Alien: Covenant - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Alien: Covenant

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
2012’s Prometheus was a bit of a controversial movie for director Ridley Scott. It was his first time back into the Alien franchise since he started the whole thing, but it ended up being a film you either loved, or one you hated. The tight, visceral, horror movie that was Alien is a legend for being so simple that it just WORKS, but Prometheus went the opposite direction and got mired down in an overly long philosophical debate about Gods and monsters. Where we came from and delving into the whole meaning of existence. The Engineers were brought in to explain the essence of the alien Xenomorphs, as well as the use of “black goo” (the Ridley Scott’s version of Midichlorians) that ended up really frustrating most long time Alien fans. Some people were really on board with the changes, but a lot resisted the movement away from visceral horror and the result is Alien: Covenant.

It’s been years after Elizabeth Shaw and David (Michael Fassbender) escape in the Engineer spaceship, and we’re privy to a whole other host of new space faring minions. This time it’s a colony ship that is on its way to a brand new world when a solar storm creates enough damage to awaken the crew out of cryo sleep. The ship’s captain (played by James Franco for a 2 minute role) is killed in the emergency awakening, leaving second in command Oram (Billy Crudup) in charge of getting the crew home. As repairs are underwent a strange garbled transmission of a John Denver song is intercepted, and tracked down to an out of the way planet nearby. Against the wishes Mrs. Daniels (the deceased captain’s wife played by Katherine Waterston) the new captain decides to check out the transmission. There they come across a strange set of alien spores (hint hint), and soon a few of the crew are infected and giving birth to those little nasties we saw in Prometheus.

Before the crew is completely slaughtered, David appears out of nowhere and scares off the pro-Xenomorphs. Taking them under his wing, David explains that he is the last survivor of the Engineer’s spaceship that took off in the previous film , as well as the sole survive of this planet after the black good payload was accidentally dumped during re-entry. Captain Oram and Daniels are a bit suspicious of the android, but they agree to his hospitality as the monster outside appears to be worse than the monster inside. Unfortunately that assertion may doom them all, as David is hiding a secret that will unlock the coming of the most horrible alien threat humankind will ever have to fight.

Alien: Covenant was originally going to be titled Prometheus: Paradise Lost and be a direct sequel to the plot points opened up in Prometheus. However, the prequel was NOT met with the kindest of criticisms towards those deviations from the original Alien core structure. It seems that Ridley Scott tried his best to adjust to those criticisms and that’s how we come up with Alien: Covenant. You can tell that Scott wanted to keep the same general timeline and still include the black goo into his mythos, but he also seems willing to try and tie the series into the original franchise as well. This is sadly where it starts to go awry. Once the crew steps off onto the Alien world it’s your basic Alien movie all over again. The traditional blue collar workers, the shadowy confines, the Xenomorphs, all there. The old “Gods” are only mentioned in passing, as Scott seems intent on bringing the series back around to the old monster movie mayhem instead of overly pseudo intellectual mumbo jumbo like Prometheus.

Some of the stuff really works, but some of it feels like Scott is straddling the fence a bit too much. He didn’t want to give up ALL that he worked for in Prometheus, but he also didn’t want to stray TOO far so he ends up copying a lot of Alien in the process. I definitely preferred Alien: Covenant by a large margin to Scott’s last entry into the universe, but it is definitely a flawed film for sure. There’s a simplicity to the film that just doesn’t always work, and you can see the few “twists” coming from a mile away (the David/Walter one was so blatantly obvious that I thought it COULDN’T be true just because of HOW obvious it really was). Still, the action was great, and the cinematography was amazing, with a few fun twists (such as how the Xenormorphs BECAME the Xenomorphs we know today).




Rating:

Rated R for sci-fi violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality/nudity




Video:

Covenant is a gorgeous looking film, shot on Arri Alexa cameras and finished with a 2K DI for home video. The cool blues still dominate the franchise, with the spaceship showing some signs of whites and grays, while the alien planet has a light green tinge added in to the blues. Fine detail is amazingly accurate, with Daniels and the rest showing every crease and worry line in their faces, as well as intimate clothing details that pick up dirt and debris from the planet with razor sharp clarity. Blacks are deep and inky, with no sighs of any real crush as well as wonderful shadow detail (such as when the Xenomorph crawls out of the ceiling, or with him hugging the shadows on board the ship). Colors can be muted due to the extreme blue and gray color grading, but the forest greens shine through as well as a few splashes of yellow paint or deep maroon blood.
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Audio:

The Blu-ray has a 7.1 DTS-HD MA track that really is a treat to listen to. The experience is your typical Ridley Scott space epic, with well placed vocal and surround cues, with a bass track that doesn’t get too over bloated and weigh down the rest of the audio mix. The sounds of the alien planet whisper and caress the listening station, while sounds of water dropping in the caves show pinpoint precision. LFE is tight and clean, adding some serious rumble to the engines, as well as a crashing monster moments. Otherwise it acts as support for the rest of the mix, softening into the background when not needed, and then throbbing to life when necessary. Vocals are crisp and clean, locked up front, and well balanced with the rest of movie.






Extras:

• Deleted and Extended Scenes
- Prologue (Extended)
- Walter in Greenhouse
- Oram and Daniels (Extended)
- Walter Visits Daniels
- Daniels Bedroom Flashback
- Jacob's Funeral (Extended)
- Ledwards Fall
- Crossing the Plaza (Extended)
- Daniels Thanks Walter
- Rosenthal Prayer
- Walter Reports Back
- Stairs to Eggroom (Extended)
• USCSS Covenant
- Meet Walter
- Phobos
- The Last Supper
• SECTOR 87 - PLANET 4
- The Crossing
- Advent
- David’s Illustrations – Image Gallery
• Master Class: Ridley Scott - Documentary on the making of Alien: Covenant
• Director Commentary by Ridley Scott
• Production Gallery

Final Score: ​

Alien: Covenant carries over some of the baggage from Prometheus, but it also is a decently fun Alien film with some great special effects. It may not be perfect, but it’s still a fun movie and carries the thrills and chills quite easily. Fox’s Blu-ray is near impeccable in the audio and video department, with a solid array of extras as well as options for a limited edition Steelbook and an even better 4K edition. If you really really liked the direction that Prometheus took, then you might be a bit disappointed, but if you’re looking for a return to a more traditional Alien universe, then Covenant should do well to entertain. Fun for a watch




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Aspect Ratio: 2.39.1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, English 5.1 DVS, French, Spanish, Portuguese DD 5.1
Studio: Fox
Rated: R
Runtime: 122 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 15th, 2017

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will add this to my checklist.

Question, which of the alien movies is your favorite?

Main series

• Alien (1979)
• Aliens (1986)
• Alien 3 (1992)
• Alien Resurrection (1997)

Prequel series

• Prometheus (2012)
• Alien: Covenant (2017)

 

[Michael Scott]

in order of liking


Alien
Aliens

Alien 3


Alien Covenant

Alien Resurrection (Guilty pleasure, but it's garbage)





















Prometheus

 

[tripplej]

Cool. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Nice review, Mike. I had convinced myself not to bother with this one. But, you got me back on board!

 

[phillihp23]

Nice review....now I am for sure excited to receive my 4K copy which is on pre-order. If Mike gives it a solid...we know we gonna enjoy this one.