SPOILER WARNING: Heavy spoilers follow!
Alien: Covenant is out and it's pretty good – look, we said so in our review. However, it's also confirmation, if it was needed, that the stealth reboot is here to stay.
If Star Wars: The Force Awakens led the way in merging fan-service universe-building with fresh heroes, stories and themes for a new generation, Alien: Covenant grabs the reboot ball and runs with it.
Director Sir Ridley Scott has said himself how much he was impressed by Disney's handling of Star Wars' renaissance, and it's clear to see why this similarly iconic '70s sci-fi world is equally ripe for a life-extending overhaul.
It shows in the 15 certificate for the YA audience. It shows in how Scott now talks of the possibility of "many more movies" rather than the original trilogy that was planned. But most noticeably, it shows in every scene of Covenant, much as it did with The Force Awakens: a remix of reassuringly safe, recognisable beats with the occasional narrative break or surprising flourish.
And despite both being undoubted successes in the art of the stealth reboot and fine films in their own right, it's unfortunate that in this rather familiar space, many people can't just hear the screams, they can see them coming…
What to Read Next
(once again: MASSIVE SPOILERS)
1) Our crew is awoken from cryo-sleep earlier than expected…
2) As ominous-sounding ship computer Mother uncovers a strange transmission…
3) Leading them to investigate the uncharted planet sending the signal…
4) As a woman known only by her surname (Daniels/Ripley) steps up to become the gun-toting lead…
5) With a beardy guy named after an American place (Tennessee/Dallas) in the 'best supporting' role…
6) After the shocking early death of the A-list hero…
7) And a body-bursting interior set piece amid shocked ship mates…
8) Is manipulated by a deceptive Synthetic you thought was friendly…
9) Resulting in the crew being picked off one by one in sexually suggestive ways
10) All because our faulty Synth values studying aliens over human life...
11) Climaxing in a tense corridor-chasing showdown with said alien…
12) That sees it being flushed out of the airlock into space…
13) Before ending with our hero going back to sleep on a suitably ominous note
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Matt is a journalist, audience strategist, editorial director and workflow consultant with over 20 years' of experience in the industry.
A former director of audience development and content strategy at Hearst UK, Matt was previously Editor-in-Chief of Digital Spy. There, he contributed features and reviews on TV, movies, consumer technology, video games and Lego sets, won BSME Digital Editor of the Year, and led the team to numerous awards including Campaign Consumer Media Brand of the Year and PPA Digital Content Team of the Year twice.
As Digital Development Director of the Hearst UK portfolio, he oversaw the central digital editorial teams including SEO, video, e-commerce and design, contributing to digital acceleration across all Hearst UK brands from Cosmopolitan to Good Housekeeping.
Before joining Hearst in 2015, Matt edited Future’s consumer technology lifestyle brand T3 and the UK arm of Gawker’s tech culture website Gizmodo, and was deputy editor at ShortList, the then biggest men’s magazine in the UK, interviewing the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Lord Sugar and Sirs Ridley Scott and David Attenborough in the process. LinkedIn
