prometheus completely drops this idea and again copies the Alien formula as those who arrive at the planet end up being killed off one-by-one. Ditching this existential question entirely.
Within Prometheus is the introduction of the Engineer. With brief scenes that imply that the Engineers are pale humanoids which essentially birthed the life on Earth and created humans. Very little is explored regarding these humanoids other than that they seem evil; no context as to where they also came from. Well, Alien: Covenant is a sequel to this Prometheus film, taking place just a short 11 years after the Prometheus ship visited the planet. These visitors end up exploring the location, ultimately leading to the discovery of, again, aliens, as well as David, the annoying artificial intelligence which is by far the worst part of both films. Played well by Michael Fassbender, however. David, being the only prior survivor, takes these people in and it's already clear he's insane and has another agenda. Honestly, I hate this story so much. With all this potential the world has, the story is yet again another generic look into a rogue artificial intelligence playing God and killing humans off, alongside the Xenomorphs which are being genetically altered into their own more humanoid brings.
I can't help but be disappointed here. The story is just so boring and again throws away everything that makes the idea so interesting in the first place: random beings from distant stars using their own DNA to create humans, with their own fascinating architecture of giant structures of such magnificence. Completely overlooked. Ignored in favour of Xenomorphs just wiping people out again. And this is disappointing given the way the film starts off. Visually and with its directing, Alien: Covenant is actually very beautiful. I loved the tones and character designs a lot, as well as the environmental design which made the planet seem highly historic but full of life. The atmosphere you get from seeing these characters discovering ancient architecture and the ruins of a massive spaceship is just incredible, but unfortunately that's all it is: atmosphere. Thrown in as a background to serve as an excuse for the characters to run through some sort of science fiction related location while being hunted down. Again, with very nice cinemaotgraphy, costume design, and environments, it just all falls back to the lackluster narrative that doesn't actually give you any weight to it all.
The character of David seems evil for the sake of being evil. Just an extension of the angry Engineer playing God for no real reason. And much of the film just relies on his character, particularly around the halfway point where it just completely shifts from being this film on exploration and existentialism through creationism to just generic bad guy hunts good guys. I really would have loved to have seen more exploration of the world, perhaps managing to gain new insights that the crew of the Prometheus had failed to obtain. Exploring more of the historical elements of the Engineers, their culture, where they came from and why, as well as what their reason for creating humanity was. Not to forgot that old, historic atmosphere of puny humans traversing through ancient, deep halls that completely reduce them to nothing. Displaying the scale between humanity and their ambitions alongside the creator. To be honest, I think I just would have preferred to have not seen the Xenomorphs at all, and instead had a spin-off series that really focuses on the creationism elements of the lore. Again pushing into that idea of Arthur C. Clarke literature. There's so much potential in this and I can't think of any films that have done this, which is yet again why Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are so disappointing.
So much of science fiction is about humanity pushing beyond, trying to find answers to who they are and why. The Alien franchise sometimes tries to ask these questions but just refuses to seek out the answers. Instead just relying on giving us the same things we have seen before: face huggers, acidic blood, screaming Xenomorphs, and a cast that gets picked off one by one. Oh, and throw in the rogue mean AI for good measures. I can't stand it. My soul screams for the archaeological aspect of the world, showing humans far out of their comfort zone and roaming the halls of their creator. Having no idea as to what they may find. In this case, it's just another alien. I'd go as far as saying that this sequel just wasn't necessary. It doesn't add anything to the story of Prometheus, and it fails to improve and expand upon the weak points. of it, only adding more. Beneath it is a film with some solid filmmaking, taking advantage of the modern technology and lenses. It looks beautiful, it just is a bore.
