"HIDE. SCREAM. PRAY.”

"The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape."

SHORT VERSION:
Part setup/prequel to ALIEN, part sequel to PROMETHEUS, ALIEN: COVENANT is a visually striking hybrid whose parts don’t all come together as well as they should. It answers questions and raises more problematic ones by the end.

LONG VERSION: (No Spoilers)

So let’s give you some context and transparency about my thoughts about the ALIEN Franchise:

ALIEN is a classic horror film that I continue to enjoy.
ALIENS is a classic action film that I continue to enjoy.
ALIEN 3 ejects everything that was enjoyable of the previous films, yet has a bold ending.
ALIEN: RESURRECTION is a muddled, pointless mess, with nu-Ripley being the best thing about it.
PROMETHEUS is full of gorgeous visuals, stupid character choices, and a sequence near the equal of the chestburster scene from the first film.
(I’m not counting the two Alien vs. Predator films because the less said about them, the better.)

I enjoyed ALIEN: COVENANT far more than I did PROMETHEUS, feeling it tried harder to connect with the audience and have characters make choices that were either smarter or more relatable. Yet, I still had issues with it as answers revealed from the previous film, as well as the ALIEN Saga..

They broke down into two issues: what kind of film it wanted to be and how the answers revealed affect the rest of the movies.

Director Ridley Scott is a visualist first and foremost, going back to his earliest works like THE DUELISTS, BLADE RUNNER, and, of course ALIEN. Ridley is a skilled, seasoned director whose eye has only improved over the decades. COVENANT and PROMETHEUS continue to be visual feasts, meant to seen in a movie theater.

But Scott has long had a reputation of caring about the visual over the story. I think he has gotten better at integrating these visions. But now, he’s moving forward with a vision of the story that wants to speak about the larger issues of Man and Creation, which is what he was doing in PROMETHEUS. With a story by Jack Paglen and Michael Green, screenplay by John Logan and Dante Harper this time, Ridley continues forward, answering questions that he had posed in the previous film. Answers that are as dark and cold as the Alien itself.

At the same time, Scott is going back to ALIEN for the horror and terror, with a crew being stalked and killed by the xenomorph, both unique and familiar to any fan of the series. I don’t know if it can be plagiarism to steal from yourself in the same series, but there are actions, beats and moments that will feel quite familiar.

These two elements aren’t particularly as well blended as I would hope from someone like Ridley Scott, who has had time to ponder these themes. It appears in the latter third of the movie, and can feel a little schizophrenic. Characters are discussing philosophy of creation and they having a brawl not long after. I’m not against tonal shifts, but the “ALIEN” part of the film feels like an afterthought. Done just to make people who didn’t think there was enough xenomorphs in the last film, he ratchets up the tension and gore. It is done quite well, including a great sequence at night in a field that is unlike anything anyone’s done in the series.

Neither themes fail; they just didn’t jell for me.

The second issue is a little harder to discuss, without spoilers. The idea of where the alien and the people who created them have been discussed, pondered, and debated since the first film in 1979. Ridley came back to make and pointedly have PROMETHEUS start on this path, and ALIEN: COVENANT certainly answers some of them. But in doing so, it calls into question things that have already occurred in previous films, about his belief in where this all started… and then doesn’t give you those new answers.

That bothers me.
Not because it left questions, but because it smells more of Franchise Building rather than World Building-at worse. At best, it’s Ridley staking out future movies as his turf only. Either of these seems petty for a director that the word “visionary” is not inappropriate.

It left a bad taste as the credits rolled.

I’m not angry or disappointed, as I was with PROMETHEUS.
Just… confused and unsure of what I saw and where it is going.
Because Ridley Scott is obviously not done with the ALIEN Universe.

NOTE: There are no post-credit scenes.