Alien: Covenant Review - 6 Ups & 4 Downs
It's Prometheus all over again.
Alien: Covenant has begun its international rollout, and critics are largely praising Ridley Scott's latest foray into the sci-fi universe he created way back in 1979, even if there are some pretty heavy qualifiers coming alongside those positive reviews.
Indeed, long-time Alien fans are likely to be much less accommodating to the film's glaring issues, because Alien: Covenant is an entertaining if somewhat awkward attempt to create both a Prometheus sequel and a new Alien movie all at the same time.
Is it worth seeing? For sure, but is it a major improvement over Prometheus and a great entry into the Alien franchise? Absolutely not. Go in with an open mind and there's a lot of fun to be had, though there's also clearly huge room for improvement.
Downs...
4. Character Logic Is Frequently Idiotic
Arguably the biggest complaint about Prometheus was that the characters, many being supposedly intelligent scientists, acted like absolute idiots, and unfortunately, the same is true in this film.
Now, there isn't anyone smoking weed through their suit or trying to pet a snake alien-thing here, but there are some extremely questionable decisions made by the Covenant's crew throughout that may simply be too asinine for some viewers.
Sure, much of it can be explained away by the intensity of the situation or characters allowing their emotions to get the better of them when their partners are slain in front of them, but there's also an abundance of inexplicable "Why the Hell did you do that!?" moments that make the film feel unpleasantly reminiscent of Prometheus.