ALIEN: Covenant (2017) Retrospective/Review

A retrospective on Alien: Covenant.
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[@KesselRunner606]

The original horror of the Alien was its mystery and the harsh truth that the universe doesn't care about Human curiosity. We aren't owed any answers. The universe is vast, dark, cold, and ultimately we are insignificant in its presence. The Alien was ancient when it was discovered. The ship and crew, fossilized. It was everything beyond our comprehension. It was the Lovecraftian Mountains of Madness, deep time, cosmic horror. Humans were just nothing. We were just food and breeding stock. Beyond the flesh tearing and gore, *that* was what made them truly terrifying.

[@Thebabybadass101]

@@KesselRunner606 the harsh truth horror aspect is maintained in my opinion, specifically in Prometheus. we finally lay eyes on our supposed creators only to be met with violent hostility and/or indifference. It’s almost more terrifying when you think about it

[@mikerosoft1009]

@@Thebabybadass101 and with Prometheus I felt that the original wonder of the first Alien movie is gone. The Engineers and the black goo ruined the wonder. Why answer the question of 'where is that space jockey from?' We didn't need to know all that.

[@thecomedian6920]

Beautifully said.

[@QuintiniusVerginix]

@@Thebabybadass101 It's funny to me that people keep claiming that with Prometheus & Covenant the series lost it's cosmic horror roots because it shows where the Aliens (& humanity) comes from, despite those themes being very much in keeping with Cosmic Horror stories. In fact, the whole "Alien beings created humanity and experimented on life forms to create superior beings" is so reminiscent of At the Mountains of Madness that Prometheus is often cited as one of the primary reasons behind the cancellation of the At the Mountains of Madness adaptation of Guillermo del Toro, as the studio thought it was too similar.

[@QuintiniusVerginix]

It's funny you mention the Mountains of Madness as an example of what Alien "used to be", that's the one Lovecraft story that does actually delve into cosmic answers and specifically where humans and some other famous Lovecraftian beings come from as the Elder Things in the story are revealed to have been behind the creation of Shoggoths and actually humanity itself was a byproduct of one of their experiments. Ideas that are also explored in Prometheus, which very specifically seem to take inspiration from At the Mountains of Madness.

[@AdrianArmbruster]

While I positively hate any and all implications of David actually making the Xenos, I do like the kind of Gothic Horror tone the movie delves into around the halfway mark. Creepy phantoms haunt the moors at night, so the crew has to go follow a mad scientist to his spooky castle in the middle of a graveyard.

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

He only made the Covenant aliens. Not the entire species. Not sure their true origins have been answered.

[@grantreborn]

Solid point, I actually enjoyed that side of it too....but always show TOO MUCH of the xeno. I did like that single shot in the hanger bay where the xeno is just walking...totally creepy and awesome

[@RaikenXion]

Yes I'll give it that too i did like that, i guess it kind of harkened back to Hammer Horrors there.

[@RaikenXion]

@@DorisDay-lw4xs But Ridley doesn't make this fully clear to the audience through his movie, so that's his failure there. It caused so many Fans to get really angry and was what led the movie to received some backlash and bad reviews. I like the idea that David was like John Hammond, managing to recreate the already existing, ancient Xenomorph species, and those Facehugger eggs are on LV-426 all this time. Infact it works better that the Engineers themselves DID NOT CREATE them, but simply came across them, and when one of their own got infected by one of the Facehuggers, sent a warning beacon out; and the Engineers then decided to use the Xeno DNA, contained within those Ampules/Urns; as a more easier way of carrying the bioweapon cargo. The Xenomorph's own Origins should NEVER be explored or answered, they should stay a mystery forever, just the same with how Yoda's species are never touched upon in the starwars franchise. You have to keep some level of mystery to keep things interesting.

[@kevinsmoon3257]

The biggest flaw these movies have in my opinion is that they are linked to alien. If prometheus and covenant were it’s own things they would be amazing

[@jdraven0890]

2017....??!??! And Prometheus was 2012?! Where has the time gone?

[@Samsonfs]

I swear this film only came out 2 years ago 😭😭 pain

[@twilightcitystudios]

Not going to lie, I saw this movie for the first time a few months ago and just assumed it was only a couple years old, maybe 2019 at the latest, but when I saw it came out in 2017 I just went like "WTF?!" lol

[@purefoldnz3070]

I almost erased Covenant from my memory.

[@spetcnaz83]

Same man, same. Freaking scary.

[@Freakazoid12345]

Same. What have I been doing with my life?

[@SoapBaton]

I searched for this video only a few hours ago only to find you hadn't done it yet, and voila, now here it is. These Retrospective films are pure quality and one of my favorite things on KZbin. Thanks Mr Harper!

[@LunchSays]

Have you got brain damage? Yes. Get this man a space ship

[@Jooglesberry]

I don't know of another movie that strikes such a perfect balance between very enjoyable and incredibly frustrating. Killing Shaw between movies is just infuriating.

[@SuperNova-py1ec]

I agree. I felt this way with Alien 3. We spent most of Aliens watching Newt being rescued and yet she is already dead at the start of Alien 3. Watching that in the cinema immediately annoyed me. Having said that over the years I have grown to enjoy Alien 3. I don't think I will feel the same with Alien Covenant.

[@HabitualJoker]

100% agreed. Shaw was a good character and I was eager to watch her story continue.

[@purefoldnz3070]

they kill off Shaw only to make a new Shaw proxy.

[@RaikenXion]

I absolutely agree, killing Shaw OFF SCREEN and setting up David as the sole *Creator* of the Xenomorphs was sheer sacrilege. Especially when he had already shown a mural in Prometheus, and the idea was meant to be that the Facehugger eggs were already on LV-426, long ago, and the Engineers had just simply recreated, synthesised the Xeno DNA, into a viral bomb, in the form of those Ampules contained with the Urns. For Ridley Scott to set up Shaw and everything she had been through in Prometheus, leading us to eagerly follow her to the next place, where the Engineers supposedly come from, to "get her answers". Then he goes and just dodges all that and kills her off, that's the most idiotic, cowardly thing for a director to do. He totally deserved Covenant underperforming for doing what he did there, and basically him losing control again of the Alien franchise.

[@marks9233]

Like killing off Newt and Hicks after Aliens....

[@journeyman1218]

David didn't create the Alien. He only created those aliens. The mural in Prometheus is proof that xeno like creatures existed before plus the space jockey ship was crashed long enough to fossilise the pilot. The timeline doesn't fit.

[@stever089]

Have you looked into that you can find the script the engineers apparently were infertile and one of them sacrifice themselves somehow to give birth to the Deacon in the portrait and that made them fertile for a while and eventually the Deacon died and then they tried to synthetically recreate the black goo and that's what led to that black site getting screwed up on lv 422. Apparently the original Deacon some couple billion years ago gave the ceremonial blackout to the engineer that seated life on Earth and the synthetic goo that is in Prometheus is what was a complete failure catastrophe if you read the script

[@phillipharris9824]

I’ve had arguments about this. You’re not the only person who actually remembers what they’ve seen and can point it out. It’s like people don’t understand it.

[@RockyRoyale84]

Exactly. Romulus proves this.

[@anthonymartensen3164]

​@@RockyRoyale84proves what?

[@RockyRoyale84]

@@anthonymartensen3164 Knowledge is Power!💥

[@MutantHeadcrab]

What is it with modern Alien movies wanting to speed-run the incubation process? The second guy to get bursted had that thing on him for less than a minute; not even long enough to knock him out. Alien: Romulus has that one girl who didn't have it on for all that long either and hers incubated inside probably even faster than the one in Covenant.

[@THEremiXFACTOR]

It just shows weak storytelling. If they can't work out a realistic timeline for this to happen then they should go back to the drawing board and start again.

[@sonyakinsey4376]

At least Romulus slowed down the growth phase a bit. That was nice to see and made for a very tense scene.

[@Phoney72]

The Alien is a bit of an unknown quantity and has always been pretty variable genetics wise. Could always explain it away by saying certain strains of it incubate more quickly than others.

[@Samsonfs]

You didn't watch the film lmao, he gets goo in his nose at the opening to the ship, after exploring it he starts to feel sick, then after the multi hour trek down to the lander at the beach the alien bursts out his mouth, they literally say the ship was at considerable elevation multiple kilometres away from the beach. Even if it's not clearly communicated that's what happens.

[@MoldyMojoMonkey]

​@Samsonfs i think he meant the second guy that got the facehugger/chestburster combo at the end? That's what i assumed from the comment at least.

[@FalseH3]

Oram watching creatures kill the crew and people he loved, then shortly after having David show him that he had been experimenting with and growing the alien parasites, and proceeds to just stick his head over a giant egg because David said to was one of the most egregious character decision making I’ve EVER seen in any movie. Completely lost me. For all the complaints Prometheus crew gets for bad decision making this movie blew it out of the water.

[@GreenTeaViewer]

I never saw it like that...I saw Oram as a naive religious man who wants to see the good in everyone. He was clearly depicted as such. His natural impulse was just to hesitate or be passive in the face of evil. And David's confident in saying to him "hey come over here, look at this" is a type of Satanic hypnotism. Evil is like that and naive people are like that. Hats off to Scott for capturing this.

[@motherplayer]

Even moreso, just before when he shot the alien and David fiercely screamed "NO!" for doing so, you'd think he might be a little supicious why he's mad that he killed the monster. But no, doesn't even think a thing about it and just goes with him down in his creepy lair with little prompting. It's like it's high minded ideas have to be saddled down with B-Grade Horror writing.

[@radicool86]

He was blinded by faith

[@Shoelessjoe78]

My 10 year old son (at the time) said he was stupid and nobody would trust David at that point. When a 10 year old is pointing out bad plot ya got problems.

[@Nicholas_Chen_]

Oram is easily one of the Top dumbest characters in horror film ever. And I thought Kane was keen and stupid in Alien, and Bjorn was annoying in Romulus 😆

[@mctownes2013]

All I wanted was a legit Prometheus sequel. You know, a little more exploration of the Engineer culture and more adventures with Shaw and less insane David.

[@NoOne-uh9vu]

Insane David was great in Prometheus but he had no one to play off of naturally in Covenant since they took out Shaw off camera in between movies. Covenant had a massive continuation problem and lacked the natural dynamics of Prometheus which demonstrated the worst and best of humanity in its last act with good actually winning out but bought with intense heroic sacrifice. Covenant abandoned this bitter sweet formula for an incoherent mess. All the options and dynamics of the crew didnt seem to matter by the second act. Covenants nihilistic story can be summed up as: no matter the world view and no matter the flavor of intention everyone will eventually succumb to the devil bringing inevitable destruction to the world.

[@SergioMach7]

Alien: Covenant is a film that really needed to have been a more in depth continuation of Prometheus than the Alien plot shoehorned in due to fan backlash. Its clear Scott wanted to go more into the engineer planet and David shown in film, but I think he just went "the fans and producers want this". Next thing you know, there's an alien scene while a couple have sex in a shower. That's beneath you Ridley Scott! I think he should have just done the big idea sci-fi with Covenant and then have the Alien: Romulus film as the standard Alien horror film. I think I agree with Matthew Buck when he said at the time that the film's big problem was overly explaining the aliens when they are at their best being an unknown entity.

[@alienboy1322]

Because of critics like Mathew Buck going hard on Coverant, I skipped seeing the film theaters. Prometheus, I personally didn't feel compelled to revisit it again. Honestly, I think I don't think I care about this Prometheus as it does nothing for the Alien series.

[@Kacpa2]

True i hate what Ridley done to Shaw and caving in to make "Alien"

[@NostalgiNorden]

Alien fans in 2012: Prometheus sucked! We want Aliens! Alien fans in 2017: Covenent suck! We want more Prometheus!

[@SergioMach7]

@@NostalgiNorden pretty much what happened.

[@scottneil1187]

​@@NostalgiNordenSimply not true, been a fan since 1 came out, hated Prometheus and Covenant. They're not canon imo.

[@JAGtheTrekkieGEMINI1701]

The Alien Franchise's Lore is such a *MESS* nowadays

[@purefoldnz3070]

much better now.

[@alterbridgegod]

​@@purefoldnz3070 even worse now

[@purefoldnz3070]

@@alterbridgegod better than Covenant for sure.

[@pho3nix-]

The score by Jed Kurzel is highly underrated, give it a listen!

[@RammSteFAN]

Couldn’t agree more, one of my favorites!

[@jeffcarlin5866]

I own the score on CD. It's a cool score for sure.

[@Edward-6909]

It's so good they should have used it or a piece at least in Alien:Romulus

[@fka322]

It's one of the few aspects of the film I enjoy.

[@madcapmakov2]

Great reprise of the Jerry Goldsmith track.

[@madcapmakov2]

The best thing about Alien: Covenant is without a doubt, the score.

[@sumstuff6956]

Yep

[@sumstuff6956]

I like alien covenant tho I think it’s good fun but the music is god tier

[@james87367]

Gorgeous soundtrack.

[@jamessiddle7389]

No matter how poorly recieved Prometheus and Alien: Covenant were, they're truly stunning to look at.

[@jothishprabu8]

Yes technically they're just perfect

[@robotpanda77]

The 80% shots of black metal walls?

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

@@robotpanda77Not on my version 🤷‍♂️

[@Hispania_45]

Amazing scores as well. Jed kurzel did amazing with his covenant score, shame the movie sucks.

[@RaikenXion]

The visuals and set design is second to none, in both Films they do honestly look beautiful. I even like Prometheus' "Ancient Astronaut" themes and big ideas, I like the first half of Covenant but after that it just devolves into tired cliche and David being the creator of Xenos contradicts Prometheus and hurts the Alien lore.

[@NVKumanov]

It has become very cumbersome to be an Alien fan. The knowledge one must gather outside of all the movies to just make sense of everything

[@Egonzal316]

I like the idea of The Xenomorph's origins being unknown, ancient, and natural.

[@mikerosoft1009]

Ya same, it was kind of a let down (SPOILERS) that the goo/engineers were in Romulus. Ridley just keeps doubling/tripling down on his bad ideas.

[@PersephonevanderWaard]

You mean Cartesian dualism and the process of abjection. Epic barf.

[@CoNnOr5899]

@@PersephonevanderWaard huh?

[@PersephonevanderWaard]

@@CoNnOr5899 It's literally the plot to Frankenstein. Nature is alien and ancient; go shoot it. Cameron's big yawn-fest, Aliens, doing Vietnam revenge fantasies for Ronald Reagan.

[@sumstuff6956]

@@PersephonevanderWaardin English ?

[@amovieguy14]

Never in my my life on YT I’ve ever click on a video this fast before!

[@daverobson3084]

"Micheal said for his approach for Walter, I I always thought that Mr Spock was a good reference for me for this character. Completely logical and devoid of emotion..". Wow. Did Fassbender not understand the character of Spock.

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

Okay but 90% of non-Trek fans would and have said exactly this, this is how most people in the mainstream think of Spock

[@daverobson3084]

@@GuineaPigEveryday My point. One would think that were one an actor, wishing to base their character on another character, that they would do a study of said other character.

[@RaikenXion]

Fassbender was excellent as David and Walter I've always thought he could make a great "James Bond" he has charisma and can do cold/calculated effortlessly too.

[@daverobson3084]

@@RaikenXion Yes. He's a very good actor. I'm just saying that he really doesn't understand the character of Spock.

[@RaikenXion]

@@daverobson3084 🫡

[@ukmediawarrior]

I think what a lot of people seem to forget is that back in 1979 when Alien arrived Ridley Scott had one movie under his belt, a low budget historical film called The Duellists. He was simply a hired gun director. Alien, its concepts, the look and the feel were created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the writers. But once the movie became the huge hit everyone seemed to forget the guys who developed the movie and assumed it was all done by Scott. His ego allowed him to take that false praise and run with it. I'm not saying he isn't a good director, he absolutely is, but he did NOT create Alien, he was just there doing a job and getting a pay check. However by the time Prometheus and Covenant came around he had built his reputation to a high level and used that power to get what he wanted. Now in charge of the Alien 'history' he went away from the classic horror to more high brow storytelling, something the fans quickly told him they did not want forcing Fox to rein him in.

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

YES! Thank you for saying this im so tired of people constantly feeding into Ridley’s own ego narrative. I mean how much work went into making Alien, how many artists, in the production design, sets, props, storyboarding, concept art, of both human ship and alien stuff. Or the cinematographer, the composer, the visual effects supervisor, the person in the alien suit, the THREE writers, Dan O’Bannon plus Hill and Giler who made alterations. Hell ALL THE ACTORS too?? Ridley Scott is just ONE cook in the kitchen here and yet years later he still acts like he was the sole creator, the sole reason for the film’s brilliance, he’s become such a narcissistic asshole, and his lack of input into the writing of his own films are showing so often now with how often his films end up being subpar and shit because he doesn’t spend a second looking at the quality of the writing. We need to STOP acting like its ‘Ridley Scott’s Alien’ he didn’t even write the script like James Cameron did.

[@LucaEnzo]

It really is just this He drank someone elses coolaid and got paid alot of money for doing so Take the A L I E N name off his sequels and theyre b tier run of the mill sci fi movies

[@davidnicholls5303]

Scott's return to the Alien universe is a bit like giving Da Vinci a marker pen and letting him draw glasses and a moustache on the Mona Lisa

[@Bazookatone1]

Only partially true, a LOT of the groundwork was laid by O Bannon and Shusett - but hiring Giger was all Ridley Scott, and casting was him too. Its true he was hired with no expectation of being anything other than a journeyman director, but he turned out to be alot more than that. The thing is this, if you look at O Bannon's subsequent work, unless he collaborates with a director with a great style (like Verhoeven for "Total Recall") his work tends to have been low budge, b movie schlock, whereas Ridley scott has ...........NOT had that career path.

[@Ryglado]

He should have stayed out of contributing to the writing of any of his movies.

[@EricSatterberg1]

Great retrospective as usual. I remember in the theater when Walter and David did the switch and I could not get over how, to use your words, clumsily it had been executed.

[@chifurbr]

prometheus and covenant would have worked a lot better if they weren't inside the alien universe

[@doomedcolonist]

Ridley Scott's done some great work in the Alien franchise, but the notion that the xenomorph was 'played out' shows how disconnected he was from it. And the perils of being so powerful in Hollywood that nobody says to you 'no, that's a bad idea, don't do it..'

[@zerocool5395]

The end of your comment reminds me of George Lucas and the prequels.

[@TitusCastiglione1503]

@@zerocool5395 I agree

[@RoaryUK]

Wrong! Check out the leaks about a script for "Paradise Lost", the movie Scott intended to make, but was forced by Fox to course correct when the studio got cold feet over a bunch of idiots wanting more aliens.

[@consonaadversapars]

Nah. Engineers, David and Shaw >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Xenomorphs, Ripley and the rest of the franchise.

[@doomedcolonist]

@@consonaadversapars - I would have LOVED to see Engineers on the big screen. That script had some genuinely spine chilling moments in it.

[@cyberpunkholiday]

This is one of those films where you know the plot is broken in many places, the characters are beyond logic in their decisions, and the answers are bleak, but somehow you still enjoy it. I believe they call that a guilty pleasure. I believe most of my enjoyment stems directly from the soundtrack however. It was fire. I wish I'd gotten it on vinyl when it first dropped. I will say however that any sort of lashing this films gets it rightfully deserves.

[@nalday2534]

Probably because the most important aspects of a film is its thematic content and how it stands as an audiovisual experience

[@discostu333]

Taken as canon, the fact that David created the xenomorphs kills all the cosmic horror elements of the first two movies (Alien / Aliens).

[@thomaslucas7050]

Having eggs without a queen just doesn't sit right with me.

[@Kacpa2]

And is a hedious disservice to Prometheus

[@BehindThePringles]

David didn't create the xenos. He rediscovered some of the genetic building blocks. The xeno and eggs from Alien predate David by a long, long time.

[@glibfacsimile]

​@@BehindThePringlesso a simple mystery is replaced by complex nonsense.

[@bezerk-z3697]

I think they fixed this on a blueray epilogue. 😮

[@Nicholas_Chen_]

I am just reminded of how good the soundtrack is with your intro. Those hollow sounds are pure horror and it has a lot of intensity, it could have been ICONIC had the film being more popular. This film had A LOT of potential. If they had expanded more on the creatures especially Neomorph, and how they lead up to the eventual Xenomorph, and get rid of that stupid CGI (that replaced the original practical effects for some reason), give the characters a bit more depth and not treat them like idiots, it could have been awesome. It needs significant script rework and re-review, and really could have been reworked into a much better and popular installment, shame it turned out the way it was. Very frustrating installment.

[@deadseagull-xf3lk]

The opening to this video is more badass than any of the official trailers lol brilliant editing Oliver.

[@BillyAndersonYT]

Oh hell yeah, new Oliver Harper Alien content

[@maraudershields283]

I feel like there’s a way you could do a sequel that is equal parts a follow up to Prometheus, Covenant, and Romulus, by having the Xenos and the black goo be naturally occurring, and maybe even the precursor species to the Engineers. The revelation being that they were just fucking around as much as the human were, stripping away their divinity, and also that the Xeno is the natural endgame of organic life (the perfect species), undermining all the work that David thought he was achieving, throwing him into chaos. It could also mainly be from the perspective of Rain and Andy, and linking up with Daniels and Tennessee.

[@505th_oldboy]

I was very annoyed when the crew just land without breathing equipement/masks and just assume it's safe, so when they get infected I was fuming. It was a frustrating first watch.

[@barricade1391]

Let’s be honest, anyone only remembers the names of Daniels and Walter/David. The fact that most people will remember Elizabeth Shaws role more than any of these characters names is a testament to bad writing/cinematography

[@sumstuff6956]

Bad cinematography in a ridley Scott film? U serious ? Alien covenant has “bad cinematography?”

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

Tennessee ! I remember him.

[@bobcharlotte8724]

Ridley is 86! Omg!

[@BullyMaguire4ever]

They should have let him finish the prequel trilogy.

[@markjackson6431]

these retrospective/reviews are perfect.

[@jeffcarlin5866]

When I can't watch the movie being reviewed...I listen to Harper's retrospectives!

[@dr.loomis4221]

The worst thing a horror film can do is explain it's monster. Every franchise eventually gets to that point. The mystery is so key.

[@PaoloLery]

The monster isn’t the alien. RS turned it on its head and fair play to him.

[@ThisIsTheRoad]

What I really hate about Scott's prequels is that everything feels completely unnecessary and inconsequential. With "Prometheus" we finally revisit the crashed derelict from the first movie, BUT NOT REALLY, it's just s different planet where coincidentally exactly the same things happened. With "Covenant" we finally see the Engineer's home world, BUT NOT REALLY, it's just a random planet that also has relatives of the Engineer race. There David finally creates the Xenomorph, BUT NOT REALLY, since its biology existed before, so he just conducts random DNA experiments until one looks like the Alien we know. Utter bullshit and a waste of time, since the movies themselves have no story and most of the characters suck. What am I to invest here, just the pretty images and the very basic and vague theme of creation, that's executed like a student's first screenplay?

[@LukeLovesRose]

Audiences should take another look at Prometheus and covenant. To me, they are the 3rd and 4th best movies in the franchise

[@Samsonfs]

Easily.

[@djoneforever]

This one and Prometheus would be fantastic movies.... if only ... There were no xenomorph of any kind.

[@Deepseashark]

I think they honestly should have been their own movies instead of being in the alien universe. While I dont like the movies Id at least be able to ignore them if they werent part of the alien universe plus they wouldnt be ruining alien lore

[@sbaltys]

I liked Prometheus and hated Covenant when I left the theater. I finally rewatched it and really enjoyed it. I wish we could get a direct sequel and setup to the original Alien... Upon rewatch, I don't think David created the xenomorph, but rather, reengineered it. The only complaint I have is how stupid the characters behave when they arrive on the planet.

[@LucaEnzo]

Its a lack of respect from Ridley to have a crew that acted so stupidly throughout the movie, almost as if he thinks the audience is foolish enough not to recognize it

[@HumiIiation]

If I was to make an Alien movie the lore would be that the black goo is made from Xenomorph DNA. "Raw life" or whatever they call it in Romulus. Engineers use it to seed planets, thats how they created us. Maybe there is a theme in there about playing god, controlling nature and the hybris of mankind. Im sure you can shohorn some biblical references in there to stick with the Riddley theme aswell.

[@LucaEnzo]

I dont understand the fascination of these "engineers" and them creating human life. They just seem to add bloat and get in the way of the humans and xenomorphs. I feel theres a well of untapped potential that just involves these two but instead we get a boring game of join-the-dots. meh

[@smoothALOE]

I’m a fan of the franchise and really enjoyed Covenant. I haven’t seen Romulus yet, but I intend to.

[@bottlewaddle6677]

yep the die hard nerds complained too much >

[@alienboy1322]

​​@bottlewaddle6677 I assume that's how Ripley Scott felt after Prometheus. Not without reason, of course.

[@halomultiplayermoments]

Romulus is 💩

[@halomultiplayermoments]

@@bottlewaddle6677no we just want a decent alien movie 😂

[@bottlewaddle6677]

@@halomultiplayermoments I thought Romelus was decent, did you see it?

[@hardnewstakenharder]

About 20 minutes in I realized Covenant was not going to be a good film, and thereafter I had a fantastic time with it.

[@cpl.barbarusc4814]

I really love the mystery of where the Xenomorphs come from, however when I saw the scene where he created the Xenomorphs, I wasn't mad as many others since, I always saw the Xenomorph that David creates is his variant that he crated by experimenting with the black fluid and some of the surviving engenieers, and maybe some of the disecated leftovers of the Xenomorphs specimens found by the enginieers, so in way David only made his version of the Xenomorph species with an extra dose of the black fluid to speed up the growing process. The scene where David takes out Walter with the flute, has some Blade Runner aspects on that scene since it was very similar to Roy Batty killing of Eldon Tyrell. And the POV vision of the Alien, even though it didn't make sense in terms of the organism, but a someone who has played the Aliens vs. Predator videogames it was a nice touch after the POV shot from Alien 3. I also get mixed of some of the decisions made for Alien Covenant, but not exactly makes it into the worst Alien film on my list, that place is reserved only to AvP Requiem.

[@Slashingthrough]

Biggest mistake has been that they didn't use Shaw anymore. Shame it didn't help the story at all.

[@TheWaynos73]

This movie’s science fiction lack of logic is astounding. Landing on an unexplored world and exploring the environment without any helmets and hello hello, deadly xeno parasites infecting their respiratory systems.

[@madmaxmel]

I was very surprised that in the movie the scientists are running around in unknown terrain without face and breath protection. The most incompetent bunch ever, who would go into an unknown environment before doing background work and proper protection. Well, yeah, it's just a movie, but the movie is full of such inconsistencies.

[@awavey]

they did it alot on Stargate SG-1 too with the same results, but it is not only a stupid thing to do, its a stupid plot device simply to save time to have some unexpected chest bursters happen, except we all saw the trailer, so it wasnt even a surprise !!!!

[@corky8280]

Pretty much agree with Oliver, I find Prometheus and Covenant very watchable but they're both frustrating. There's a lot of things I like about them, but also a lot that I don't - mainly characters doing inexplicably dumb things, the messing up of the back story of where the Alien originally came from, and as a result of that the progressively convoluted ideas that don't make sense and pose questions that are left unanswered

[@Kalaida]

Look up the TV spot "She Won't Go Quietly". This preview is made up almost entirely of deleted footage that all seems to take place some time after the survivors return to the Covenant. - The crew playing cards with Daniels winning with a straight flush. - Daniels goes to the armory and grabs a shotgun while asking Mu-Th-Er about more ammo - Daniels opening a powered down door into what I presume is anorhwe med bay and telling Mu-Th-Er she needs pain killers (Speculation: Could this imply that she was in the med room with Dan as he was having the chest burster tearing through him and left him to find pain killers to see if that could help? She doesn't need any herself throughout the final act) - Daniels entering the crew cryostasis room hunting the alien. She asks Mu-Th-Er where the alien is, who tells her that it's four meters above her.

[@repletereplete8002]

I actually began to like Covenant after watching it three times. Yes it suffers from many issues mostly feeling like two different films smashed together and the last act is rushed and a poor rehash of Alien. It suffers mainly because you can see Scott caved in over peoples issues with Prometheus that there wasn't enough xenomorph. The Walter/David plotline was the best thing about it.

[@astronaut8917]

then why not show an ancient alien Queen or something we havent seen before? instead he just shows a drone, which is literally the most basic form that we've seen over n over

[@Ergeniz]

@@astronaut8917 Ridley dislikes Aliens and the Queen. You can see in all his adaptations he tries to distance himself from the additions in that movie as much as possible.

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

@@Ergeniz i like Prometheus & Covenant but I also think Ridley Scott is an arrogant asshole, who very rarely acknowledges the work of others that made ‘his’ films so great, he always acts like Blade Runner and Alien was his sole brilliant creation. And yeah the way he acts so insecure and petty about James Cameron’s additions reflect this, Ridley Scott has this whole George Lucas complex surrounding himself with yes-men, but unfortunately he is much more of a narcissistic than Lucas ever was, which is why his movies alternate between shit and decent becuz he just changes screenwriter with every film and never does quality control and refuses to allow anyone to correct him

[@NeverSaySandwich1]

I really, really wish we would get the third movie in this prequel trilogy. The movies aren't perfect, but I i love the high concepts and philosophy this movie and Prometheus have. Plus they are so beautiful to look at and I absolutely love David as a villain and character concept.

[@robcain8865]

I agree, Michael Fassbender really owned the part of David in both films and I wanted to see the end of his story. Perhaps David would have been taken out by either a new band of humans or a lone engineer looking for revenge, but his mutated creations live on and fill in the gap between Covenant and the original Alien. For what it's worth, Romulus has been a decent film and I'm hoping to see more from the series if they can conjure up some fresh ideas.

[@callumcc8897]

@@robcain8865I really hope Ridley Scott gets a chance to finish off the prequels as it’s an incredible story which deserves to have its ending. Sadly Scott is not got time on his side! I hope he can make something to end it off

[@tm5123]

Lets hope disney is ready to dump another 100 mil down the drain for one

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

Yes, Ill be there on opening night. Romulus was ok but ultimately nothing new, and the Rook character and that rubbish thing at the end killed it for me. I want to see what David gets up to with the colonists on Auriega

[@Matthewfreeburn]

At 31:52 I swear you can see the protomorph's dorsal spines just straight up clipping through the floor when it goes down the ladder.

[@91lifetime23]

David was never the creator of the xenomorph

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

Hallelujah ! Finally, someone actually paid attention ! The number of people on here who don’t get that …🤷‍♂️

[@loslobos786]

As a Diehard Prometheus fan.... I HATE this Movie. We got nothing we were promised. The characters were idiots. The Protagonist a Ripley ripoff however most importantly nothing we as fans were promised was given. This movie was a betrayal.

[@Lunchladydoyle]

I second that emotion. It is complete shite !!

[@djamac360]

I second this. I love the Alien movies! But I came to accept the Prometheus was going a slightly different direction given that it didn’t have “Alien” in the title. It was just those fan boys who didn’t seem to get the memo. Bummer Ridley caved. Covent was just a weird fever dream mesh of the two and you could totally see the pivot that was made.

[@Makaan]

32:28 Agree and I find that to be a serious problem nowadays with this type of franchises: nothing can be left as mistery as opposed to creating that mistery to make it more interesting and not waste time and efforts trying to explain every single detail and "lore" thing, which kinda ruins the whole purpose of these stories.

[@ntcnetwork9934]

Third Alien video in my subscriptions today. KEEP IT COMING GENTS!!

[@praeamble]

The chestburster in Covenant is the goofiest thing in any Alien movie, I laughed out loud in the cinema when it put its little arms up 😂

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

That thing was so obviously a rod puppet. Shame, as all the other effects and design in Covenant were stunning.

[@The.Tabletop.Traveller]

In the novella the xenomophs were a species created by the Engineers, David took what he learned from the x-01 to create his own subspecies

[@oops6876]

They literally say in the first film that the jockey is fossilized and could be thousands of years old. There’s no reason at all to try to implicate David with anything to do with the first film..

[@nobodyexceptme7794]

The biggest issue with this movie is that it's solidified the fact that Ridley Scott doesn't care about the Xenomorph and cares more about making a Blade Runner universe he should have done Blade Runner with Gosling and let Villeneuve do Prometheus / Covenant instead

[@dan_evilrobot]

This is a great video. But yeah, I couldn't believe this Alien movie was a sequel to Prometheus and I didn't liked this movie.

[@FormlessJKD17]

The franchise wasn't meant to be a TV series. Alien Earth should be a movie

[@RaikenXion]

I'm abit worried bout "Alien: Earth" I don't even much care for the title either. I'm worried there just won't be enough of the actual Xeno shown throughout the series, and it will all devolve into interpersonal relationships focused mainly on the BORING Human Characters. I'm all for Corporate Espionage, Intrigue and betrayal, but the Xeno needs to be perfectly combined into all of that and I just can't see that being achieved. I do agree a movie would work much better.

[@BullyMaguire4ever]

@@RaikenXion I’m a bit nervous because Fargo isn’t sci fi really but that show runner seems to be pretty consistently good so I will give it a chance.

[@RaikenXion]

@@BullyMaguire4ever Same, I actually havn't watched this "Fargo" but I've heard nothing but positive word about it; so I will give Noah Hawley a chance with his new Alien series.

[@rgerber]

You guys seen Rotten Tomatoes just got rid off the visual 5-Star ratings. Individual ratings are still readable in a convoluted way but only for top critics. More censorship

[@john-ec4460]

Hooray! A new review! Hot and fresh! We love your retrospective reviews! Best on the net! Thank you for the hard work you put into each one!!!

[@TheDeFiler316]

I went into this movie with zero expectations and still left disappointed.

[@Thebabybadass101]

Great video mate I love how you highlight the entire production rather than focusing exclusively on the film itself

[@boobootittleman7299]

“What do you believe in David?” “Creation.”

[@michaelbrindley4363]

I thought the planet just had other humanoid beings that were made, not the actual engineers planet?

[@Sonofdonald2024]

I enjoy your retrospectives but I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch that film again lol

[@ytsm]

I think you get a more fulfilling experience if you watch Covenant first, then Prometheus, whilst keeping the perspective that they are films about David, not Xenomorphs.

[@jasongradyphstiger6179]

Awesome a new Retrospective/review video I love these.

[@mustaffaleak9247]

29:30 Couldn't stop laughing Greyson. Yes Mr Cholmondeley-Warner. 🤣

[@dvdragon]

Subverting expectations can still give you a terrible outcome.

[@justinriley]

I know it's not perfect, but I still like this movie and Prometheus.

[@harryshuman9637]

then Damon Lindelof's writing has completely deteriorated your brains

[@PokyBallinBabo]

Calling Covenant "not perfect" is... extremely generous. 😅

[@alienboy1322]

​@@harryshuman9637 I thought his Watchmen series was great.

[@harryshuman9637]

@@alienboy1322 Probably luck. He also did World War Z and the last season of Lost, among other blockbusters known for terrible writing.

[@repletereplete8002]

@@alienboy1322 yeah I enjoyed it too and I really don't like Lindelof.

[@gothelvis3541]

I just hate the CGI in this movie, it makes it irredeemable

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

Which bits ? Any specific examples ?

[@gothelvis3541]

@@DorisDay-lw4xs Like the entire last section of the movie and the alien scenes

[@SUK2293]

The 79 year old director making a prequel to the 1979 original.

[@jonno209]

Fantastic review as always. However, I do try and forget Prometheus and Covenant exist.

[@SmashBrosAssemble]

Honestly I don’t know if it’s better or worse than Prometheus, it doubles down on all of Prometheus’ problems & does it knowingly, like “Eff you.”

[@WanderlustZero]

Lindelhof's signature move

[@motherplayer]

I see it as a double dose of the human dumbness of Prometheus and it's philosophical babble. It's both too much in both doses and it never compliments one another. One minute you get this android talking of his great creation and how he has become a god alongside a couple having a shower moment that gets interrupted like this is the low-minded quality (Not as an insult to intelligence, just clearly not exactly a franchise that pontificates anything ambitious.) of Friday The 13th or something.

[@ihaveasecret9539]

⁠@@WanderlustZeroLindelhof didn’t write Covenant though.

[@beagsx3]

If it wasn't for Resurrection this would be hands down the worse entry into the Alien franchise

[@bobdobbs420]

Everyone says the Alien movies are trash post-Aliens. I have enjoyed all of the movies and find the Alien universe entertaining. I may or may not have bad taste.

[@LucaEnzo]

Never be let other people tell you what you should and shouldnt enjoy/like There are those of us, however, that see everything after ALIENS as being a sci fi film with just the ALIEN licensing behind it. No continuous lore. No new stories being told. No revelations on what weve already seen They watch like generic space science films for people who just want to fill a bit of time

[@ExileGilby64]

It needed a film in-between, plus they should have left the 'Aliens' alone.

[@geekTroperaku]

Ridley Scott always hated Aliens, specifically the Queen Alien so I'm not surprised he skip that life cycle. I genuinely think the franchise will start improving once he is out of the way. It's not even his baby like Sw was for Lucas.

[@Thebabybadass101]

I like his more cerebral approach to the subject matter. Pretentiousness and plot holes aside, I find his interpretation of the universe unique and compelling compared to Cameron’s one note spectacular Spielberg-esque style of filmmaking (which is still great)

[@pastichiorocker]

Bullshit

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

I’m glad the Queen alien hasn’t come back. It was ok in Aliens but overused by AVP. What even happened to the one in Resurrection ?

[@damianplace8198]

Love your reviews 🙌🙌

[@LoneWolfeMedia]

I've been a huge fan of your channel for almost a decade Oliver, and your craftsmanship and care in telling the full story of every movie you cover is what inspired me to start my own series of "Take 2 Retrospectives". You inspired me to want to tell the full stories of movies I felt had gotten an unfair or undeserved reputation amongst fans or critics. My very first video on my channel is a retrospective for Alien: Covenant. I just wanted to acknowledge this full circle moment and say thank you for the years and years of invaluable movie, gaming, and film history. Nothing but love... - The Lone Wolfe -

[@jazzdub4958]

Robbie Collins giving this film 5 stars out of 5 is beyond wild. What a lunatic.

[@awavey]

it feels like Robbie shills sometimes for whichever corporation is paying for access.

[@NickGarrott]

Robbie Collins is objectively the worst mainstream critic in the UK today.

[@yeahiagree1070]

@@NickGarrott No, that would be Peter Bradshaw. His review for Interstellar spoiled the ending of the main character reuniting with his daughter on her deathbed. He just blurted it out as if people wouldn't want to see that moment when watching the actual film. Ridiculous.

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

Indeed. 4.5 is much more realistic.

[@TheVileOne]

I’m not really sure why I have to respect creative decisions I don’t like. Whether he directed Alien or not.

[@Alex_tressapos]

Love your detailed work

[@hr8978]

I really hope Mr. Scott can finalize his vision. I want to see the real engineers after David an the outcome that leads to the original film. I loved the themes.

[@cherminatorDR]

I'm very disappointed that the Prometheus direction was abandoned - sure, the movie stumbled in a few ways, but the Alien universe hints at so much more than 'monster vs truckers/marines/idiots/teenagers', etc.

[@goORIOLES236]

Honestly, I think the best choice they ever made for this franchise was making the androids the most compelling characters, since every subsequent lead would just end up being compared to Ripley.

[@TheVileOne]

Making David the creator of the xenomorph was garbage

[@DorisDay-lw4xs]

Good job that wasn’t what happened then 🤣🤣🤣

[@Normanthepaperbag-wx5ew]

This movie is weird for me because for the first 30 minutes I was totally onboard with the film. But around the time we run into David, the film slowly but surely starts to just fall apart and by the end of it I was feeling like I was waiting for it to be over. And the thing is, on paper I should like a lot of this film. A Pompeii-Esq graveyard for the Engineers, David doing some mad scientist stuff, and a decent cast of characters. But the direction and pacing doesn't serve these ideas and the action just feels very cartoonish.

[@Normanthepaperbag-wx5ew]

Also I really wish that this film suggested that David didn't create the Xenomorphs but rather reverse engineered them or something like that.

[@TimtheJewboi]

David is one of my all time favorite characters and of the series this and Alien 3 are my favorite... Tomorrow is my birthday i was thinking blade runner but likely this as well... You have symphonys in you brother Ssssssh dont let the bed bugs bite ❤🎉❤

[@bacburrito4225]

The Walter and David switch is just awful. Clumsy is an understatement.

[@PokyBallinBabo]

Ridley was done after Gladiator. 😪

[@BehindThePringles]

Nah, Kingdom of Heaven was ace too.

[@motherplayer]

@@BehindThePringles Likewise with "The Last Duel". I even have a fondness for "Body of Lies" and certain parts of "The Counselor".

[@redpointt]

Every time I see the intro to your videos, I think yeah! Let’s go! With a raised arm

[@waxmandr]

I feel like the Prometheus Internet cry babies deserve a fair share of the blame for Covenant. The backlash Ridley and Fox received no doubt influenced what we got: a soulless Alien-slasher film recycling old Alien elements. Prometheus wasn't perfect by any means, but it had a lot of promise and I was looking forward to the concept being built upon.

[@halomultiplayermoments]

You mean fans who actually wanted a decent alien movie 😂 Ridley screwed Prometheus, too bad you can’t see that 😂

[@alansmith4655]

I watched Prometheus and Covenant after watching Romulus last week. They are so much better than Romulus. The ideas are there, but in my opinion, badly executed. Romulus didn't even have an idea. Just a generic teen slasher in the Alien universe.

[@Edax_Royeaux]

The fans wanted a good movie, therefore it's their fault the sequel was a bad movie...good logic there.

[@waxmandr]

Not fans. Cry babies. Get it right.

[@0311uli]

Exactly. They had already eliminated the characters they had issues with so Paradise could have been more of a heady philosophical horror piece with Shaw meeting her creators and getting the same answer that Holloway told David. What would have been interesting is seeing how David reacted to this, would he side with the engineers on wanting to see humanity destroyed or he having grown close to Shaw and knowing they want to finish the job would he protect her at all costs since she spared his life and mended him back to health. Would he release the pathogen to protect her from the engineers. That would have been interesting watch plus adding more to the lore with the pathogen and yea show the xeno as an ancient weapon of destruction but we got covenant instead.

[@excessivegrot2643]

I was lukewarm on this one until I rewatched a few times and now I really like it

[@irreview]

This and Prometheus are a warning sign that if we foolishly pursue our quest for knowledge, it will inevitably lead to our doom -- both through our AI machines and our insistence on investigating every nook and cranny of the universe. Love Ridley Scott!

[@jorgezarco9269]

There is Howard Hanson-style music when a spaceship flies over a planet. He was an North American musician with Swedish roots.

[@atreidesN]

I couldn’t cope with David’s mad scientist routine in this one. Proper moustache twirling. Real shame.

[@hamsandwichson]

The 3D in Prometheus was the best I've ever experienced in a theater. It was shot beautifully.