Alien: Covenant - Blu-ray

Movie: Ten years have passed since the crew of the Prometheus disappeared on their mission to the moon LV-223. Now another starship is off in the depths of space. This time, the Covenant was en route to an Earth-like planet in preparation for human colonization. When the crew members are awakened early from their artificial deep sleep by damage to the solar sails, they notice a nearby planet that could also be suitable for a new habitat for humanity and is much closer than the actual intended destination, the team decides to take a little side trip to this world. Everything seems to be perfect - until one of the crew suddenly shows symptoms of a mysterious disease. And suddenly, a nightmare of unimagined proportions befalls the settlers.

With Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott continues down the Alien prequel path he blazed in 2012 with Prometheus. For anyone who was dissatisfied by the first installment of the prequel to what is undeniably one of the best science fiction films of all time, there's good news, but also bad news. The good is that the new film is the best in the franchise since James Cameron's Aliens. The film looks fantastic and has some bloody appearances by the Xenomorph, the mother of all aliens. The bad news, however, is that the film also expands on equal parts of the philosophical aspects already touched upon in Prometheus. As a result, the action and tension that Scott builds very effectively here time and time again are regularly thwarted. This prevents the overall picture from being coherent, which unfortunately detracts from the impact of the whole thing in the end.

Adding to that, the story doesn't really add any convincing new facets to the Alien universe. Rather, an explanation for the creation of the Xenomorph is provided here, which may sound quite interesting, but on reflection is really completely moronic and unfortunately also have a negative effect on the great first two parts of the series. It brings back painful memories of George Lucas' attempt to explain the Force through the so-called midi-chlorians in the Star Wars prequels. Some things might be better left unexplained.

Adding to this is the utterly nonsensical and reckless behavior of some crew members, which begs the question of whether there was even any training in how to behave on an alien planet before the mission was launched. This glaring script weakness is all the more annoying because the crew of the Covenant is far more interesting than the crew of the Prometheus - even if that one had the great Idris Elba with it.

Alien: Covenant works whenever the film mutates into outright horror. And the scenes where Michael Fassbender gets to play with or against himself are also quite great cinema. Visually, the film is absolutely gorgeous and also the atmosphere Scott builds up here from the very beginning makes it clear that the filmmaker still has it in him what made his 1979 sci-fi classic so special. But unfortunately, the mix of alien horror and deep psychological treatise on the origins of life only wants to work to a limited extent. No question, despite all its weaknesses Alien: Covenant is a good, in places even very good film. However, within it lurks a masterpiece that Scott destroyed through poor screenwriting decisions. Whether that can be rectified with the next prequel, which has already been announced (but is currently up in the air due to Covenant's rather weak performance at the box office), remains to be seen. The fact is that the quality curve is pointing upwards after the decent, yet somehow disappointing Prometheus. And if that trend continues, the third prequel could finally become the Alien movie fans have been waiting for since Cameron's 1986 sequel. Overall, though, there's already a clear: worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The audiovisual realization of the film leaves a more than convincing impression. The image sharpness is on a very high level overall. Even in darker scenes, even smaller details are very well recognizable. In addition, the completely trouble-free visual realization convinces with a good image depth and a cool-atmospheric color scheme. The sound is in no way inferior. The numerous sound effects are excellently implemented and provide a good spatiality even in quieter scenes. Rich bass and the good tuning of the voices and film music also allow only one conclusion: very good!

Extras: Not quite as extensive as one is used to from Ridley Scott's films, but still absolutely satisfactory presents itself the bonus material of the Blu-ray. It starts with an optionally subtitled audio commentary by the filmmaker, in which Scott offers interesting insights into the production and talks in detail about his intentions in some scenes. This is followed by 12 extended and cut scenes (approx. 17:37 min.), which include a flashback in which James Franco, who only appears briefly in the film, can be seen at some length. The prologue is also seen here in a longer version.

Continue with promo clips and shorts, once from the USCSS Covenant (Meet Walter [approx. 2:20 mins], The Last Supper [approx. 4:37 mins] and Phobias [approx. 9:09 mins]), as well as from Sector 87 - Planet B (The Transition [approx. 2:34 mins], Arrival [approx. 6:41 mins]). At this point, you can also view a large collection of David's paintings. These short films not only provide a transition between Prometheus and Covenant, but also introduce the crew of the film a bit better.

Next up is a four-part making of (approx. 55:30 min.) that offers a decent look at the production of the film. The trailer rounds out the good supplemental offerings. Worth seeing!

Conclusion: Alien: Covenant was not the hit at the box office that the studio had hoped for. This can't really have been down to the film, as it offers very good entertainment and decent suspense despite a few flaws. The Blu-ray convinces with a good picture and sound quality and also has a few good extras on board. All that is enough under the bottom line quite clearly for a: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp