Alien: Covenant Review: Terror Returns, But the Story Stumbles

Alien: Covenant arrives as the sequel to Prometheus and aims to bring back the terror of the original Alien films. It mostly succeeds in scares but stumbles in pacing and character development.

Trailer, via Alien Anthology.

The Weyland-Yutani Company

Covenant follows the crew of the spaceship Covenant as they journey toward a distant planet. They find a world that appears lush and welcoming. What they find there turns out to be far more dangerous than anyone expected.

The film opens strong, with the ship’s captain leading his crew through a tense landing sequence. Once on the ground, the movie shifts into a slower gear, spending too much time on quiet observation and too little on the creatures that make this franchise famous.

Kane’s Return

The film introduces a new alien creature early on, and its design is a highlight. The film also brings back Michael Shannon as a familiar face from the previous installment, giving him a larger role than he had before.

The performances vary widely. Some actors deliver strong, committed work, while others seem lost within the script’s demands. The film leans heavily on its visual effects, and those effects are often impressive, especially during the action scenes.

The Slow Middle

The middle portion drags badly. Character motivations become unclear, and the film spends too long explaining why certain decisions were made. This is where Covenant loses momentum, and it never fully recovers.

The film’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t know what kind of story it wants to tell. It wants to be a horror film, a sci-fi epic, and a character drama all at once. That ambition is admirable, but the execution can’t support all three.

The Final Stretch

The film picks up again in its final act, when the alien creatures start appearing in force. The suspense builds, and the tension finally pays off. This is where the film comes closest to recapturing the dread that made the original Alien films so memorable.

The ending leaves the door open for a future film, though whether that film will ever arrive remains unknown.

Ranking the Elements

Here’s how the film’s parts measure up:

1. Visual Effects — strongest element, impressively realized
2. Sound Design — effective, adding to the dread
3. Action Sequences — exciting when they arrive
4. Story — weakest link, too slow in the middle
5. Character Development — uneven, some strong, some thin

• The alien creatures remain terrifying
• The world-building is ambitious but confusing
• The cast is capable, though not always well-served
• The pacing drags in the middle
• The finale delivers on the promise of fear

Alien: Covenant is a mixed bag. It has moments of pure terror and spectacle that justify its existence, but the story around those moments is often muddled and frustrating. Fans of the franchise will find plenty to enjoy, but newcomers might struggle with the film’s opaque plotting.

Alien · horror · movie review · Ridley Scott · sci-fi