Bashed by fans and critics alike for its lack of originality, Covenant may just predicate the biblical 'there is nothing new under the sun'. If Ripley and her crew represent the oppressed, alienated, 'one-dimensional' subjects in the patriarchal corporate America , members on the Covenant, as predecessors, almost definitely undergo the same ordeal: the Western world might have updated its exploitative and imperialist agenda since 1979, but the project remains. The brutality and gore certainly 'scared the shit out of people' as Scott had intended, to the extent that it is not entertaining anymore. While human bodies are deformed and defied, you either avert your gaze or are paralyzed by the spectacle of violence. In the light of recent events,it is hard not to associate the terrorizing of bodies with the backlashes against colonialism and imperialism.
Enough of the politics. The production design never ceased to amaze throughout the film, with Engineers' homebase (?) and David's chamber as absolute highlights. When the Covenant survivors stumble across the field of Engineers' grotesque dead bodies, David in hood walks ahead as if he is the god of the underworld, maker and keeper of this Inferno. Both profane and profound, the scene evokes a feeling of the Kantian sublime, a chilling effect that lingers long after the film ends.
David's chamber is reminiscent of that of a medieval scholar and sorcerer, of Tempest's Prospero. The floating yellow lights seem to create a surreal, chiaroscuro effect that entrances not only Walter—people might hate Covenant, but this scene is considered a remarkable feat. The flute-playing might be interpreted as sexually suggestive ('Let me do the fingering' is possibly the most tweeted line from this film), which I don't care much for because it will likely distract audience's attention from David's seduction of Walter (as in, seducing him to turn against humans with the idea of 'creation'), and what their mirror images might represent—they are Orpheus and Hades for the despairing humanity in this hell. Fassbender contributed an indelible performance as the synthetic doppelgangers.Walter's mannerisms are more akin to human's but apparently he 'thinks' less; David, on the other hand, with robotic movements and stiffer expressions, kisses before he kills.
On creation: if human kind is made in the image of God, then are aliens made in the image of David? The gods in the Alien universe are more pagan than Christian; patricide seems the only key to reproduction. The superior progeny (eg Zeus ) murders the father to establish his authority, only to be 'killed' later by his offspring (eg Athena bursts from Zeus's forehead after he swallows her mother). Creators are cruel. Shelly and Byron met each other for the first time in 1816, with Mary Shelly, who, inspired by the conversations in this meeting, later penned Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus, in which the Creator and the Creature torture and haunt each other for life.
It's a trope in Scott's Alien that women know better and are survivors. Liberated from childbearing duties, Ripley and Daniels are free of the side effects of hormones, and surprisingly, rather un-sexed, compared to most of the heroines in contemporary Hollywood cinema.
Though other characters lack depth (or are outright, unconvincingly stupid), and the conclusions fails to match the intensity in the first 80% of the film, or offers a sophisticated question to guarantee an aftertaste, it exceeds the expectation for a simple sci- fi horror which would typically portray aliens as the only evil to be eliminated. I love it and can't wait to see the sequel (toasting to Scott's good health). I haven't felt so visually attacked for a long time; it's a refreshing experience as I had thought nothing in the cinematic world could scare me anymore. Bless the face huggers and chest bursters!
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