It's not a fail but it's essential only for the biggest genre fans

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2017)

Ridley Scott has been called a visionary director for some of his early work (Alien", Blade Runner"). Later, he has been known as the man able always able to put together some big-ass epic. But I would argue that Scott's projects are not really famous for excellent screenplays, or actually becoming bona fide megahits. Only four times during his whole directing career spanning 50+ years has he given birth to a movie pulling some serious profit from cinemas: Gladiator", Hannibal", The Martian" and Prometheus". (Okay, the original Alien" was super profitable too, but only because it had a small budget.) That may explain why the grand old man is still interested in making Alien" movies, although he turned 79 last November and is certainly aware that he's not gonna be around for much longer. Yes, "Prometheus" and "Covenant" have been his attempts to expand on one of his most widely known and loved works, only with much bigger budget and computer power available today. Who couldn't dig that? Somehow, returning to his legacy piece after all these years, he is still not interested in giving new Alien" a proper story worthy of 21st century. Not in Prometheus", not in Covenant". There are flashes of potential such as adding android characters and a female hero resembling Ripley. but storywise, changes are cosmetical and don't go near anywhere like trying to develop something with any real dramatic weight. It's still all about seemingly unstoppable extraterrestrial on a killing spree. Now with prettier pictures and more awesome explosions than in 1979. There's really not much more to talk about. It's an eighth Alien" movie – sixth, if you want to exclude two AVP" spin-offs. Action scenes are good, everything else is sadly disposable. It's not a fail but it's essential only for the biggest genre fans.