“Alien: Covenant” a solid franchise revival
I feel like I need to start this “Alien: Covenant” review with a disclaimer… the first three Alien movies are my favourite movies. I love them. I’ve seen them dozens of times. When I was a kid I read Alien comics, and read Alien novels. I bought Alien action figures. I’ve seen every movie since I was old enough on opening weekend (yes, even Resurrection). My first celebrity crush was Sigourney Weaver…
I am a full fledged Alien fanboy.
Still, when it was revealed during the filming of “Prometheus” that the series was going the studio favourite route of “Universe building” I got a bit worried. I mean, there have always been some interesting questions surrounding the movies, like “where did the ship with the eggs come from in the first movie” and “if all the aliens come from the Queen, then where did the Queen come from”. While these were always fun mysteries for super fans to pour over, I was never sure answering those questions would lead to anywhere satisfying. I thought inevitable studio interference could lead to ridiculous territory of 2007’s “Aliens vs Predator Requiem” with new, wacky Alien types designed to sell action figures.
The saving grace of the franchise, though, has to be that the prequels are in the hands of Ridley Scott (the man who gave us the first “Alien” installment in 1979) who clearly has some deeply thought out plans for the future and enough clout with the studio to pull it off.