Alien: Covenant - 18 WTF Moments

10. Pretentious Androids

Alien Covenant Michael Fassbender
20th Century Fox

Depending on who you ask, these newer Alien movies are either pretentious as Hell or genuinely fascinating. Why, then, can't they be both? David namedrops the likes of Byron, Shelley and Wagner throughout the film, and there are references to John Milton's Paradise Lost, though it seems likely these flowery affectations were added to the script by three-time Oscar nominee John Logan, who was brought on-board in late 2015 to revise the original draft.

There is at least one undeniably worthwhile plot point revealed here: David makes a mistake, by confusing Byron and Shelley, which indicates his systems are corrupted. For the most part, though, this feels like Scott's attempt to inject some faux-intellect into the Alien franchise and class things up a little. It's not a first for him, though: even the original movie included countless nods to Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.