By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Callie Hernández, Amy Seimetz, Alexander England, Nathaniel Dean, Guy Pierce and James Franco.
Rating: Excellent.
Ridley Scott, director of “Alien”, “Blade Runner”, “Prometheus” and “The Martian” brings “Alien Covenant” the second movie of the prequel series and I must say that I was very impressed with the result of this second installment.
Followed after the events of “Prometheus”, the movie tells the story of members of the colony ship Covenant that embark to another planet in what could be a major discovery by mankind.
What apparently looks like paradise, the crew will realize that are facing a major problem that will put their lives in danger and they will have to rely on David (Michael Fassbender) the only synthetic form that lives in the planet.
Now David will try to help the crew at any cost to survive and escape the planet before it´s too late.
One of the things that I really liked of “Alien:Covenant” was the fact that the essence of the original film also directed by Ridley Scott was not altered at any way.
Another factor of this film that made it unique is that the films of this genre have the tendency to be predictable and you know by the first moment what is going to happen and here it was not the case and this is because the movie not only had a great screenplay written by John Logan and Dante Harper that was written with so much wit, detail and tried to make it original.
Ridley´s Scott directing is sharp and not only he focused on production value of the movie but also chose the right material to direct a very good movie. In fact I put this movie at the same level as “Alien” and James Cameron´s “Aliens” since both movies not only have very good narrative but also they are both extremely well done.
One of the trademarks of Ridley Scott is that he is one of the few director´s that knows how to create tension with scenes and here he did an amazing job with it. Like in the 1979 film there were moments that you jump on your seat and Scott knew how to portray that world of paranoia and claustrophobia here with very good results.
Michael Fassbender again he is fantastic in playing both the roles of David and Walter the synthetic beings. He portrayed both characters with wit, charisma and he knew how to create fear in both his interpretations.
Before watching “Alien: Covenant” I suggest to watch “Prometheus” if you haven´t seen it since there is information of that film that is mentioned in “Alien:Covenant”.
The visual and special effects are impressive and the despite that this time the Aliens of the film were designed by computers there are still scary and creepy.
The third act of the film is one of the most impressive and well made that I have seen in a science fiction film for a while and has one of great reversal that I guarantee you that will blow your mind.
Once again I was proven wrong since when I saw the first trailers back in January I felt that this film was going to be a carbon copy of the 1979 version but it wasn´t; in fact I consider it a homage and very well made one.
With that being said “Alien: Covenant” is one of the biggest surprises of this pre summer season and I give a huge recommendation to it.