{"id":15947,"date":"2017-08-18T16:19:50","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T23:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=15947"},"modified":"2021-08-30T18:24:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T01:24:43","slug":"review-alien-covenant-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2017\/08\/review-alien-covenant-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Alien: Covenant Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Alien: Covenant<\/em><\/strong> had plenty of potential as it starts off well enough before taking a nosedive into derivative territory, filled with idiotic characters, and an utterly stupid finale.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alien: Covenant<\/span>
\n(2017)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Sci-Fi, Horror, Thriller
\nFox | R \u2013 122 min. \u2013 $34.99 | August 15, 2017<\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 08\/18\/2017 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Ridley Scott
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Dan O\u2019Bannon and Ronald Shusett (characters); Jack Paglen and Michael Green (story), John Logan and Dante Harper (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demian Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Callie Hernandez, Guy Pearce<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailers
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>Yes
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>Blu-ray, DVD
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 7.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.40
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>42.5 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

THE MOVIE \u2014 2.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

There comes a point when maybe a studio should just let a franchise die. Paramount hasn\u2019t come to that juncture with Terminator<\/em> sadly but one can hope with its lackluster box office, and poor reviews, Alien: Covenant<\/em><\/strong> will force Fox to move on.<\/p>\n

Taking place about 10 years after the events of Prometheus<\/em> and sometime prior to Alien<\/em>, Alien: Covenant<\/em><\/strong> opens on the space craft of the same name, on its journey to colonize the planet Origae-6 with 2,000 colonists and 1,000+ embryos, face a catastrophic failure following a freak electrical burst forces android Walter (MICHAEL FASSBENDER), who takes care of the ship, to wake the crew up from their cryo-sleep. This burst not only kills some of the colonists, but Covenant<\/em>\u2019s captain (James Franco cameo alert), and husband to third-in-command, Janet \u201cDanny\u201d Daniels (KATHERINE WATERSTON). Now, the ship is under the command of Chris Oram (BILLY CRUDUP), a man of faith.<\/p>\n

Other members of the crew include: chief pilot Tennessee Faris (DANNY MCBRIDE); security head Sergeant Lope (DEMIAN BICHIR); biologist and wife to Oram Karine (CARMEN EJOGO), lander pilot and Tennessee\u2019s wife, Maggie Faris (AMY SEIMETZ); communications officer Upworth (CALLIE HERNANDEZ); and navigator Ricks (JUSSIE SMOLLETT), the last two married to one another. So as you can see, plenty here to be slaughtered, especially the ones I didn\u2019t bother naming.<\/p>\n

While Faris is out doing repair work outside, he begins receiving a scrambled communication and upon analysis, discovers the origin is coming from a previously uncharted system and on a planet that can sustain life. Faced with either going on with the mission as planned, which would mean another 7 year journey, or investigating and colonizing this planet, which would take only another couple of weeks, Oram ultimately chooses the latter, going against the objections of Daniels.<\/p>\n

Oram, Daniels, Ricks, Faris, Karine and the security team take a lander craft where the initially seem to discover a suitable habitat… and then all hell breaks loose first by an air born virus infects a couple of the (expendable) crew members, which hatches a mini-alien creature but eventually saved by none other than David (FASSBENDER), the android we last saw in Prometheus<\/em>. But the alien attack does take a couple more crew member\u2019s lives as well as destroy the lander craft… and only way off the planet. Add to that, a surging storm cuts off communication between the ground envoy and skeleton crew on the Covenant<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, David provides some exposition on what happened to Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (as portrayed by Noomi Rapace) and just a lay of the land which isn\u2019t as habitable as once thought. We get some interesting little character scenes between David and Walter, all along getting the sneaky suspicion David has other plans.<\/p>\n

The first 20-minutes (or so) of Alien: Covenant<\/em><\/strong> actually was pretty damn good with amazing atmosphere and proper slow build-up and introductions to the ensemble cast. In fact, this portion was around an A-grade for me. Then came the second act where, while not awful, you began to see a movie that\u2019s trying real hard to meld Alien<\/em> with Prometheus<\/em>, especially with David re-entering the picture. The bigger issue at hand is, unlike Alien<\/em> and Aliens<\/em>, although there\u2019s plenty of fake blood, the thrills are non-existent and there\u2019s nary a genuinely scary moment. At this juncture, my attention waned and angers about to wash over me.<\/p>\n

Act Three: Fuck you movie! I\u2019m unsure if I\u2019ve ever been so annoyed with a finale like I was with Alien: Covenant<\/em><\/strong>. Not only was it just all around lame, but worse, it was utterly predictable and a piss-poor job was done in concealing the \u201ctwist\u201d, to the point I have to wonder if it was supposed to be one or not. Whichever the case, I really hated the end which just capped off a movie filled with clich\u00e9s and, like Life<\/em> before it, unbelievably daft characters who we\u2019re supposed to believe are humankind\u2019s hope for colonizing a new world; course not that this world are filled with geniuses either. But I digress.<\/p>\n

Ridley Scott returns to the director\u2019s chair after Prometheus<\/em> with The Counselor<\/em>, which I still have yet to see, and the highly entertaining and well done The Martian<\/em> coming in between. No doubt Scott still has the chops but it\u2019s apparent that the Alien<\/em> is his baby that he just cannot let go when after Alien: Resurrection<\/em> it should\u2019ve just gone away.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know for sure where Covenant<\/em><\/strong> ranks with the other turkeys in the franchise, it\u2019s not as messy as Alien 3<\/em> (it\u2019s close), but at least in that case, its poor showing made for an ironically enough, interesting watch, even if it\u2019s in a car crash kind of way.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

This release comes with a semi-glossy slip cover<\/strong>. Inside is the DVD Copy<\/u><\/strong> and redemption code for the Digital HD<\/u><\/strong> version.<\/p>\n

Audio Commentary<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 Producer\/Director Ridley Scott breaks down his latest entry into the Alien<\/em> franchise, delving into casting, the script and other topics.<\/p>\n

Deleted\/Extended Scenes (17:37; HD)<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 There are 12 scenes either cut down or removed completely. Nothing I\u2019d call Earth-shattering but wouldn\u2019t surprise me if these end up in some form on an eventual \u201cExtended Director\u2019s Cut\u201d as often Ridley Scott movies get.<\/p>\n

USCSS Covenant (HD)<\/u><\/strong> are three featurettes where we get an inside look at various things like the creation of Walter, the crew undergoing psychological tests, and the crew enjoying a meal before going into cryo-sleep.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Meet Walter (2:20)<\/li>\n
  • Phobos (9:09)<\/li>\n
  • The Last Supper (4:37) \u2013 Includes James Franco as the captain<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Sector 87 \u2013 Planet 4 (HD)<\/u><\/strong> \u2013 Here we get a close examination of the planet the Covenant<\/em> crew eventually would land on. It contains footage of Noomi Rapace and Fassbender in their roles in Prometheus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • The Crossing (2:34)<\/li>\n
    • Advent (6:41)<\/li>\n
    • David\u2019s Illustrations Gallery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Master Class, Ridley Scott (55:30; HD)<\/u><\/strong> is an extensive four-part featurette\/documentary covering the story, characters, setting and creatures. The movie might not be great, but this behind-the-scenes feature is well worth watching.<\/p>\n

      Production Gallery<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      • RidleyGrams<\/li>\n
      • Conceptual Art<\/li>\n
      • Creatures<\/li>\n
      • Logos and Patches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Last up we get two Theatrical Trailers<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
        \n

        VIDEO \u2013 5.0\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
        \n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

        Alien: Covenant<\/em><\/strong> on Blu-ray looks fantastic. The 1080p high-definition transfer, presented in its original 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio, offers excellent detail levels throughout and despite being a dark story, and there are times even the daylight scenes are darkly lit, there are splashes of color which pops off the screen while blacks appear stark without betraying any detail or showing signs of artifacts, aliasing or other flaws.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
        \n

        AUDIO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
        \n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

        Although the 4K release got an Atmos track, for whatever reason Fox continues to \u201cdowngrade\u201d their Blu-ray releases to a 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and it\u2019s a nice sounding lossless track that comes with crisp, clear and clean dialogue levels but excellent depth for the action-centric sequences with the LFE channel giving a slight boost but not quite room shaking, just more subtle.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
        \n

        OVERALL \u2013 2.75\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
        \n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

        \n

        Overall, Alien: Covenant<\/em><\/strong> is yet another misfire in the vaunted Alien<\/em> franchise where still the first two are the best, the rest not so much, though I did enjoy Prometheus<\/em>, for all the faults it had. This one had plenty of potential as it starts off well enough before taking a nosedive into derivative territory, filled with idiotic characters, and an utterly stupid finale. This Blu-ray release has great video\/audio transfers and a nice selection of bonus features.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Alien: Covenant had plenty of potential as it starts off well enough before taking a nosedive into derivative territory, filled with idiotic characters, and an utterly stupid finale.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[502,1178,4925,1207,1616,2100,5202,1367,103],"class_list":["post-15947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-alien","tag-billy-crudup","tag-callie-hernandez","tag-danny-mcbride","tag-guy-pearce","tag-james-franco","tag-katherine-waterston","tag-michael-fassbender","tag-ridley-scott"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15947"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26954,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15947\/revisions\/26954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}