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Alien: Covenant
a Ridley Scott film
Plot (Spoiler Alert)The Covenant ship is carrying 2000 colonist onboard while traveling to a remote planet Origae-6 to start a new life there. On the way, the ship picks up a radio transmission from a unknown planet. The crew decides to check it out and they find a crashed alien ship. Two of the crew members get infected with something and all of a sudden these creatures come out from the inside of them. These creatures are killing machines and the crew has to do what they can to survive. Blaine: Ridley Scott fell in love with “Alien” when he directed the very first one. Ridley wanted to re-visit the “Alien” franchise with a prequel that answer questions fans have always asked. Ridley did that by giving fans “Prometheus”. But it still left people with questions, so Ridley decided to direct another film, “Alien: Covenant” and he was very excited to make a new chapter to this prequel and had so much passion in making it. Ridley Scott spent seven years in art school in his youth before he became the filmmaker we all know today. Ridley has put his artistic abilities to excellent use over each film he has made. Ridley would draw tones of storyboards and they really helped show how each scene should look in “Alien: Covenant”. Michael Fassbender said it helps you prepare yourself of what to expect when you work with someone who really knows what they are doing and knows exactly what he or she wants. Ridley was 79 at the time “Alien: Covenant” was shooting, but Katherine Waterston said he has the gift of eternal youth for being so energetic, playful and excited to make a movie. “Prometheus” is about a team of scientists trying to find the beings who, they believe, have created the human race. They are these giant white skinned people. They travel through space and find one, but he intends to destroy the human race, which was never answered why he had a change of heart. But one of them, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace, manages to have him killed by a giant face hugger. She then wants answers in why her creators want to destroy the human race. So Elizabeth and an android named David, played by Michael Fassbender, take one of the creators’ ships and set a course for the their planet. “Alien: Covenant” takes place ten years after the events of “Prometheus”. Michael Fassbender returns as David, but he also plays another android as well named Walter who is a member of the Covenant ship. Michael wanted to give a different performance to Walter compared to his performance as David. David is like the evil twin with an English accent, where as Walter is American and is an android with heart. David has spent years being obsessed over this alien species ever since he first discovered it during the Prometheus mission. David has learned how to create them and has learned the ways of communicating with them. He even went behind Elizabeth’s back by killing her and using her body to experiment on like dissecting a pig. David is all messed up inside. He kisses his android look alike, which is weird, and then deactivates him. David was created to serve humans, but it’s not what he wants in life. David doesn’t want to take orders from anyone. He wants to think for himself. Apparently there are different ways for the Xenomorph species to be created and they come in different forms. I really like the new breed introduced in “Covenant”, the Neomorph, a white and spiky version of an Xenomorph. I like how when you see it fully grown for the first time it’s whole face is completely blank. One of the members of the Covenant, Rosenthal, played by Tess Haubrich, tries to go for her gun while the Neomorph is standing still. It opens it’s mouth up very wide and bites off her head. I love the scene where David is trying to communicate with the Neomorph because the well written dialog is terrific, especially coming out of Michael Fassbender’s mouth. Michael also shows a terrific dramatic look when the Neomorph is shot dead. Michael’s jaw drops when that happens, while he is saying “NO!!!” Michael Fassbender is professional actor and it sounds like he is reading you poetry while saying David’s dialog. When Ridley Scott sees an actor during casting he knows he or she is right for part. Katherine Waterston said that Ridley Scott puts so much confidence into his actors and he really believes in them. It never crossed Katherine’s mind of comparing her performance to Sigourney Weaver’s. Katherine’s character, Daniels, is going through a difficult time. The Covenant ship went through something heavy and caused some damage to the ship. Daniels’ husband was killed during it and it crushed her. Daniels is strong though and she has Walter to talk to. Daniels is very smart too. When the Covenant ship gets a signal, Daniels knows that something like that is none of their business and they need to proceed with their mission. Daniels is a survivor. While the rest of the crew is being killed by Xenomorph and the Neomorph. Katherine shows that Daniels is scared, but at the same time strong. Daniels also knows what to do when the crew needs answer of what the plan is. She’s a great leader. Ridley wanted to shoot “Alien: Covenant” in a natural environment and Newzeland was the perfect place to shoot. Ridley wanted to do things the old fashioned way with these hand made sets instead having everything all digital. He wanted big sets, platforms to work on and stunt work. A team of artists would build and sculpt these props and puppets of the creatures because Ridley likes having those in a shot. It was amazing for the actors to be working on a set with a man in a Xenomorph suit because it felt real to them. Dariusz Wolski did the cinematography and I like the shot of the Xenomorph showing itself through the shower window. It’s cool how the Xenomorph reveals itself out of the shadows. There’s stuff in the “Alien” movies that I find disgusting like the face huggers, the things that attach themselves to the human face and puts Xenomorph species down the throat. Another thing is the Xenomorph when it’s a newborn in the original “Alien". But the newborn in “Alien: Covenant” that tears itself out of Billy Crudup’s chest looks better. It reminds me of a wooden mannequin. During the airlock scene, I almost thought that Daniels would have sacrificed herself by letting one of the construction machines take her along with the Xenomorph. Her husband is dead, she would be saving the lives of a 2000 people, but she’s a strong woman and she has a responsibility to be the new captain of the Covenant ship sense the first two are dead. I had a concerning feeling in me that the returning android might be David pretending to be Walter. Then at the very end Walter reveals himself to really be David to Daniels while she goes into hyper sleep. I knew it was David the whole time because I’ve seen something like this before where you think it’s the good guy when really it’s the bad guy either in disguise or someone who has a similar face. David did a good job of making himself convincing that he was Walter. He also managed to hide two face hugger embryos inside him. Like I said David is obsessed with this species and takes control of the ship while everyone else is in hyper sleep. It concerns me even more that the people of the Covenant ship and their operation to begin life on a new planet is doomed because of David is the beginning of wiping them all out. I'm curious to know what happens next and I think Ridley Scott said there are six more sequels to come, but I don’t know if six is really necessary. My rating on “Alien: Covenant” is five out of five stars. Never before scene footage “Rick and Morty” parody      |