Alien: Covenant

I’m a Prometheus sympathiser. I loved it when it came out and after watching it recently, I still do. I do see and realise the flaws throughout but can get past them and enjoy the ride. With Alien: Covenant, you may think that Ridley Scott would have learnt from his mistakes, however that’s not the case. Covenant is a flawed film that many will not be able to see pass. I however could and I still enjoyed what felt like a great sci-fi thriller that’s truly trying to grasp onto more than what the films that have gone before and after it have. Read on to find out why.

Covenant follows the crew of a colony ship, bound for a remote planet, as they discover an uncharted paradise with a threat beyond their imagination. This film twists and turns pretty much from the get go so it’s difficult to go into more detail than this without spoiling things. Michael Fassbender returns yet again to play another synthetic android, and man is he as incredible as ever! Fassbender is the MVP of this franchise, I could watch him act all day long and never get bored. Joining him is a new cast, the stand outs being; Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride and Billy Crudup. The rest of the cast are just as good but there is quite a lot of them and these three are the main drivers of the story.

I liked this film a lot but I’m not oblivious to its flaws. Like I’ve said before, I can see past many of them but I’ll highlight them here first as they do detract from the film but not to my overall enjoyment of it. You do not really care for any of these characters, maybe Katherine Waterston’s as you follow her for most of the film but I was never too worried if any of them made it to the end. Part of this is probably down to the decisions the characters make, weak ones, stupid ones and some which just have no logic or reasoning behind them. It’s obvious how stupid some of these decisions are and I’m surprised they weren’t picked out before the film was made. Maybe it’s something to do with the philosophy of the film, are they highlighting the biggest flaw in humans is the fact that we are? This feels like I’m clutching at straws but who knows. If you can look past this, and I’m sure there will be many that can’t, then there is a great sci-fi film lurking and it comes into its stride once the story kicks in.

The film only gets better as it goes on, revealing its sinister threat and delving deeper into the philosophy that Prometheus started musing about. Maybe some came for the Xenomorph, and there is a lot of that, but I personally loved the philosophical element of this film. It makes its feel like it’s grasping for more than just being another killer alien film and trying to make us think like many other great sci-fi films. At times, it feels like it’s two films battling each other, one being an Alien prequel and the other being a Prometheus sequel. In a way these franchises may have been better off separate from each other but I don’t care, in my opinion both Prometheus and Covenant, even with their flaws, are really solid films and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Despite the flaws I’ve picked out, I enjoyed the hell out of this film. It’s tense, it’s scary, it’s gloriously gory and it’s thought provoking. It’s a great addition to the Alien franchise and I would definitely watch it again even if it’s just for some very memorable Michael Fassbender scenes… Not perfect but a great sci-fi film, I’m rating Alien: Covenant a 4/5. I’m hoping that the possible sequels to this film can be more thought out with deeper layered characters but also keep the philosophical element that has me hooked.

What did you think of the latest instalment of the Alien franchise, classic sci-fi or another dud? Let me know in the comments below.

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Steve Jobs

It's been a while...

So recently I was able to take time from my busy schedule and go see a film I have been wanting to see for a long time; Steve Jobs. Now I don't have a fascination with the man himself but instead it was the talent behind his biopic that had me intrigued. First we have the amazing writer, Aaron Sorkin who wrote The Social Network and most recently TV series, The Newsroom. Secondly the director, Danny Boyle who is best known for Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire. Fianlly it was the star of the show, Michael Fassbender who is one of my favourite actors, you probably know him most from the latest X-Men films where he played Magneto. If you're reading this blog it probably means you are a film fan and therefore, know why this is a big deal but if not, just know that these three guys are at the top of their league and so this collaboration between them is pretty darn huge and awesome.

The film is not your standard biopic. Instead Sorkin and Boyle decided to go for something different and allow the film to be made from three separate scenes, each the 20-40 minutes before a product launch spanned over twenty years or so. It's a brilliant creative decision that makes this film about Steve Jobs stand out above other biopics and the films about the man that have been done before and likely will be made in the future. It does mean that only certain aspects of Steve's life are brought into the film and explored, not that I am too fussed a lot of people know about his life and I was happy to see the film streamline this down to focus on a few key relationships.

Fassbender is great as Jobs, you can tell he really got into the character and portrays him in a way that is kind of tough but deep down you can feel something for the guy. He's a difficult character to like but I believe Fassbender finds a way to show some humanity beneath the hard shell of a man. The cast around Fassbender are also great, highlights include Kate Winslet (her performance great, however her accent does get strangely stronger after the first time jump...), Seth Rogen (absolutely great at doing a serious role as well as having perfect comedy timing), Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg and Katherine Waterstone. Sorkin's fast paced and witty dialogue all sounded great coming out of their mouths.

Due to scenario of the scenes and the amount of story the film wants to portray, some of the scenes come across quite theatrical but not in a bad way. A lot of the film is set in the San Fransisco Opera House and the score can be quite operatic, if anything the theatrical and operatic qualities going on in the background heighten the visuals and give the audience a sense of tension and care that may not usually have for the politics of computing.

The downside to the artistic structure of the film is familiarity, the structure of each act of the film is relatively the same and you know that Steve Jobs is going to have an updated argument with each of the characters we met in the first act, it's not always a bad thing but some of the scenes can drag when you're not as invested in certain storylines compared to others.

Overall though, this film is great, For me it doesn't quite reach the enjoyment I got from watching The Social Network but it is no way a bad film. The lengths the filmmakers have gone to make something different really pay off and we have something quite unique on our hands here with Steve Jobs, and although it may not always portray him as a decent person, I imagine that if he were here today he would be happy with it. I am giving Steve Jobs a rating of 4/5.

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