The “Alien” series began with “Alien,” released in 1979, and has continued long after that. As a prequel story, the film “Prometheus,” in which Alien creator Ridley Scott returned to the series as director, was released in 2012. The film’s ending hinted at a sequel, and five years later, that sequel has finally been released. That is this movie, “Alien: Covenant. We wrote about how the new film, which has been called “Alien” for quite some time, ties in with the previous and original movies.

Exploring Undiscovered Planets – Prometheus

Alien, released in the 1980s, has become a milestone in science fiction films. Ridley Scott, the director of the first Alien, directed the film, which was more of a philosophical film about where humanity came from than a science fiction horror film.

A work that pays homage to art and mythology.

Like his previous movie, Prometheus, I found Alien: Covenant challenging to understand. As is often the case with Scott’s films, it isn’t easy to understand on first viewing without commentary. In particular, several scenes are challenging to understand without a deep knowledge of Western art, culture, mythology, religion, and philosophy. I had the impression that they were challenging to savor.

From the beginning of the film, the android names himself David (the English name for David). There are references to Ozymandias, “The Gold of the Rhine,” “The Entry of the Gods into Valhalla Castle,” and other scenes that question the depth of one’s knowledge of Western art. I suspect that a certain number of people will drop out at this point. Although it effectively clarified the theme, I felt it was too broad.

And once we get to the central part of the film, the screen design is most noticeable, which clearly shows an awareness of paintings. There are several scenes throughout the film that are modeled after the compositions of such easily recognizable works as Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” as well as detailed works such as John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and the illustrations of Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy. The director’s strong commitment to these works. Compared to the previous film, “Prometheus,” the overall darkness of the screen made these picturesque scenes a little difficult to recognize. Still, I felt they were natural considering the film was named after “Alien” and the original illustrations were in black and white.

Michael Fassbender’s monstrous performance returns.

What attracted audiences most to the movie Alien: Covenant was Michael Fassbender’s performance as an android in a double role. Fassbender’s performance as David in the previous film, Prometheus, was outstanding. Still, I think his performance in this film was even better than that.

What was particularly impressive in the previous film was the representation of androids that, despite looking like flesh-and-blood humans, were inorganic. In this film, the two androids, David and Walter, are played by two different actors, while maintaining the same quality. While playing with the calm, invincible, and inorganic androids, one expressed his madness, and the other gave a little warmth to the other. The perfect balance between the two was achieved, and they had an outstanding presence in the film. Unlike the previous film, he was credited as the leading actor in this film and was a true driving force behind the work.

The Fall of Mankind.

The word “Covenant” in the title of the movie “Alien: Covenant” means “Covenant” or “Promised Land”. And the setting of this film was an ending with no hope at all.

An undeniable connection of the story from the previous work is that the “Frankenstein Complex” is a consistent theme in this series. The 1818 sonnet “Ozymandias” is mentioned at the beginning of this work. As Walter later corrected, this is the work of Percy Bish Shelley, but David states that it is the work of George Gordon Byron. Shelley and Byron were known to have been very close poets and contemporaries, the most famous of which was a gathering called “The Weird Talks of Villa Diodati.” At this gathering, Mary Shelley wrote the novel “Frankenstein,” published in 1818. The novel’s subtitle is “Or, a Modern Prometheus,” which leads to the title of the previous book and the subject of this prequel series.

Ozymandias is also considered a sonnet about the fall of Egyptian king Ramses II, while the same scene mentioned in Gold of the Rhine, “The Entry of the Gods into the Castle of Valhalla,” describes the beginning of the gods’ fall. Valhalla is also a reference to the ‘Covenant,’ as it represents a promised land for the gods. It identifies the themes of hope toward the Promised Land and despair toward destruction.

It was still challenging to make these explicit with the title and the opening scene. The author could see the idea behind these screens while researching several reviews.

Prometheus and Covenant as an Alien series.

When I think of the Alien series, I always expected a thrilling scene in which Xenomorphs with overwhelming power attack in a closed space and how to escape from such Xenomorphs. Then the Xenomorphs appeared in the PV of this work, and I had high expectations. The Xenomorphs indeed do attack, but there is no sense of tension like in a horror movie.

The movie “Alien: Covenant” is a legitimate sequel to the “Alien” movie. It is a film full of various references and double entendres. You can watch this work at your own pace with a delivery that allows you to enjoy it slowly and consider your own interpretation.