Directed by Ridley Scott
Screenplay by John Logan, Dante Harper
Starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir
I was so excited for Covenant. Ask anyone, I talked about it enough. Unlike most fans of the franchise I really enjoyed Prometheus so I had high expectations going in.
Unfortunately I was wrong. So, so wrong. I’m heavily saturated with disappointment right now, so this review will be brief.
In the opening scene the dialogue was clunky, awkward and basic, but as the movies aren’t renowned for their sensational scripts I pushed that internal criticism aside. The movie gradually got more enjoyable with some action, some peril, some heartbreak, some difficult decisions and some interesting characters…and then they decided to check out a planet for no reason whatsoever and the movie literally lost the plot.
What followed was baffling plot holes, nonsensical character developments, very little tension and god-awful CGI. I mean, come on, where was the animatronics?
I feel I’m letting the deflation of my initial excitement get in the way of a balanced review, so here are some positive points: Fassbender is a brilliant actor. Some of the gore was truly horrifying. The design of the ship and the overall set was brilliant. The initial dynamic of the crew seemed to genuinely have something special. A death of one of the main characters near the end made me flinch because it was so unexpected and disturbing.
If you have an afternoon free and fancy watching a sci-fi, there are probably worse movies to watch, but Covenant feels like it’s been made by someone who doesn’t really get the earlier films at all. I wanted suspense, but all I got was another Hollywood explosion-fest set in space with unconvincing monsters.
It makes me sad to say it, but I think I’m going to be wary of any new releases from now on. I just don’t think I can take the heart ache.
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