Saw it five times!!! Loved it (Spoilers) Review

Apologize in advance, but this post is going to be long so I wont' be offended if many don't read it. It's just Prometheus is one of my favorite movies and I think Covenant brings a lot to the table. I think I have to say a lot her to really combat a lot of the negative that is out there and unwarranted at the moment!  

Well let me start off by saying I really liked the film and I found it a fitting sequel to Prometheus and the ideas presented in the first one. Now I've been following development of this all the way back from 2012. The original idea, if I remember correctly was that the second Prometheus film was going to have Shaw and David as the two main roles as they ventured to Paradise, but when they got there they would possibly not only find the engineers but also the being/God that created them as well. (I think quoting Ridley Scott "and what they find is not God, at least not in the benevolent sense." I always wondered how they were going to do this idea, and honestly I thought and thought about it, I don't know if it was even possible. It was such an ambitious idea and with limited human characters to interact with it was sure going to be a challenge making a script for that. So I think the ultimate change in story had to happen. I still wish those ideas were explored but I can see how they were let go. 

Now as for this movie, it pains me a little to see this movie struggling and not making the money it deserves to make. I'm not talking 1 billion, but something closer to Prometheus around 350/400 million. 

First off I think the first hour of this movie is incredibly well done. It hooks you in and places you almost as if your a member of the crew and witnessing this stuff yourself.  The opening in the white room with David and Weyland was a great hook but also it reminded people of important themes that were introduced in Prometheus, but not fully stated. Most people you talk to think Prometheus is just about a movie of explorers who go looking for adventure and the beginning of life on a far away planet, with things then just going to hell. They are not wrong, but the themes and real story beats are much much more to that. And this intro in the white room almost validates these themes right away. I always tell my friends or anyone that I am talking to that doesn't like Prometheus, to keep their eyes on David. Listen to how others treat him and also watch closely for all the display of emotion that David gives back to the film. Those interactions are actually the heart of these new prequel films.  People complained from the first Prometheus, too many things are unanswered, Ex. Why did the engineers want to kill us?. The answers are all their in front of you. Look at how the humans treated David in that film! Always dismissive and condescending. Also for the most part they were greedy, arrogant, narcissistic, all the things that were the opposite of the self sacrificing engineer we see at the start of the film. These are the answers why the Engineers wanted to wipe out humanity. And this intro in the white room is a continuation of those themes. Look at how arrogant Weyland is and already how dismissive he is towards his creation. He just created something that for most purposes, has all the characteristics of a human being, yet he refuses to treat it as such. David asks him "am I?", Peter immediate says "Perfect", then David says "Your son?". Already Peter doesn't care or consider what he just made a form of life, rather he thinks of it as some perfect item, almost like that Michaelngelo statue standing in his room. When David calls him father, Peter starts to get uncomfortable and looks away. David goes ahead and is asked to play a song, and is very quickly ridiculed for this choice, which happens to be the very first time he had the freedom to chose something he wanted. It's no wonder David already started to develop a combative personality here and then proceeds to talk to Weyland about the the fact that it's strange that he was made to serve Weyland yet Weyland will die and David won't. Then we obviously see how that plays out....Peter very quickly puts him in his place and ends the conversation. Pulling on the leash, almost as if David was a dog trying to move in his own direction. 

Having the second main beat to the film where the ship gets hit by the shockwave was also quite good and unique as this is the opposite to how most of the crews woke up in the other films. Maybe a little similar to Alien 3. But more importantly that whole scene just sets the tone for the rest of the film, and you just know this crew is doomed from the start. I think it was a perfect way to really start the movie, made it very bleak and haunting, again kind of like Alien 3 in a way. 

The whole lead up and execution of the medpod neomorph attack, was probably one of the best sequences I've see in cinema in years. It's almost crushing, that they had to give so much of that away when advertising the movie in the trailers. I've seen plenty of horror movies, grew up on them, love them and I know if this scene wasn't given away so much, I think Scott would have created a moment/scene here that rivaled what he did with the original chestburster moment with Kane. I remember going back and watching that first trailer during this past Christmas and always rewinding to the spot where the soldier is having the siezure and you can start to see the alien burst through his back. To be honest, I've never quite seen anything like it. But there and lies some of the problems about making movies in this day and age. When people have the ability to freeze shots on their computer, and scan it frame for frame and literally dissect it into the ground, of course its not going to be as effective in the movie anymore. All the power has already been drained away from it. 

Now there are some complaints to the film and how it fills like two films meshed together, Alien and prometheus. For the most part I do agree with this statement. To the second David shows up and they enter into the destroyed city, your basically hit over the head with a hammer, with someone yelling into your face WELCOME TO PROMETHEUS 2. The first half was very familiar with other alien movies and then David shows up and the film does take a turn. It's strange, just like the scene after our introduction to David of him, singing that song to himself while cutting his hair and you hear his voice echoing all throughout the tunnels. I've never really been a person to take drugs, but I can only imagine that must be like the equivalent of an acid trip lol. Shortly after that David is reciting poetry and famous lines from stories, of what then eventually leads into the Engineer flashback of the city being destroyed. Also a very very strange scene, that I loved but perhaps all this just did more to confuse the hell out of some of the people in the audience. 

The creature moments particularly with the neomorphs I thought were great in this film. I thought the whole minute it fell to the floor in the med pod room and the way the camera wasn't afraid to show it, it just looked incredibly creepy. I also found the acting to be incredible during this sequence, especially from Faris. We see her character basically just completely break down in the face of the things starting to go wrong around her, which is exactly what I think a lot of people would do in real life. Shes not even making sense as she just had blood splattered all over her face, but then tells the other woman she can't let her out because of the risk of infection. It really plays on to the selfishness within human beings. She's trying to do the right thing, but also doesn't even realize the possibility of herself becoming contaminated in that scene, which is where fight or flight takes over. 

The neomorph scene with David I also found very captivating. I really like how this film had the creatures act human at times and stand up and walk around like humans. I think it added to the eeireness to them. Especially at the end where the protomorph walks into that cargo bay then immediately breaks into creature/animal mode upon hearing Daniels hitting her gun on the metal frame to draw it in. 

A lot of people seem to be making fun of the chestburster scene with Oram and David, but I actually really liked it and admired it. It was a different twist on it. I think the intent from Scott was to have the audience view this scene as a celebration of life at least from David's eyes. It's like when a baby is born in the real world and everyone is all happy and it's suppose to be this special moment.................except in this movie it's a god damn alien. But to David, he views it as his child, the real first thing/life form he's created, in world where he was never supposed to have this ability to do so, he has found a work around. 

Some minor complaints I might have is that I do agree with people when they saying the 3rd act is just moving way too fast. I've seen it multiple times and I do think that it does. Also I wish the first Protomorph kill scene was a little more iconic and used more close ups/practical effects. Obviously I'm not a movie director, but it would have been nice to have the first grown up alien kill come out of nowhere and not have the audience prepared for it. Also with some good practical effects like the Alien in the 3rd movie when it put it's head right up to Ripley's and was drooling on her. 

I don't know for certain yet if the beast is "cooked" but I think there definitely could have been different ways of presenting it in the film, where it had more of an impact. 

I loved the ending of the movie. Very dark and sinister, exactly what a movie like this should have during some of it's endings. Everyone knew of the swap with David. Hell I think even Daniels knew, that's why she was hesistant to getting in the pod. It's just from her perspective all she can do is hope for the best and believe that maybe she is just being paranoid. After all we saw how David threw her around earlier in the 3rd act. Had she confronted him or given away an suspicion at all he would have killed her/incapacitated her. Tennessee and her were already screwed because the both of them probably couldn't handle David. 

All in all though, to wrap up my review I just really like all the themes and undertones presented in this film. In a way, you almost have to either be an extremely pessimistic person yourself about humanity, or at the least very open to be able to see things from different angles and avoid biased feelings. This film is a very nihilistic and dark film, that deals with life and death, creation and construction. The dichotomy of these ideas is what Scott has brought to the table with these prequels, and in doing so has added that much more depth to these films. In my opinion at least, he's going a great job of giving us films that make us question, What is life? How do we define it? Can we put away our own biased beliefs and appreciate that which is around us? From David's point of view humanity but also the engineers are not able to see these ideas. They both have selfish desires (the engineers being a little more mysterious) but both show a certain scorn towards their creations and willingness to just discard/kill something if they don't like it. This is why David destroyed their homeworld, in the end he realized they weren't much different than humans or Peter Weyland, so why the hell not do it. 

Finally I'd like to say I do enjoy the symbolism of Ouroboros here (A snake eventually devouring it's own tail). The engineers and humans are unable to really go beyond their preconceived nature and ultimately end up causing their own destruction.