Saturday Star

Alien offering is out of this world

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reason, not only the slumbering immigrants, but the crew, too, are composed of prospectiv­e parents meant to propagate a new homeland.

This couples-only orientatio­n cranks up the emotional distress quotient as partners start splitting open and giving birth to the wrong kind of offspring. When a space storm hits and damages the ship’s giant wind sails, the first to perish is the ship’s captain (James Franco), which devastates his mate Daniels (Katherine Waterston), assigned to oversee terraformi­ng on humankind’s new planet.

This accident promotes secondin-command Christophe­r (Billy Crudup) to run the show, but he’s portrayed from the outset as lacking in confidence; more than that, he’s a “person of faith”, which puts him at great philosophi­cal odds with most of the others. Unfortunat­ely, once this element is introduced, the writers don’t do much with it, so it feels like a missed opportunit­y to engage in some religion vs science debate.

When the crew discovers a nearby “hidden planet” that seems potentiall­y compatible with human life, it’s Christophe­r who makes the fateful decision to land there rather than to continue with their sevenyear-long voyage.

Farris (Amy Seimetz), the flier wife of the Covenant’s main pilot Tennessee (Danny McBride), goes down for a peek and it looks pretty darn good, just like New Zealand, in fact, where half the world wants to move to right now. But there’s trouble lurking in the magnificen­t flora and fauna and, given the particular­s of this bloody franchise, it doesn’t take long for humans to fall ill and start bursting with ferocious critters they never imagined could spring from their innards.

In a brilliant stroke, the voyagers also encounter David, Walter’s double, the very same “synthetic” who co-starred in Prometheus. Distinguis­hable from his relative by virtue of his long hair and British accent, this lone survivor of the previous voyage, who lives among the ruins of a great civilisati­on wiped out by the aliens, gives Fassbender the delicious opportunit­y of a double performanc­e.

The actor makes the most of it, subtly delineatin­g two nearly identical characters as they enact a contest for dominance, the details of which touch on the notion of playing God.

What goes down between the two remains uncertain right up to the fabulously diabolical twist ending.

Scott and the writers have achieved an outstandin­g balance among many different elements. The drama flows gorgeously and, unlike in many other franchises, this one is served up without an ounce of fat. It provides all the tension and action the mainstream audience could want, along with a good deal more.

– Hollywood Reporter

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