@MongoLloyd said:

Retards in Space

Sounds like a recurring bit for a new Muppet Show. But these days it would have to be given a PC nonsense name, like "Differently-Abled Humans In Space."

I had zero empathy with the characters, there was nothing that made me care about them whatsoever. I didn't even like Prometheus but I found this hard to watch because it felt more or less like they were destroying Prometheus rather than add anything of substance to it.

@simian_ninja said:

I had zero empathy with the characters, there was nothing that made me care about them whatsoever. I didn't even like Prometheus but I found this hard to watch because it felt more or less like they were destroying Prometheus rather than add anything of substance to it.

Some seem to be claiming that Ridley Scott did that because of protests/demands from 'fans' of Prometheus to do so, but that doesn't make sense either.

@simian_ninja said:

I had zero empathy with the characters, there was nothing that made me care about them whatsoever. I didn't even like Prometheus but I found this hard to watch because it felt more or less like they were destroying Prometheus rather than add anything of substance to it.

Prometheus was a monument to stupidity. There wasn't a single smart thing the characters did, including the synth. It was one dumbass thing after another which makes it very hard to empathize.

@MongoLloyd said:

@simian_ninja said:

I had zero empathy with the characters, there was nothing that made me care about them whatsoever. I didn't even like Prometheus but I found this hard to watch because it felt more or less like they were destroying Prometheus rather than add anything of substance to it.

Prometheus was a monument to stupidity. There wasn't a single smart thing the characters did, including the synth. It was one dumbass thing after another which makes it very hard to empathize.

After seeing Alien: Covenant I think I prefer the characters in Prometheus. And I hated that movie.

I think Ridley or John Logan must think we'll crew future, advanced and arduous space missions with the cast of Big Brother. I can't believe he did it again. It was the glaring, lazy mistake from Prometheus. The crew's decision making and generally unsatisfying behavior in the roles of being supposedly highly trained and intelligent people. Even though Covenant had more of the visceral moments I like, I still prefer Prometheus overall to it. I just hope they actually give Neill Blomkamp a chance to do his Alien movie as I can't imagine seeing another one of Ridley's.

The evidence seems pretty clear that Ridley Scott can make a great-LOOKING movie from a good script. But he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the script-writing process. Or even allowed to decide things like that the huge elephantine alien creatures will now be tall pale humanoids.

@Bobby vs Satan said:

I think Ridley or John Logan must think we'll crew future, advanced and arduous space missions with the cast of Big Brother. I can't believe he did it again. It was the glaring, lazy mistake from Prometheus.

It's a formula that works for them so expect more of it in the future. Studios have proven again and again that they can make money with weak scripts, a celebrity cast, and over the top special effects. We know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they have no problem producing all three of these items.

Blomkamp has been said to be figuring on a movie that is sometimes called Alien 5, but it might be more accurately called Alien 3 Redux or something, since he's reportedly going to ignore the previous Alien 3 and 4.

If he's going to ignore two existing movies, I'd rather he make a better prequel to the original Alien, and ignore Prometheus and Covenant.

You forgot:

• jumping on an unknown planet without scanning/watching/analysing it from a safe distance first
• moving away from the team alone without someone else securing the area first
• noticing strange things ("mushrooms") but not telling anybody about it (or others ignoring it)
• being sick, but saying "I'm ok." to everyone
• the "doctor" of the landing team running around bawling and screaming because a somewhat more severe injury that requires more than applying a patch occurred
• being in a room, cuddling with a sick person but screaming wanting to be released from the quarantine the moment the sickness turns into a nightmare
• not watching where you step (seems to be a common problem in this movie)
• being attacked by some xenomorph, but holding the knife far away from you to not injure said xenomorph
• glass (for containment, e.g. quarantine and cockpit) that shatters from the lightest knock
• people almost kissing dead people's bloody mouth
• trained soldiers not being able to aim correctly at objects only a few feet away
• xenomorphs taking pounds of lead but still jumping around gracefully
• again, people leaving the team alone to do things or getting new facts alone without immediately telling anyone else of their team, they all had radios
• some hot-headed guy as the pilot in charge who is willing to risk 2000+ people just like that
• only having 1 landing aircraft
• facehugger-to-xenomorph timespan of only a few minutes (it was days in the first Alien movie)
• Walter, the more machine-like Android, hesitating when fighting/trying to disable David
• an improved, self-healing Walter unable to disable the "old-model" David (it seemed even the camera crew had enough of this BS, ending the scene just by showing David's hand reaching for the conveniently placed knife)
• Androids "fighting" with fists rather than trying to reach the other one's weak spot / off-switch
• a cargo lander with LOTS of excess engine power not being able to level out
• David with a seemingly broken voice module at the end of the fighting scene, but speaks perfectly fine a few moments later
• Androids having no unique signatures or some barcode tattoo (for "mother" to detect the presence of an unknown Android) - how do they track them in the factory?
• nobody of those trained professionals even remotely being suspicious whether Walter really is Walter
• David knowing his ways around a ship he never saw before (with advanced technology, re Walter)
• music keeping playing although an alarm is blaring throughout the ship (you'd think "mother" could have turned off the music)
• no flashing alarm lights in the (open) shower or the area around it
• David's auth code working with that new-technology ship and/or David finding a way to change auth codes in "mother" without anyone noticing (you'd think they'd be stored extra secure in some system that can't be taken offline)
• hibernation pods that can't be opened from the inside or where the hibernation sequence gets aborted when the subject is in distress

Yeah, CloudFront doesn't allow me to change this post.

and if anybody did the things all you "smart" people claim they'd do then the horror genre wouldn't exist

stfu already about this. morons complaining about the stupidity of characters in a horror movie, who is dumber? I think the prize goes to the ones who fail to suspend belief, yet are willing to in almost all other movies. They pulled all the research they could from the planet and found it to be identical to the planet they were going to colonize. ok, that isn't a full proof answer to doing what they did, but move on and go with the fucking movie. Alien was equally as dumb. For miners to go explore a foreign planet and go inside a derelict spaceship. Or how about Aliens, a platoon of marines going into a colony that they have lost all communication with? You would really just send a platoon blindly and one apparently crazy pilot raving about aliens? These movies are based on people doing stupid things.

you can pick holes through it to all degrees, but this is getting petty and people are forgetting what made these movies classics in the first place.

This movie went back to that and has some awesome concepts. If anything it was the fan bitching that created the cliche audience friendly shit 3rd act of the movie.

I love that ridley scott has clearly somewhat given the middle finger to the typical audience and continues to explore and expand ideas he wants to. LIke i said, I wish he could've finished the 3rd act of the movie as strong as the first two.

Well, just to point out one flaw from your analysis or whatever it is: the miners or "space truckers" didn't want to be there, they were pressured into it by company rules that said they wouldn't get paid for their contract if they didn't.

Going along with what Rtodd110 said, if we were to strip away all of the action resulting from the crew's nonsensical decisions, there'd be audience members walking out and saying "BOR-ING!!!".

Compare this movie to a film like "Arrival" (2016), which really tried a more thoughtful, low-key approach to alien contact, and you had people saying just that:

"Where's the action?! C'mon . . . more explosions, more frantic dialogue, gimme some laser guns, SOMETHING!" (Sadly, I even heard older fans criticizing along these lines). Heck, even "2001: A Space Odyssey" seems to be getting a little more, similar criticism nowadays (too slow!). Perhaps this is the result of our ever-faster, less-contemplative society.

To me, "Alien: Covenant" was little more than a summer popcorn action movie, great visuals, as others have said, but a weak script. I'd give it a 3 out of 5.

"Covenant" does remind you, however, of just how difficult it would be to explore a planet that is seemingly completely habitable-- in many ways it would be more difficult than exploring a planet like Mars. Though everything looks fine, with a breathable atmosphere, literally everything, at first, would be a potential threat. That water might not really be water. The grass on the ground would be unknown. That little bug that looks like an ant might in fact carry some deadly disease that could kill you. Thousands and thousands of previously-unknown plant and animal species would have to be studied before there could be a modicum of safety for a landing party walking around without environment suits.

Oh, well . . . we're never going to explore a planet like that (with breathable atmosphere) anyway . . . (too impractical to reach, according to the laws of physics and the poor durability of our technology; heck, Windows 10 seems to freeze up after every lengthy update, and it's 2017! We haven't even gone back to the Moon yet!).

At least we can watch the movies, and dream.

I just don't think it's mutually exclusive to have an action movie where people aren't making really dumb mistakes all the time. Maybe it just takes more work than people like Scott and (perhaps especially) Lindelof are capable of or willing to do.

Thanks for the spoiler title - I had absolutely no idea what this film would be about and now it's been completely ruined...