Alien: Covenant, another film with the famous xenomorphs, named for the brutal alien species that was created by Ridley Scott in 1979. The first of the franchise, called simply Alien, tells the story of the crew of a commercial ship returning to planet Earth after its mission. However, they decide to investigate another small planet after receiving mysterious signals. They then discover that the signals come from an alien ship. Worse, as a member of the crew investigates the ship, a creature attacks it and sticks to its face. When he is brought back, the creature dies. However, when everything seemed to be better, another creature comes out of his chest and kills him, thus creating one of the most famous movie scenes. The only survivor: Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver.
The success of the first production guaranteed three other works with the creature and the actress. When the fifth film was planned, both the actress and the director did not decide on a script that pleased them and the film never left. The creature disappeared from theaters for 15 years until, in 2012, Ridley Scott directed Prometheus, which recounts the past of how the alien was created. As expected, the title ends with the crew dead and with few survivors.
Alien: Covenant is the continuation of Prometheus and its story recalls the plot of the original film. As in the first title of the series, the crew, in this case of the Covenant spacecraft, intercepts a human transmission from a supposedly desolate planet. When they decide to investigate, the famous xenomorphs, as well as other variations of the creature, hunt them down and create chaos.
It’s not just the plot that Alien: Covenant remembers the original. Many fans of the series complained that Prometheus changed the entire structure of the first films, using, for example, less violence. The new feature returns to replicate the old formula of success, with more exciting scenes. However, the work still contains the kinds of philosophical dialogues that were much criticized in Prometheus. Thus, he promises to please his fans more than the previous film, though less than the original.
This difficulty in pleasing the fans seems a bit like what happens with the Star Wars franchise. That is to say, a long one makes a monumental success what makes that fans want something similar to the original, but with that feeling of novelty that can only feel the first time the film is seen.
However, while Alien: Covenant faces this paradox between creating something new that is equal to the original, the title innovates heavily outside the movie, and appeals to everyone unexpectedly. Along with the film, Alien: Covenant in Utero was released, a virtual reality journey that complements the plot.
The short, produced by Scott, is very successful and puts the public inside the chest of one of the personages, just before the creature explodes its organs. Here we see the world from the xenomorph’s point of view, which gives us a new understanding of the horror caused by the alien. The sound design of the film creates great suspense and complements the panic of the story. It shows that the search for something new and that may reflect a story we already know can be found in other media, such as virtual reality. Alien: Covenant excites and frightens inside and out of theaters.
(article translated from the original version in portuguese, by Google Translate)