Prometheus, Not Alien: Covenant, Is The Problem

Rating: 5/10 (24 May 2017)

I agree with so many of the reviewers who have written that "Alien: Covenant" is a big, sloppy mess. And it has neither suspense nor spookiness.
But I think the problem starts with its predecessor, "Prometheus." Ridley Scott is one of the greatest directors of all time, but he started this series of prequels with the wrong premise; i.e., tying the Engineers and androids so closely to the aliens rather than keeping the conflict between humans and aliens. The entire series of movies has "aliens" or "alien" in each title, not "Engineers" or "androids." So the series should principally be about the aliens and humans. I think had Prometheus been strictly about the alien origin, then tying in the Engineers in a much later prequel, while downplaying the androids, then Alien Covenant could have been done much better.
I believe letting Elizabeth Shaw survive at the end of Prometheus on the alien planet by her wits in the space lab, then sending out stress calls, would have been a better setup, rather than flying away with android Michael. The stress calls could then be eventually received by a Weyland vessel, and a team of marines or Weyland-paid mercenaries could be sent to the alien planet to find out what has happened. The first two alien movies, which are sci-fi classics, did not stress the Engineers. The androids did play a major role in both movies, but they did not remotely overshadow Ripley or other principal humans.
Instead, Weyland executives appear to simply blow off the loss of their company's owner and female heir, as well as their very expensive vessel and lab. Then some entity sends out a group of colonists to explore a new world. Can you imagine if a Fortune 10 company in this day and time lost a major vessel and the company's owners? You can bet that company would do everything it could to find out what happened.
I think Ridley Scott needs to start over with the prequels; or, somehow push the androids and Engineers down to supporting roles, and bring back the humans vs. the aliens.