"Alien: Covenant" & "Norman"

This week, two opposite films from very different worlds both present riffs on the scramble for human survival in hostile environments.

"Alien: Covenant"

The first is the much-anticipated re-entry into the “Aliens’” pantheon, “Alien: Covenant,” a sequel to 2012’s “Prometheus” (which was a prequel to 1979’s original “Alien”).  Although “Prometheus” was notable for its fine cast (including Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, and Idris Elba) and the highly-anticipated return of director Ridley Scott, the film did not easily satisfy long-term “Alien” fans.  As such, “Prometheus” spent much of its plot considering the origins of humanity and not providing as much down-and-dirty, close-quarters, one-on-one survivalist action that “Alien” fans have come to crave.  But, in “Alien: Covenant,” Scott has seemingly very deliberately sought to remedy the remiss of his last film by bringing nearly every element in his long-standing bag of tricks to the screen from splattering gore and nail-biting tension to existential musings on the development of life.

“Covenant” begins a decade after “Prometheus,” revealing the journey of spaceship Covenant, a colony ship of 2,000 colonists and numerous human embryos, who while in cryo-sleep, are hurdling through the universe to a very distant, but human-hospitable planet, Origae-6, for the further establishment of humanity.  But, en route, the ship is unexpectedly hit with a destructive wave of energy, engaging the ship’s artificial intelligence, Walter (Michael Fassbender, again appearing in the franchise as an upgraded version of “Prometheus’” David to help protect its human travelers), and traumatically waking the ship’s crew. 

Unfortunately, the ship’s captain is lost, and not-quite-ready-for-primetime, second-in-command Oram (Billy Crudup) is thrust into the new leadership role of the bereaved crew. The ship soon receives an unexpected, cryptic human-sounding transmission from an unknown planet that appears to also be hospitable to support human life.  As Covenant is still years away from Origae-6, Oram makes the rash decision to investigate and possibly colonize the new planet on a much earlier timetable than had been planned. Daniels (Katherine Waterston), the captain’s widow, argues strongly against the sudden, and possibly permanent, stop, emphasizing that scientists have spent over 20 years ensuring the safety of Origae-6 for the colonists but to no avail. On the new planet, the crew of the Covenant meets an unexpected familiar face as well as gruesome exposures and fates, and Daniels (in a Ripley-like role) reveals to be much stronger than she first appears.

Scott pulls out all the stops in Covenant, trying his best to give the audience the famous elements of the “Aliens” series that have been so successful, including facehuggers, chestbursters, a strong female hero, morally-iffy artificial intelligence and sheer anticipatory terror.  Add the classic elements to a modern mix with loads of gore and buckets of blood in addition to new Alien proto-forms, and Scott has himself a very likely horror/sci-fi hit.  Where the film lags, however, is when Scott returns to those slow elements he tried to philosophically examine at painful length in “Prometheus” (e.g., Who determines life? Can someone ‘play’ God? Is survival of the fittest fully deterministic of the future?), that, at times, push the film right off its intended horror track.  Nevertheless, “Alien: Covenant,” although imperfect, is the most viscerally striking entry in the “Aliens” series in years and definitely warrants a summertime look-see for not-of-the-faint-of-heart horror/sci-fi fans.

"Norman"

The second film examining more mundane human means of survival is the small indie-released Israeli-American drama, “Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer,” starring Richard Gere in the title role as Norman Oppenheimer. 

Sixty-something, worn-down-by-life Norman (Gere) roams New York City in his standard wear, a camel-colored coat and a tweed flat cap, always on the phone or stalking potential business associates to attempt to make a first contact or make a deal for his business, Oppenheimer Securities.  Norman is, throughout much of the film, a schlub and a huckster, whom no business contact seems to take seriously (and, instead, most often openly dismisses and disdains) apart from his executive “nephew” Phillip Cohen (Michael Sheen). 

However, Norman continues pounding the pavement in NYC, earbuds in-ear to take any potential calls, always trying to make a contact or a client out of a casual glance or chance encounter.  But, when Norman befriends a rising Israeli politician, Micha Eshel (the excellent Lior Ashkenazi) and attempts to curry favor by purchasing him a $1000+ pair of shoes, Eshel is thankful (and feels somewhat indebted).  Norman soon finds that his behind-the scenes, ill-fated attempts to wheel and deal suddenly have an air of legitimacy when Eschel becomes Prime Minister of Israel.  Norman, suddenly, is in real demand by those very heady business contacts he had always sought to engage, but finds that he may soon be promising his new associates far too much.

Gere pulls off a strong performance as the senior peddler-merchandiser-dealer Norman.  Gere’s subservient (but tenacious) head-down, nodding blinks behind round, wire classes is a far cry from any of his other classic, dominant roles, and gives his performance a depth, skillfully making what could have been simply a conniving character into a sympathetic, though deeply flawed, one. The audience squirms throughout the film, given Norman’s constant, intrusive overreaching of the truth, and yet the character is still oddly likable and very human.

In the two hours of “Norman,” the audience never finds out anything significant about the lead character’s private life and it is unclear that anything Norman ever says about himself is accurate, so only Gere’s subtle performance (his character’s rocking, bloodied nails, repeatedly rubbing his face until raw) that gives us insight into the mounting anxiety that Norman feels when his reputation (briefly) goes legit.  Oddly, the tone of Norman continually shifts throughout as, at times, the film plays like a comedy (along with jazzy, upbeat music), at other times it seems to be a cautionary lesson about hubris, and, yet, it is also a painful drama.  At its heart, “Norman” is about attempted survival of a lamb among the wolves, and the decisions that lead to his predestined decline.  Although, at times, a little difficult to stick with, “Norman” is a fine character study on where non-malfeasant deception can lead.