‘Alien: Covenant’ more of the same: No more mystery left in this franchise

I love a scary movie. It doesn’t matter if the element of terror springs from a person (“Psycho”), a fish (“Jaws”), an act of nature (“The Perfect Storm”), a creature from outer space (“Alien” 1979), or the arrogance of man (“Titanic”).

It is fun to peek through the cracks of my fingers, let out a shriek of surprise, and try to warn the reckless actor on screen not to go down the cellar steps (or into the attic). It’s the element of surprise that creates the adventure. On the other hand, I cannot imagine anything scary about seeing a “Psycho 2” or “Titanic 2.” We already know the dangers. “Jurassic Park” was not scarier the second time around, nor was “Jaws 2.” So why did I think that “Alien: Covenant” (“Alien 6”) might scare and surprise me?

Not only did it not scare and surprise me, it was only marginally entertaining, which is agonizing when the film is more than two hours long. In my mind, Director Ridley Scott has played this hand once too often. We are talking about the same slimy creatures with big heads, skinny limbs and a terrific set of teeth and who explode from your insides or latch onto your face before their young explode from your insides. It’s just the trappings that are different and the cast.

Actually, the film opens with a fascinating vignette recalling the creation of the humanoid (robot) David (Michael Fassbender). The sleek starkness of the interior space and distant landscape is visually beautiful and engaging. In fact, the photography and the sets throughout the film are wonderful. So I was really looking forward to the rest of the film.

We next find ourselves in the year 2104 on the mothership Covenant as it makes its way through time and space carrying 2,000 colonists who are sleeping through their journey to a new world, which is still many years away. David is part of the crew — most of whom also are sleeping through the journey. An unexpected astral disturbance abruptly awakens the sleeping crew, and the adventure begins. Following the untimely death of the captain, a very uncertain Oram (Billy Crudup) is suddenly catapulted into captaining the ship. I found myself hoping for his untimely demise; his character is so spineless.

When the ship picks up a rogue signal from space, before we have a chance to stop him, Oram leads a squad to investigate an unknown planet producing the signal. Unfortunately, there is a violent space storm underway, as well as a blinding rainstorm on this new planet, so the mothership has to remain out some distance while the witless squad descends to the unknown in an explorer. Some squad members are quickly infiltrated by morphing spores, which enter their bodies through ears and nostrils.

We surely know what will happen to these unsuspecting explorers. In the meantime, they are all pursued by giant-headed slimy creatures and are saved only by a mysterious cloaked and hooded stranger who leads them to safety.

Frankly, I thought the next part was the most engaging part of the movie. The trip to safety takes them through a sea of blackened and burned humanity and into a mysterious mausoleum/temple. The stranger turns out to be Walter, an earlier humanoid model like David, the sole survivor of an earlier exploration party — all of whom were presumed to be dead by the rest of humanity. Actually, both David and Walter are played by Michael Fassbender. But where David is altruistic and seeks to serve his human betters, Walter is cunningly treacherous and his loyalties lie with the slimy creatures he has nurtured.

Since most of the squad perish on the spot, only three of the crew are saved through the valiant efforts of the remaining Covenant crew who fly to the rescue. Alas, salvation does not come without its price.

We know that the aliens will soon burst into creation on the ship, and mayhem and bloodshed will follow. There is much intrigue as the last survivors attempt to rid the ship of the slimy monsters so they can proceed unmolested to the new colony. There is a somewhat surprise ending to this film, but if you have not already fallen asleep, you could easily figure out the surprise long before it is revealed.

The one character in the film whose performance is truly noteworthy is Fassbender, who plays his dual roles with enough finesse that we are willing to forget that it is the same person playing the counterparts of good and evil.

I found the film disappointing partly because the first “Alien” was so original, but also because there is simply no more mystery left in this franchise. So the only thing of interest is how the same old story is retold. Frankly, I would opt for some newly designed aliens. And maybe they can hatch without disemboweling their hosts. But since there is always the possibility that something fresh just might turn up, I’ll probably see “Alien 7” when it is inevitably released.

This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 11:43 AM with the headline "‘Alien: Covenant’ more of the same: No more mystery left in this franchise."