A crew is taking a ship filling with sleeping colonists to a new planet that makes a perfect habitat for humans. After an accident, the crew is woken up out of cryosleep. They then get a distress call from a nearby planet. Not only is this yet another planet perfect for human life, but the distress call seems to have come from a human as well. Unfortunately for the crew, everything on this planet wants them dead.

The general premise of this film is a very interesting and it wastes no time in getting the action going. I find the characters to be compelling, the sequence of events is thrilling and terrifying, and there are a few great twists and turns. The filmmakers even manage to trick me a few times and throw in a few surprises I didn’t expect. There are also quite a few different variations in the Xenomorph and how people become “impregnated” with the aliens, which is gruesome and fascinating. Covenant has a lot of the more grandiose aspects of Prometheus in that there is a whole new planet to be explored, but it also has some of the more intense and claustrophobic scenes that fans of the first Alien will recognize. Unfortunately there is one large problem with the story; plot holes.

The film connects to Prometheus, as it should, fairly early on in the story. While this adds a lot of intrigue and answers some questions audiences had after watching Prometheus, it actually offers more new questions than it does answers. There are certain events that don’t make sense with the evidence at hand, don’t fit what people said happened, and there are also random things that are just never explained. I won’t speak about specifics because that would reveal some of the plot twists. However, I will vaguely say that it is explained what happened to David and Shaw when they left to find the planet of the Engineers. The problem is that what is said, what we are shown, and various pieces of evidence simply don’t match up. It’s unfortunate because if the filmmakers had done a bit of rewriting here and there, or simply cut one or two scenes, the films would make perfect sense. As it is, the plot will leave audiences confused more than anything else.

The cast in Alien: Covenant is one of the best aspects of the film. Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Inherent Vice) brings a powerhouse performance as Daniels. She is strong, questions authority when it is needed, and is willing to face anything that comes her way. Waterston manages to make Daniels the ultimate female role model, much like what we saw Sigourney Weaver do with the infamous Ripley. Then of course there is Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, X-Men: First Class). Fassbender plays more than one character in this film and he does it exceedingly well. Not only does he change his speech as the various characters, but he even changes his entire body language. It makes it clear which character Fassbender is playing every time he is on screen. Danny McBride (Pineapple Express, Eastbound & Down) should also be mentioned for his portrayal of Tennessee. While he clearly is meant to be the comedic relief of the film, McBride still gives audiences a fantastic dramatic performance. All in all the entire cast lends to the excitement and drama of the film.

My personal favorite part of this film is the fantastic creature design and special effects. As I mentioned before, Alien:Covenant gave the filmmakers a unique opportunity to come up with new and exciting ways for the crew to be impregnated by the alien lifeforms, as well as giving audiences new Xenomorphs at their various stages of life. The combination of practical and CGI effects are sewn together so seamlessly that it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. This film also feels much more graphic in the amount of gore and the way people are killed than most of the previous Alien films. While the body count in previous films may be bigger, the deaths seem to be more violent and grisly in Covenant. The aliens and the gore are simply superb.

Alien: Covenant is a thrilling nightmare to follow Prometheus, but it has rather large plot holes. Whatever answers audiences get, they are left with even more questions by the end of the film. Moving past those issues, Alien: Covenant still brings a lot of excitement and new mythology to add to the Alien franchise. It is also packed with out of this world performances from a great cast and frighteningly good practical and CGI effects. It still has me looking forward to what Ridley Scott can come up with next film in a franchise that has endured for nearly 40 years.

OVERALL RATING: 7/10