There were plenty of options for us over the weekend, including Art-A-Whirl and Springcon (MSP Comic-Con), but the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating. So we actually spent our money on indoors, which included going to the theaters to watch the new Alien: Covenant film.

This is the sixth Alien film, and it’s probably one of my new favorite, following the original Alien and Aliens, of course. I’ll start with the things I like: great acting from everyone on this film. Visually, everything looks spectacular. I love the Alien, its movement and look is very clean and fluid. All the acting is superb, especially during the frantic horrific scenes.

James Franco briefly made an appearance in the film, but after digging into it - apparently he originally had a much larger role in the film, but was cut out of the released film. I think director Ridley Scott made the right choice, giving us the backstory to the captain and the ship (the Covenant) would have made the movie too long.

If you’ve seen enough films, the Alien: Covenant plot is very typical of a sci-fi/horror film. They make a bad decision or wrong turn to investigate a nearby planet, not on their itinerary. Lead character (usually a girl), in this case, an unwanted leadership role by actress Katherine Waterston. The twist at the end, I won’t spoil the ending, but let’s just say that the group of people that saw this film with me all saw this coming. Despite all the tropes and clichés, I still fully enjoyed it.

My one complaint is, and this isn’t a spoiler if you’ve watched the trailer, why didn’t the crew of the Covenant wear space suits or protective gear when they landed on the Alien planet? Even in Prometheus (the previous film), everyone wore space suits with helmets. It didn’t make sense why this crew wouldn’t follow protocols or common sense.

Alien: Covenant