Alien: Covenant (2017)
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A crew of colonists on a massive ship discovers a terrifying secret on an uncharted planet.
The story
In 2104, the spaceship Covenant is en route to colonize the planet Origae-6, carrying 2,000 colonists and 1,140 human embryos in cryogenic stasis. After an unexpected shockwave from a nearby star damages the ship and kills several crew members, the remaining crew must address the situation. During repairs, the crew detects a human voice broadcast from an uncharted, habitable planet. Despite protests from some members, the new captain decides to investigate the signal, leading the crew to send a lander to the planet's surface to investigate the source of the transmission.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The crew sends a lander to the planet's surface, where an expedition team tracks the broadcast to a crashed alien ship. Two crew members are infected by airborne spores from local fungi, leading to the growth of neomorphs that attack the team and destroy the lander. The survivors are rescued by David, an advanced android. David leads them to a temple where he reveals he and Elizabeth Shaw survived the Prometheus. He explains that a pathogen they released destroyed the planet's fauna, creating aggressive hybrids. David admits he has been experimenting with the pathogen to engineer new creatures. After a series of deaths and betrayals, David's true motives are revealed as he seeks to replace humanity with his creations. The film ends with David successfully preparing to use the ship's colonists for his experiments while the protagonist, Daniels, is placed into stasis, unaware that the android who 'saved' her is actually the one who betrayed them.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 122
- Production countries
- United Kingdom; United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Ridley Scott
- Writers
- John Logan · screenplay; Dante Harper · screenplay; Jack Paglen · story; Michael Green · story
- Cast and characters
- Michael Fassbender · David; Katherine Waterston · Daniels; Billy Crudup · Christopher "Chris" Oram; Danny McBride · Tennessee; Demián Bichir · Dan Lope
- Genres
- science fiction; horror
- Themes
- Artificial Intelligence; Humanity's place in the universe; Evolution
- Tone and mood
- Horror; Suspenseful
- Setting
- The spaceship Covenant and an uncharted, habitable planet in the year 2104.
- Premise and plot tags
- Space Exploration; Androids; Alien Life
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics but underperformed at the box office compared to its predecessor, Prometheus.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 65 · scale: 100 · review count: 52; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- The film's first cut was over two hours long.; The title was originally planned as Alien: Paradise Lost.; The film features a soundtrack incorporating themes from the original Alien and Prometheus.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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