Alien: Covenant

"At times a thrilling, stomach-churning journey, but one that leaves those on board wondering if the disorientation and down time was worth the investment..."

Read the full review here: http://screen-space.squarespace.com/reviews/2017/5/8/alien-covenant.html

Alien Covenant marks the third Alien movie directed by Ridley Scott and the second prequel to the franchise after Prometheus. They also seem to be getting worse with age.

Prometheus was really a lot of questions searching for answers, ambitious in asking not only about the creation of alien life, but human life as well. However the plan to stretch out these topics into 3 or 4 movies should be met with some skepticism.

Especially considering the basis for this was started by Damon Lindeloff, the creator of Lost and the man most of us are still waiting for answers for most of the things that happened on Lost.

He of course has abandoned this second movie, leaving it in the hands of the far more capable John Logan, but even he struggle...

I had a few reservations going in to Alien: Covenant. In my opinion there hasn't been a truly great entry to the franchise since Aliens, so I was worried that the statistics were against it. I thought Prometheus was incredible from a technical standpoint, but not a very engaging movie, and I was worried we might get the same here. The trailers had been mostly good but I was worried I had seen too much of the third act in them, and I was worried this would spoil the experience for me a little.

What I was not worried about was within ten minutes of the damn thing starting I would think to myself: "Wow, this movie is really poorly made."

Well I guess I'm an idiot because that is exactly what happened. And that feeling never entirel...

Limps along under the weight of its own importance.

I love my films dripping with self importance and this one is definitely one of them. I can't get enough of these films that positively bubble over with a high handed, serious and arrogant attitude that indicates that there is no film quite as important as this one.

This film knows it all. It knows everything that we- the lowly, pathetic and simple minded audience do not know and could not ever possibly know because we are not intelligent enough to grasp anything, you see?

For such an authoritative, superior and intelligent film - I find it odd that every character stumbles around like a simple minded cretin making unwise decision after unwise decision.

Ridley and his ...

I agree with most of the negative comments about this movie.It is a gigantic missed opportunity.My biggest issue apart from the utter predictability and nonsensical,inept script,was the disappointment of seeing 'Prometheus' mixed up with 'Alien' Alien covenant gets locked up in its own self importance while forgetting why we loved 'Alien' in the first place.I really wanted to like it but came a way with a huge sense of disappointment

Not sure about all the bad reviews, I enjoyed the movie. I'm guessing because I wasn't expecting it to be particularly cerebral. Its a sci-fi/horror flick, I was looking forward to Sir Ridley Scott coming up with new and disgusting ways to terrorize the cast and I wasn't disappointed. Of course, the android going rogue was pretty obvious, but if the Star Wars franchise can feature a planet destroying space station in 3 of 7 movies, I'll give Sir Ridley a pass. If you are looking for the loose ends from Prometheus to be tied up, I suggest you include Sir Ridley in your prayers so he can survive long enough (the man is friggin 80) to film the prequel to Covenant currently titled Awakening that will hopefully meet your expectations.

Watched Alien: Covenant a 3rd time. It is a lot better than first meets the eye. The drastic difference from what we were expecting in direction from Prometheus threw all of us off. We had expectations of what we would get to see and we didn't get those. There is so much detail and such good acting. It takes multiple watches to pick up on it all. It blends the styles of Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus all together and does it very well. There is also a lot of subtle reference to Terminator 2. The dynamic between the androids Walter and David and the acting that went into that is something quite special. In that alone is a reference to T:2. My first 2 watches I didn't appreciate the android Walter like the character deserves. I was biased agai...

Even the monkeys stood upright at some point.

Hee! Ridley Scott, it seems, is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't as regards the Alien franchise he so gloriously kick-started back in 1979. Prometheus was too cerebral for many and definitely bogged down by expectation levels. Not without flaws of course, but a very tidy science fiction piece it be. So we roll on to Alien Covenant, which while not universally reviled, has certainly garnered some fearful scorn in Alien franchise fan circles.

Alien Covenant is a cover version, no two ways about it, it's a retread of what was showcased in 1979, only with the tie-in to Prometheus and a continuation to the origins of Xenomorph and pals. Clearly we have a case of Scott making one for t...

Good robot! Bad robot!

After some gaps, the 'Alien' franchise came alive with the prequel 'Prometheum' which originally said to be a spin-off. Particularly, it landed in the hands of the original maker. Now, even the original title back in action. It's another prequel, hence the prequel series on the making. The next film too will be the same kind, before the overall storyline in the franchise align in a straight line.

I enjoyed it. But not as good as 'Prometheum' or the first two 'Alien' films. The issue with it was, the same old cliché. There's nothing in the story. It was like any space film that's set in a similar fashion. The 80 per cent of the film was what we had seen in the earlier 'Alien' films. Just altered scenes with a...

I paid to see the movie, just to see what all the hype was about. It's a mess, of course, from David going Nazi and practicing genocide, to the mindless violence of "an earthworm impaled on a hook to catch fish," to space idiots/children who aren't smart enough to be hall monitors. I had wondered why some folk considered the first three "Alien" movies Canon and NOT the current set. I'm with the "three and done" crowd, this movie is a Hollyweird popcorm flick. "Do not watch this movie. God complexes and stupidity abound. Stay away if you value your peace of mind." (Repeating acoustic beacon)

Though Michael Fassbender did a sublime job and the movie itself was visually immersive, the actions of the main characters did not seem very smart. I could forgive the decision that the newly installed captain Oram (Billy Crudup) took about going to the unknown planet. But everything that happened after David cut his hair exactly the same way Walter head just makes you shake your head in amusement and think Oh, come on!. David, obsessed with the act of creation that had value in its end, uses any means available. It is remarkable that no one from the remaining crew has questioned imposter Walterss identity and just carried on like the worst was left behind. Meanwhile, the last scene when Daniels (Katherine Waterston) realizes (finally!) ...

I would hate to be in the shoes of a filmmaker that needs to please a rabid fan base. The "Star Wars" sequels are a perfect example of this. Ridley Scott has the same challenge with the "Alien" prequels which you see in user scores.

I loved "Prometheus" with its attempt at something bigger than just more face huggers and xenomorphs wreaking havoc. It was clear he was building a grander story to the eventual bridge to the original "Alien."

He continues that bigger story with "Alien: Covenant" and whether he meant to provide fan service or not, we get that with face huggers and xenomorphs. (No spoiler as both are in the trailers.)

Do yourself a favor and watch the short clip "Last Supper" (youtu.be/EkXgRlRao5I ) before you watch...

I like how gory 'Alien: Covenant' is, though apart from that there isn't much to shout about. It's good, but that's it.

I'd say it's one of the weaker cast lists of the franchise, not that I have anything against the performances here but I wasn't blown away or overly interested in anyone in this 2017 production. Michael Fassbender is the obvious standout from an acting viewpoint, though I don't really dig his character all that much to be honest. The rest are a bit forgettable.

You can tell it's well made and it does look the part, with it being worth the watch to complete the franchise and all that. Of the sixth films, though, it'd be in my personal bottom two (*excl. short films) - in fairness, that isn't as bad as it sounds, it's just the series has seen better.

Initially, I thought this was just a pretty shameless attempt to attach the "Alien" brand to the really mediocre "Prometheus" (2012) but to be fair, it is just a little more than that. The crew of a colonial exploration ship are heading to a new word when their crew are tempted by a bit of John Denver, and divert to a seemingly far more suitable planet. Of course, once they land they begin to realise that nothing is as idyllic as they had hoped, and getting off as soon as possible is now the order of the day. It's almost 40 years since the first film of this strand, and that renders most of the shock value pretty impotent. We have all already been through the gamut of terror that these stories deliver and even though Sir Ridley Scott is an ...

Well, it's slightly better than Prometheus, that's something. It's a little bit closer to the monster movie that was Alien...but closer does not mean that it comes anywhere near being as epic as it's 1979 mother...queen...whatever.

It's still putting on airs. It's still living under the delusion that it's something closer to "Chinatown" than, well, a monster movie in space.

I don't want to see an Alien movie that thinks its "Raging Bull." It doesn't really work that way. I want to see and Alien movie that knows its an Alien movie.

Simplify Man!!!!!!! You're a monster movie in space...most of the time...and a space marine movie the rest of the time. Either way you have no reason to throw so much crap against the wall. You don't need...

Good Sci-fi

With strengths at a visual and technical level, it would be much better with a more developed and better written script.

I don't know if I'm the only person to say this, but I think a horror movie works better if we see some intelligence in the script and in the characters' attitudes, and if the main antagonist is mysterious and able to surprise us. I liked Prometheus, a film better than expected, albeit with a confusing script. This film establishes a clearer, more palpable link between that film and the Alien franchise. The script accompanies the Covenant, a colony ship filled with people in hypersleep. The ship receives a mysterious signal from a planet that, by all indications, has excellent conditions for life, but quickly reali...