Alien: Covenant (2017)

David's not Ash, Walter's not Bishop and "Covenant" is not "Alien"/"Aliens", but it's also not that bad either...

Context: "Covenant" is a colony ship targeting a planet somewhere far away, the crew and colonists lying in induced sleep/cryostasis/whatever, and an android (Walter) takes care of maintenance on board. Story: Issues on the way, crew wakes up, and discovers a habitable planet much closer than the original target. Ignoring the classic intergalactic wisdom: "It's a trap!", the new captain (previous one suffering a premature hot end-of-life event in his sleeping pod) decides on a exploring mission. And like that we're getting in an ecosystem where the evil alien lives quietly waiting for fresh meat. But also where we have another android - David - remember "Prometheus"? ... Ending: Well I don't either, but I guess enough to say that David didn't seem have exactly sane cybersynaptic connections in his brain, which proves to be true quite fast... More it's spoilers, so let's stop.

"Prometheus" was overly disappointing, and Noomi Rapace a total fail as Ripley replacement. So somehow influenced by this I can say that I actually liked "Covenant". Even though the story isn't that complex. There is some depth and some fine irony (e.g., you would expect that a superior brain who's convinced to be the incarnation of Ozymandias, king of kings to know who's quoting - well, of course he doesn't...). As well there are lots of references to the bad android/good android in the first two Alien movies as I was suggesting in the beginning. But as good Michael Fassbender might be in his role, at least the Bishop played by Lance Henriksen it's a different class. And Ash, well... (light spoiler) it's obvious that the current Ridley Scott prefers his own android approach in the beginning of the series ;), but even so... The major issue in "Covenant" is the ending: 1 - way, way too predictable and 2 - guess what, we'll have a sequel (not announced yet, but it must be there) = unfinished ending ... Still, it's an "Alien" episode that's comparable with part 3 and 4. So, the best in last 20 years.

Rating: 4 out of 5