Alien: Covenant and Get Out Review a.k.a. Racism v Xenophobia - NO SPOILERS

But for the fact that I have seen Alien: Covenant and Get Out within the space of a few weeks I don't think I could find another excuse to cram review of both films into one blog post. The closest other link I can get to is the strange paradox I put in the title. Get Out tackles racism, albeit in a way that isn't the norm for film, whilst Alien: Covenant continues the cycle of fear in relation to its titular antagonist, formally named Xenomorphs, thus it is a film about xenophobia but not racism. Clear as mud, yes?

Alien: Covenant - No Spoilers Review

I will try to avoid spoilers for the majority of this part of the review. Unfortunately a combination of trailers and some stupid reviews have already given away a few key aspects. 

High Alien Art

Alien: Covenant is a sequel to the seemingly divisive at the time Prometheus (I rather liked it back then, like it a lot more now), which itself is a prequel to Alien. Director Ridley Scott plans two more Alien films which will finally link up to the original Alien. Alien: Covenant takes place 10 years after the events of Prometheus, and we do not immediately pick up with Elizabeth Shaw and David journey from the planet in Prometheus to the Engineers home planet, but instead follow the crew of the colonisation ship the Covenant. On board is a crew of 15, made up of couples and one android, a new version of David, called Walter, as well as 2,000 colonists and 1,400 embryos in cold storage, ready to colonise a new planet they are en-route to. Needless to say this intended journey is interrupted and the Covenant diverts course, for a reasons I won't discuss here for spoilers. Alien gooiness ensues. 

I enjoyed the film immensely throughout. With a Ridley Scott film you know the visuals are going to be something special and yet again they are. Vast fog shrouded alien landscapes. Derelict catacomb like eldritch structures. Drooling, clawing, hissing, beasties both old and new stalk the crew. Whilst this is a sci-fi horror film, Scott, like in Prometheus does not see the moniker of horror as limitation to what the film can look like or be about. The opening scene in particular is a treatise as to what the film is going to look like and be about. 

The lengthy second act may be a hit and miss for certain audience members, depending on what you've come to the film to watch: an Alien movie, or a Prometheus movie? Sandwiched between these this second act are two acts with are much more in line with one of those movies. This tonal shift is somewhat jarring, considering what occurs in the second act and does seem to be a deliberate attempt by Scott to address some of the fan reactions to Prometheus (not enough alien fun!). 

Tonal issues aside the actual content of each of these acts is pretty good, if never quite reaching the heights of the original Alien or Aliens (I can happily say this ranks far far above Alien 3, and 4 but quite a bit lower than Alien or Aliens). The tension is suitably wrung out in the opening act culminating in a brilliantly chaotic and gruesome set piece up there with similar scenes in previous movies (vague here for spoilers!). That set piece and subsequent ones are twists on familiar scenes: we had chestbursters before now we have...we had accidental stumbling across a sinister egg now we have. So yes, if you go into the film looking for something completely revolutionary, I can understand some disappointment. Whilst I didn't find the film particularly scary or jumpy (and I can't say I'm a fan of the forced loud noise jump so that isn't such a negative) there is most definitely a tension and sense of fear in the scenes when things go rip and tear and scream. 

This best analogy I have for this sense of deja vu can be found in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. For me the plot of that film was beat for beat from the start identical to the plot of a New Hope. And this was to the films detriment, for me at least. In Alien: Covenant I believe there is enough of a shakeup in the middle act in particular to shake the feeling of deja vu. Having said that, I would say the final confrontation is somewhat of a let down, feeling slightly rushed and overly familiar.

Weyland-Yutani much like Apple are bringing out new models at lighting pace

In terms of characterisation in Alien: Covenant I would say this is a bit of a stumble. Only a few members of the 15 strong crew actual stand out. In a horror movie, 15 potential victims in a film lasting just over an hour means the natural culling of the herd is going to have to move fairly quickly. What this means for the viewer is that the majority of the crew members are just fleshbags waiting to be ripped open.  Furthermore, the less developed characters are prone to 70s and 80s horror victim-itis, namely walking off alone, telegraphing death to the viewer like a flaming train driven by Freddy Krueger and the ticket collector is Jason Vorhees. Whilst we may not care for a lot of the characters, the plot itself saves this to a small degree by making the crew all couples, so that we can at least understand the grief that the surviving member may feel. Michael Fassbender is an obvious standout and Katherine Waterson starts with strong characterisation but I wish that was linked into the story in a more meaningful way as it went on. 

In summary, I would recommend the film to fans who enjoyed the horror of Alien and the philosophy of Prometheus. If you go in hoping for one of these films to trump the other in terms of focus you may come out disappointed. My gripes in the film are fairly minor (little characterisation to much of the crew, tonal shifts, some familiarity) but I have high hopes for where the series is going, especially considering the ending. 

Get Out: No Spoilers Review

I promise it is not a sad film

And now for something completely different. Get Out is a horror movies like Alien: Covenant but the comparisons must end there. Much like Alien: Covenant, the less you know the better, and this is probably more true for this than Alien. 

The set up for Get Out in its most basic form seems highly cliché: boyfriend goes to meet his girlfriend's parents for the first time, weirdness ensues. But this description misses out the key social context: the boyfriend Chris (played by Brit Daniel Kaluuya you may recognise from Black Mirror) is black, the girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) is white and there is a sense of unease that the parents may be racist, although Rose assures him this is not the case. They arrive at their stately "plantation" esque mansion, replete with an odd acting black groundskeeper and maid, and find out that whilst the parents are not overtly racist, there is something off with their overly conscious efforts to imply that they aren't racist (they appropriate what they think is black lingo, insist they like rap, so on). So they aren't banjo strumming hillbillies or white cloaked KKK members but that doesn't shake the sense of unease and the strange behaviour of the groundskeeper and maid. 

Nothing weird about that stare. Nothing at all.

That is about as much as I should say about the machinations of the plot as the greatest joy in this film is the buildup and mystery as to what exactly is happening. As such it is quite difficult to explain why this movie is so good without spoiling it. 

The cinematography is fantastic, with an opening scene that, like Alien: Covenant, sets out the tone and intent of the film perfectly. Again, there is a lack of jump scares but not a lack of disturbing sights and sounds (the night run is perfectly chilling). 

Performances by cast are uniformly impressive, each one playing the role faultlessly, and shifting gears from comedy to horror with ease. Oh yes, I forgot to say this is also a comedy and a very funny one at that. The movie slowly builds and builds towards a full out horror ending (which is somewhat disappointing in its predictability of action if not the reason for why it got there) but peppered through the film are laugh out loud moments. 

Without ruining where the plot goes I will say that it is intrinsically related to issues of race but at no point does the film feel preachy, nor is it simply saying "racism is wrong." That's a fairly simple message the director (Jordan Peele, in his directorial debut) doesn't need to preach. Rather, the message is more nuanced, perhaps pointing to a different form of racism that you or I have almost certainly indulged in, unknowingly from time to time. This movie takes the concept to horrific lengths (and may also require a certain suspension of disbelief but I personally enjoyed the wackiness of the conclusion) but you can trace it back to a plausible kernel of truth. 

Get Out is a must watch for horror fans and maybe even comedy fans with a strong stomach. It does something unique in glut of cheap horror movies and makes a point about society. I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery running through the film and the only quibble I can level at it is that the final act somewhat devolves into horror tropes that you've seen a hundred times before. This minor stumble is propped up, however, by a stellar story and pointed social commentary.