Harking back to the franchises original chest-bursting thrills while delving deeper into its mythology storyline, Alien: Covenant successfully puts the franchise back on track due to Ridley Scott’s on key direction and Michael Fassbender’s brilliantly chilling performance.

Prometheus was a film with much in the way of ambition, yet couldn’t quite reach its lofty goals. What it did do successfully, however, was bring Ridley Scott back to the Alien franchise, the place where his career truly skyrocketed to a higher plateau. The two-time Oscar nominee has long since remained in the upper echelons of cinemas great filmmakers, and Alien: Covenant is a reminder why. A tense, sleek, and wholly engrossing splice of Scott’s previous two vital entries in the wide-ranging sci-fi franchise, Alien: Covenant is sure to satisfy fans and newcomers alike with its bloody thrills.

Much like many an Alien film before it, the plot structure follows a crew in deep space travel responding to a mysterious message from a not so distant planet. This time it is colony ship “Covenant” that plays the part of lamb to the slaughter, led by ship Captain Oram (Billy Crudup), second in charge Daniels (Katherine Waterston), and dutiful android Walter (Michael Fassbender). When the Covenant touches ground on a probable planet for colonisation, this potential paradise upon which Prometheus survivor David (again, Fassbender) calls home, turns into a living hell.

As scripted by John Logan (Skyfall) and Dante Harper, Alien: Covenant succeeds in having its characters feel much more grounded compared to the irritating caricatures from Prometheus. Needless to say, none of the actors featured do naked push-ups ala Charlize Theron in all her cringe worthy glory. Rather, strong themes of hope and mourning is felt throughout this space crew comprised of couples ready to start a new life on a planet far, far away. As a result an emotional connection is established leading to a substantial feeling of stakes on the line, exactly the kind of dramatic tone needed to be set for when those chests start a bursting.  

It is Waterston’s emotionally charged and physically kick-ass Daniels who is the focus of the Covenant clan, her story one filled with a heartbreak that while devastating, never gets in the way from her job which she does very well. Yet the true star here is Fassbender’s chilling reprise as the duplicitous android David. From voice mannerisms to body language, Fassbender commands the screen with a pitch perfect villainous performance, the kind that reminds of Anthony Hopkins turn as Hannibal Lectors in The Silence of the Lambs, where intellect and bad intentions meet in perfect fusion. In a film filled with monster’s nightmare inducing in their horror, Fassbender proves to be worst monster of them all.   

Much like Prometheus, the why’s and who’s surrounding the creation of life is the main theme of Alien: Covenant. Yet unlike the bloated approach that film took in delving into that eternal question, Alien: Covenant succeeds in asking the big questions without sacrificing its bloody thrills. Scott may have dropped the ball with his initial return to the franchise he built, yet he bounced back quite considerably this time out.