Trailer Review 053 Alien Covenant [NSFW]

Alien Covenant

by Ridley Scott
[15th of May, 2017]

Chance of Success =  definitely over 90%
because of director's return to form and return to his roots!

Trailer Effectiveness =  100%

Regarding the android:

[In the timeline, this is the direct sequel to Prometheus with the android (Michael Fassbender) returning albeit with all his limbs intact because in this iteration, he is just another version of himself but a new and more advanced model aboard this new spaceship, Covenant. As an android made by Weyland Corporation, it is in the company's regulation (and in the series' mythology) to have one on board always (despite the unforeseen conflicts caused by them). In the original, David escaped with Doctor Elizabeth Shaw with only his head remaining to go to the Builder's homeworld by following the signal on the spaceship. Their involvement in this movie is still kept in secret and might be more clearly revealed in the oncoming months. Spoiler Alert! According to a new source, the sole inhabitant of the new planet, Paradise, is actually David himself while the location of Dr. Shaw is still unknown. He could provide everything that he know of the Engineers to the crew or maybe kept it to himself, or the newer version of him aboard the Covenant. !Spoiler Alert]

I reassemble the scenes in the sequence that I believe it to be happening:

Here, Walter is being brought to life (or online) by Peter Weyland himself, gaining consciousness for the first time and being briefed of his mission to accompany the crew and side mission only he knew. 

Getting familiar with the crew, he is seen here being friendly (or friendly enough for an android) with the main lead, Daniels (Katherine Waterston), looking over some equipment before the big missions.

(since the android is always the harbinger of doom or always the catalyst of the events happening in the series mostly at the expense of the crews and missions, it is possible to happen again especially the explosion below appeared to be caused by him.)

"Are you sure about this, Captain?"

Daniels was talking to the acting captain (Billy Crudup) of the Covenant on her reluctance on to go through with it while the mothership hover over the planet Paradise and the dropship making its way through the stormy weather and finally reaching its more calmer destination.

regarding the captain:

[Spoiler Alert! According to AvP Galaxy, the captain of the Covenant and the husband of Waterson's Daniels would be played by James Franco in cameo capacity, appearing in the first ten minutes or so and sporadically throughout the movie. !Spoiler Alert]

With the android leading the way, the crew cautiously making their way across the field but unfortunately one of them (played by Benjamin Rigby) unknowingly stepped on something (the pod) that was laying around, releasing or hatching spores from it and the disturbed being found its way into his ears and thus began the first infection of the Covenant.

regarding the pods:

[AvP Galaxy described in their article that these pods and spores are the result of the local ecosystem being mutated by the accelerant/black goo (go back to the first scene of Prometheus to see the Builder releasing it into the world, affecting everything in its path thus creating more creatures in the same ilk of the original Alien movies but changes in appearance and abilities because of their environment.]

Making their way through the landscape, they began to climb over some downed trees and they saw what cause them: a crashed Juggernaut that had a rough landing, whether the pilots were forced to do so or not.

regarding the Juggernaut:

[this was not the same Juggernaut as the one found in the opening of the original Alien on LV-426 if the surrounding rocky landscape to be believed (the Pilot's chair is empty with no fossilized Jockey). It's up in the air whether or not the survivors of Prometheus were able to arrive to their destination safely and if this was their ship, were they attacked by other Engineers in their descent into the planet or sabotaged in any other way or maybe they were just forced to land in any way they could since they didn't learn everything to control the ship properly or in this case land safely.]

Crawling inside the access port, they began to explore the inner structure, shining lights onto the Orrey/Pilot’s chamber (with a visible Engineer and pilot chair) while Daniels was looking more closely to a dog tag to identify the passenger, presumably belonging to Shaw as her and the remaining David's fate are still remain to be seen.

regarding the abandoned ship and dog tags:

[if the visual context to be believed and if this ship belonged to David and Shaw, they were forced to leave the ship and the latter maybe left the dog tags for anyone else to found and track her back to the Corporation and significant times had past since their initial forced landing, at least more than a year for the ship be overgrown to such extent. According to a new source, it was really theirs, used to escape LV-223]

After the initial exploration, some of the crews returned to the dropship (or maybe even straight to Covenant) presumably after Rigby's character began to feel the effect of the foreign being inside of his body and shown some worrying symptoms that they tried to cure but to no avail, as everything began to unravel on board the ship as we saw Amy Seimetz's character running down a corridor (with a visible blood stain on her forehead) to the medbay whereby the ship doctor (Carmen Ejogo) was locked inside with the now transforming affected patient. Her plead to be let out of the room fell on deaf ears as Amy's character saw his back began to protrude and split open and ran away selfishly, leaving the doctor to fend for herself against an abomination his crew mate had turned into.

regarding the backburster:

[it's still too early to begin to plot out the storyline based on a single trailer but it's safe to assume that whatever they brought on board whether inside the body, a sample of a local organism or a full fledged Alien stealthily boarding the ship, they may notice the contaminants too little too late as they try to contain the affected from others or the computer automatically detect them and isolate properly. The forehead blood indicated that the threat doesn't come only from the backburster as the shower scene below indicated.]

As some return back to the ship, others wanted to stay on the planet just like the couple of the acting commander and Walter since whom ran into a cavern (that might be full) with the now iconic egg(s) in front of them. As the latter looked on (and might coerce Billy's character to approach it by ensuring it's safe and completely safe), the former, filled with equal amount of wonder and horror, get closer to it to look into it but unbeknownst to him, it proved to be his (presumed) undoing as the facehugger jumped onto him and proved just how it got its infamous nickname.

regarding the facehugger:

[as I assumed, David the android possibly has already known the origin of these aliens and their various types and whether or not he intentionally led the unsuspecting crew to their demise for a higher purpose told by Weyland at the opening of the movie. According to AvP Galaxy, the egg looks a bit different to the original, probably caused, again, by the surrounding hence the possibility of different Aliens in this iteration.]

Oblivious to the imminent danger beginning to envelop the ship, another (literal) couple (Jussie Smollet and Callie Hernandez) was having shower together while taking advantage of the situation to be sexually physical with each other (I tried to be more decent about it, but you get the idea, right?) as the one and only Xenomorph (or a slightly different iteration of it) emerged from the darkness and bloody chaos ensued.

regarding the Xenomorph:

[AvP Galaxy mentioned that this scene mirrored Lambert’s (or Brett in earlier cuts) death in Alien. Since every iteration of the Alien species has been slightly or completely different altogether, the visual appearance appeared to look just like the normal Xenomorph but there could some vital differences since this precede the original classic films.]

With the trailer focusing on setting up the scenario and how the side characters met their demise, Daniels as the main character was seen here seemingly aware of the situation, running urgently through the Covenant and grabbing a weapon provided by the pilot, Tennessee (Danny Mcbride) along the way.

regarding the crew that's yet to meet their demise:

[As the first act would be them landing on the Paradise while the second would be the lethal consequences and the third would see the remaining survivors being properly ready to face the threat and learn their origin and tie to Weyland and maybe even the original David and Shaw.]

Being forced into a corner, Amy's character had to face the music after running away from it, not going down without a fight with a rifle in her hands and not going down alone as she intentionally(?) shot the canisters behind the white Alien and making them exploded on impact ...

regarding the white Alien:

[It was called Neomorph and appeared to be newly born from the backburster, "looking similar to the unused concepts of the Proto-Aliens from Prometheus".]

... possibly causing a chained effect that caused the dropship to explode, as a couple of crews thankfully out of the range of the explosion were running towards it while a hooded figure watching from afar, in silence.

regarding the cloaked figure:

[who was that walking at the dropship gate on fire? Where was the crew from? Were they from the cavern with the eggs? That hooded figure couldn't be physically distinguished as a male or a female but the hint of hair peeking out of the hood suggests a female while the broad shoulder suggests a male under there: whether the original David or the newer one. Regarding the robe itself, it looked awfully similar with what the Engineer wore in the original's opening. By seeing another clearer picture, it was David all along ... with a weapon in his hands that he possibly used to ... you know.]

These scenes don't seemed to tie into each other as the first one possibly is the inside of the Covenant and possibly the terraforming bay. The second was Daniels in a full space suit and searching for the alien threat while the last was in the cavern hallway with the alien claiming yet another soul.

regarding the third act:

[I would stand by my earlier prediction and the final third act would take place aboard the Covenant and/or maybe the downed Juggernaut or the cavern as well if the scene above is to be believed.]

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+ Highlights +

Gorgeous set design that contrast the luxurious architecture of Weyland Corporation, the tactile infrastructure of the Covenant and the foreign wilderness of the planet Paradise and captured beautifully by the cinematographer,

building upon the original mythology, the groundwork already laid down in Prometheus would be more defined and explained since it's possible Paradise is the Engineer's homeworld,

going back to its roots with familiar atmosphere and feel and the practical effects and gory violence,

? Points of contention ?

With another version of the android accompanying another expedition, how much would he jeopardize the mission to execute his own given by Weyland himself and since this precede ,

another relationship between the protagonist and the always conflicting android might be the throughline of the movie and how much would they play over each other,

without looking just a rehash of the Alien designs and characteristics, the possibility of their designs affected by the environment would be more believable as a strong foundation for the originals,

would they be too busy paying homage to the originals that the movie itself lose its own identity or would the director be able to make a solid Alien movie that would hold up against its predecessor?

- Lowlights -

Look ... even if you know that planet is as close to Earth in its atmosphere and geography, you should always be on the careful side by wearing full protection suit instead of walking around like nothing is going to harm you. Then, what do you know? A spore got into your ear and you turn into backburster.

! Scenes to Admire !
The opening shot with Weyland and David in a futuristic room overlooking a beautiful scenery,
the Covenant just over the planet of Paradise and its lush flora,
the Juggernaut crash landed in a familiar position as a homage(?) to the original,

Cast

Michael Fassbender as David/Walter, James Franco as Branson, Katherine as Daniels, Naomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw, Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland, ...

- fan site - IMDb - official - wiki - 

~ Synopsis ~

The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discover what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

(Director - Ridley Scott [Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Prometheus, the Martian], Genre - Alien Universe, Sci-Fi, Thriller)

Source: AvPGalaxy

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