Clearly, Scott’s latest Alien instalment was marketed as an Alien prequel, in favour of a Prometheus sequel. All you need to do is look to the new “Alien” branding in the movie’s title and take a peek at the posters and the early trailers to get a flavour of what the film was being pitched as. The posters and trailers heavily focused on Xenomorphs and alien eggs. Everything considered, the marketing department pretty much screamed: “This is an Alien movie!”
Musical motifs are lifted straight out of Scott’s original 1979 classic, and there are orchestral cues from Prometheus, too. Heck, you just need to witness the opening credit’s title screen to feel those original Alien vibes, as the title slowly, delicately materializes on-screen. Maybe a part of the issue of Alien: Covenant was that it was a victim of badly messaged marketing. It really does feel like two incongruous parts to a muddled whole; two shorter films that have been stitched together somewhat clumsily. Nevertheless, it’s still an unbelievably beautiful and fascinating movie at the same time. Perhaps the Blu Ray Director’s Cut that Scott has promised (20 minutes of extra deleted footage) will be the ideal way to watch Alien: Covenant — a little like Alien 3’s superior Assembly Cut? Only time will tell.
I’m going to go out on a limb here: I think Alien: Covenant is not a bad movie. Sure, it may not be a great movie either, but, I do believe in my heart of hearts that it is a good one; a smart, capably-made, thoroughly thought-provoking one that, for the most part, often plays it all too safe.
Ultimately, I have a lot of mixed feelings about Scott’s new sci-fi epic — it’s very much flawed in a number of narrative and structural ways. However, one overriding factor that really seems to stick though, is that I authentically enjoyed my time with it and — if nothing else — it certainly made me think about it a great deal after those curtains closed.
Alien: Covenant often feels like a beautiful unfinished painting, and I hope that when Scott goes back to the canvas, he and Fox are braver with their brush-strokes; it’s high time to truly fulfil the potential of this awe-inspiring series.