Every Alien Movie - Ranked From Worst To Best

Alien: Covenant is, more or less, a slightly better version of Prometheus.

It improves on some of the weaker areas of the latter film; Prometheus didn't have enough Xenomorph/Facehugger action, which, let's be honest, is the primary reason we watch Alien movies, but Covenant has plenty. Covenant also reduces the walking and talking and is paced slightly faster, whereas Prometheus dragged.

Additionally, Covenant gives us more Michael Fassbender, and again, he's on electrifying form (this time playing a pair of androids), and some of the body-horror is truly unnerving, with a fantastic mixture of convincing CGI and practical effects.

But, sadly, it also contains some of the weaker elements of Scott's previous movie.

Most of the human characters are, again, profoundly stupid (if you were on a mysterious, uncharted planet, would you really poke at a black fungi-like growth on the ground? If your crew mate was convulsing and something was popping out of his back, would you give him a hug?), and like Prometheus, it asks more questions than it answers.

But on the whole, Alien: Covenant is a solid mix of Alien's horror and suspense, Aliens' action and Prometheus' broad scope.

It doesn't do any one of those things perfectly, mind, and you'll probably leave wishing that Scott would just make a good ol' fashioned Alien movie, rather than trying to answer questions that really don't need asking in the first place.

Either way, this is a promising setup for all those sequels the director has planned.