by Aubrey Sinclair <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Movie Critic <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The University Times<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ridley Scott returns to up the score on the promise of innovative futuristic technology, rich set design, and a cast of characters ready to be slaughtered in Alien: Covenant<\/em>, the May 19, 2017, sequel to Prometheus<\/em>. For decades the Alien <\/em>franchise culturally redefined sci-fi horror as it awed audiences with bleak scores, strong casts, and H.R. Giger-inspired monsters waiting in the shadows to collect their pound of flesh from unexpecting victims, and this film is no exception \u2013 in fact, Scott evolves his creation in new and exciting ways that stay true to Alien<\/em>\u2019s original vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alien: Covenant<\/em>\u2019s first act centers on the colonization ship Covenant<\/em> on its way to planet Origae-6 with 2000 colonists and 1,140 embryos in cold storage. The crew is rudely awakened by a neutrino burst which damages the ship and awakens them from their stasis pods, which sets off a chain of lethal consequences that redirect them from their destination to a planet filled with powerful storms, dark mysteries, and ecological peril. From there, the film descends into a blood-soaked survival mission reminiscent of previous entries to the franchise.Seldom in sci-fi horror does a cast of characters who share limited screen time have such distinctness while being grounded in reality. The majority of the cast offer strong performances that make for a memorable movie, but none more than Michael Fassbender whose expertly meticulous performance as two different androids sets him apart from the commendable acting of his co-stars. Realistic future-technologies including androids, spacecraft-charging solar sails, stasis pods, propulsion suits complete with magnetic boots, and medical devices for salvaging burns find a meaningful place in the story without distracting from the plot. All in all, Alien: Covenant<\/em> charts a course racked with realistic tension in the form of space travel dangers, tech failure, ecological terror, and social\/power dynamics in times of crisis while nodding to its predecessors in a way that serves the narrative only as Ridley Scott can do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Aubrey Sinclair Movie Critic The University Times Ridley Scott returns to up the score on the promise of innovative futuristic technology, rich set design, and a cast of characters ready to be slaughtered in Alien: Covenant, the May 19, 2017, sequel to Prometheus. For decades the Alien franchise culturally redefined sci-fi horror as it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n irector Scott provides futuristic splash with 2017 Prometheus sequel<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Aubrey Sinclair <\/p>\n\n\n\n Movie Critic <\/p>\n\n\n\n The University Times<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ridley Scott returns to up the score on the promise of innovative futuristic technology, rich set design, and a cast of characters ready to be slaughtered in Alien: Covenant<\/em>, the May 19, 2017, sequel to Prometheus<\/em>. For decades the Alien <\/em>franchise culturally redefined sci-fi horror as it awed audiences with bleak scores, strong casts, and H.R. Giger-inspired monsters waiting in the shadows to collect their pound of flesh from unexpecting victims, and this film is no exception \u2013 in fact, Scott evolves his creation in new and exciting ways that stay true to Alien<\/em>\u2019s original vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alien: Covenant<\/em>\u2019s first act centers on the colonization ship Covenant<\/em> on its way to planet Origae-6 with 2000 colonists and 1,140 embryos in cold storage. The crew is rudely awakened by a neutrino burst which damages the ship and awakens them from their stasis pods, which sets off a chain of lethal consequences that redirect them from their destination to a planet filled with powerful storms, dark mysteries, and ecological peril. From there, the film descends into a blood-soaked survival mission reminiscent of previous entries to the franchise.Seldom in sci-fi horror does a cast of characters who share limited screen time have such distinctness while being grounded in reality. The majority of the cast offer strong performances that make for a memorable movie, but none more than Michael Fassbender whose expertly meticulous performance as two different androids sets him apart from the commendable acting of his co-stars. Realistic future-technologies including androids, spacecraft-charging solar sails, stasis pods, propulsion suits complete with magnetic boots, and medical devices for salvaging burns find a meaningful place in the story without distracting from the plot. All in all, Alien: Covenant<\/em> charts a course racked with realistic tension in the form of space travel dangers, tech failure, ecological terror, and social\/power dynamics in times of crisis while nodding to its predecessors in a way that serves the narrative only as Ridley Scott can do.<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9070,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9068\/revisions\/9070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}