On Christmas Eve 20th Century Fox released the first trailer for Ridley Scott’s next gory chapter in the Alien cycle, Alien: Covenant.  In a bit of a deja vu, only four years ago we saw the first trailer and images of Ridley Scott’s touted reboot of the Alien franchise in the 2013 theatrical release Prometheus.  Like the trailer for Prometheus, we are left scratching our heads.  Alien: Covenant is the sequel to Prometheus, and prequel to the original Alien, yet the trailer makes the new film look an awful lot like the original Alien.  Is Scott really releasing a cloaked remake of Alien, banking on some idea similar to the formula J.J. Abrams succeeded with in last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens (a remake of sorts of the original Star Wars)?

Assuming the trailer reflects the final film, which admittedly is not always the case, Alien: Covenant may appeal to fans of the horror and sci-fi shocker Alien.  But what about the fans of the Alien sequel Aliens, which focused more on the action above the science fiction and horror components?

Viewers are left to assume that blood-and-gore horror is going to take center stage in Alien: Covenant, although we’ll no doubt get some bits and pieces of sci-fi and some action along the way.  The story revolves around the crew of the colony ship Covenant.  The crew encounters a planet that is not what it seems and a familiar face–Michael Fassbender’s synthetic borg David, survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

Check out this trailer for Alien: Covenant:

Alien: Covenant also stars Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’s Katherine Waterston and James Franco (Spider-man, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Watchmen’s Billy Crudup. and L.A. Confidential’s Guy Pearce.

Look for Alien: Covenant in theaters May 19, 2017.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com