Alien: Covenant is a mixed bag of been there done that

"Questions will be answered."  That was the big tagline for 2012's Prometheus, Ridley Scott's return to the genre and franchise that he created.  Who created the Xenomorphs?  Who were the engineers?  What was that space jockey thing in the abandoned ship at the beginning of Alien?  Going into that movie, I was very excited to dip into the mythology surrounding 1979's genre defining film.  I've always been a major fan of the Alien franchise.  The original film scared the hell out of me and is the high water mark for the entire series.  James Cameron's sequel, Aliens, set the gold standard for action movie sequels.  And I've always been a fan of the much-maligned (director David Fincher hates it) Alien 3.  However, from that film on, the franchise has grown stale.  Be it through a series of direct to DVD quality mashups with the Predator or a failed 4th entry that is better left unmentioned.  That's why I was so excited when papa Ridley returned home.  He was coming back to finish what he started (I've read that he always regretted not making another Alien film).  Unfortunately, Prometheus did not live up to the hype with fans and critics.  It left audiences with more questions than they had going in to it.

I, unlike most fans, actually adore Prometheus.  Like an onion, it reveals more layers each time I watch it, and I view it as a must watch for any Alien fan.  I can admit that it's a flawed film, but it fails in a good way.  It takes chances and doesn't fall into the familiar territory that ended up hurting the later Alien installments.  It introduced the world to Michael Fassbender's, David, the best android in the entire franchise.  It shot for more than just cheap thrills and chest bursting sequences.  And, while it didn't always hit the mark, I will will always defend Prometheus.

Prometheus also made enough money to warrant a sequel.  And here we are with Ridley Scott once again returning to the director's chair for this mixed bag of a film.

I'll start with the good... Alien: Covenant delivers much better action/horror sequences than Prometheus.  The aliens are better in every way (given that the actual Xenomorph didn't show up until the ending moments of Prometheus makes this a given).  They have a couple variations throughout the film, but once the classic Xenomorph shows up, the action really picks up.  The chest bursting scenes are bloody as hell, and there are some genuinely exciting action sequences.

Another improvement in this film is that the human characters have more to them than simply being alien-bate.  I will fully admit that Prometheus didn't always do a great job of injecting life into its characters.  Covenant's characters get more time to develop before the blood starts bursting.  Katherine Waterson, Billy Crudup and Danny McBride all shine in their roles aboard the spaceship tasked with re-populating the human race on a distant planet.  They're all given depth that was previously lacking and their actions have meaning.

My absolute favorite part of this film is Michael Fassbender's dual role.  He reprises his Peter O'Toole-esque, David, from the previous film as well as playing an upgraded cyborg, Walter.  David has gone off the deep end.  He reminds me of Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now... a former company man that has gone off the deep end.  I don't want to ruin much about this character but will say that he is truly splendid in his madness.  Walter, on the other hand, serves as the polar opposite.  He's a cyborg that is fully committed to the cause of protecting humanity.  Fassbender plays him with a baby's sense of wonderment, as he is taught how to become more self-aware.

Now on to the bad... This film struggles to find a balance between Prometheus' mythology and Alien-esque action.  Whereas Prometheus shot for the stars, philosophically, Covenant never gets going in either direction.  It's also a highly predictable film.  Characters go off on their own to check on disturbances and (shockingly!) don't come back.  There's also a big twist towards the end that was about as predictable as a clock.  The final act is a mixed bag of "greatest hits," including air locks, empty hallways and bad decisions.

My biggest beef with this re-booted series is the lack of a strong female character.  Sigorney Weaver's Ripley is the blueprint for how to create a strong female protagonist.  Both Noomi Rapace and Katherine Waterson never quite develop into a top-notch lead character in either of these films, and that's why these recent Alien films have failed to take a hold with audiences.

I'm giving Alien: Covenant 2 out of 4 stars.  It's a perfectly capable entry into the franchise, but doesn't commit enough to the mythology and doesn't break any new ground in the scare department.  It still leaves the audience without answering the big questions.  We still don't know who the engineers are and, judging by this film's poor opening weekend, I fear we may never know.