Disgraceful

Rating: 4/10 (29 May 2017)

I was very appreciative of the fact that Prometheus answered questions that had been left in the air for decades after the release of the first Alien film.
By doing so, it also expanded its very own universe and took a tangent that blended the concepts of evolution, genetics and the origins of mankind in an equally beautiful and terrifying manner. Prometheus certainly divided audiences, leaving many people (including myself) very satisfied with the answers it provided to many unanswered questions and with its newly-generated mystery that took quite a creative twist. On the other hand, it also left many people frustrated with what they considered to be silly twists in an established franchise where such existential questions as those raised in Prometheus had never been brought to the table. My appreciation of Prometheus, besides its technical qualities, stemmed from its ability to answer questions through hints that fostered fascination towards the Alien universe while leaving just enough room for the viewer's imagination to fill in blanks, which felt like they were left there exactly for that purpose. Alien: Covenant disappoints on so many levels, it is unlikely to divide audiences like Prometheus did.
What was first supposed to take place directly after Prometheus went through re-writes and ultimately became Alien: Covenant, a messy, uneven and mediocre entry in perhaps one of the greatest sci-fi series of all time. Kicking things off with an awkwardly executed opening sequence filled with poorly-written dialogue, it quickly became obvious that the film's pace would not be one of its great assets. Same goes for characters, many of which remain almost totally anonymous for the entire runtime, while others are just plain annoying or nonsensical. Visually, this is, by far, the poorest of all Alien films, as the photography lacks the enchanting beauty of Prometheus, the iconic and hypnotic bite of Alien and Aliens, or the nightmarish punch of Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection. Moreover, some of the digital imagery is very poor and looks just plain silly.
The most painful part remains the writing: a vast majority of characters lack any serious depth. It could have been very satisfying to see the character of David return, as some of his actions in Prometheus seemed randomly evil or felt like they warranted some kind of explanation. Instead, Alien: Covenant falls into the trap of overly explaining everything through dialogue or monologues – which, again, are poorly written for the most part – wiping out David's mystique almost entirely and clumsily directing the storyline towards a predictable tangent that would have profited from being more delicately introduced through a continuation of David's actions. Although some of the ideas in there are quite good, the execution lacks any sense of subtlety whatsoever. At times, Alien: Covenant feels like it's busier bridging Prometheus to the rest of the series than it is being a film on its own. And I should add that it does not manage to successfully achieve that goal either.
Oddly enough, Ridley Scott's direction is really tame. The action is often times confusingly depicted (the editing does not help), and some moments make Alien: Covenant feel more like a summer blockbuster than a chapter in a refined sci-fi series. That is a major disappointment, considering that this is the man who directed the original Alien film and Prometheus. Jean-Pierre Jeunet and David Fincher managed to better capture the spirit of the series with their direction than the man himself, in this latest entry. I also read in a couple of reviews that this was the bloodiest entry in the Alien franchise. To those people, I highly suggest watching Alien: Resurrection again.
Ultimately, I felt like I should have skipped this one, or ignored it. Big disappointment.