Why such a weak crew? It's obvious: it's an appeal to Millennials.

Rating: 1/10 (17 March 2018)

I just cannot understand how such an awesome franchise could be derailed so catastrophically in two easy steps. First Prometheus got our eyebrows raised, like WITAF are you doing? ... then Covenant just steered it straight into the pit. Unless someone buys off the franchise, clicks the UNDO button twice and says "ok let's do this the right way", there is no saving the Alien franchise.
Before I forget: a big "screw you" to all the reviewers who bash Alien 3. It had a great micro story, and it had Sigourney Weaver. THAT is what an Alien movie needs.
Going into what's wrong with the two latest instalments ... they lack a strong female role! A dominant female role that is NOT a feminist's wet dream, but a strong female role in a man's world, one that demands respect from alpha males around her. A female role assuming the alpha male position. That's what Sigourney gave to the Alien franchise and that is what drove the whole series. She was always bent on destroying the vile creatures. She never schemed, she was in some way the same as Alien itself: ruthless, relentless. When corporate idiots wanted to study it, she wanted to kill it. When military imbeciles wanted to tame it, she wanted it dead. When retarded visionaries marvelled it, she just wanted it gone. Even when she was half Alien herself in Alien 4. Btw, Alien 4 had a great micro story. Forget the ending, it's a Hollywood must, it has to be outrageous, but the story worked. The chemistry worked. (What I mean by micro story is it is a story that does not pretend to tell the meta story, instead it lets the meta story to develop on its own.)
Now? Nothing works. Partially, in the grand scheme of things, that's because both movies were trying to tell the meta story, make the connections, provide some answers. Fail. On a micro level, what Prometheus and Covenant have in common is basically an idiotic crew. They are not blue collar like in the original Alien, they are not one-track-mind military like in Aliens, they are not beyond-redemption prisoners like in 3, they are not opportunistic paramilitary like in 4 ... no, they are something else, they are a conglomerate of pathetic, whiny, weak, full of self doubt, no real confidence, stupid, bordering on comic relief characters ... and there can be only one reason for that: the studios were trying to appeal to Millennials. Well ain't that just dandy! "Hey, the men are in decline, let's ride that wave and try to make a buck out of it. So here's a bunch of never developed personalities exploring the alien world, you know, just like modern youth feels when stepping out on the streets."
And the greatest tragedy of all? Even they don't like that! Instead of at least getting a strong role model on a screen (because there's none in real life) they basically get what they see in a mirror every day! What a catastrophic miscalculation from the Hollywood decision makers that was!