Here’s What Critics Have to Say About Alien: Covenant

The first reviews are in for Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott’s latest installment in the Alien franchise. The film, a direct sequel to 2012’s Prometheus, stars Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Michael Fassbender, who plays dual roles as a pair of identical androids. So far, critical reaction has ranged from mixed to positive, with some reviewers comparing the movie favorably to the original Alien, while others considering it too derivative. Here’s a roundup of what the critics had to say.

For the most part, reviewers praised Scott’s ambition and skill …

Todd McCarthy, the Hollywood Reporter:

Scott and the writers have achieved an outstanding balance in Alien: Covenant among numerous different elements: Intelligent speculation and textbook sci-fi presumptions, startlingly inventive action and audience-pleasing old standbys, philosophical considerations and inescapable genre conventions, intense visual splendor and gore at its most grisly. The drama flows gorgeously and, unlike in many other franchises in which entries keep getting longer every time out, this one is served up without an ounce of fat.

Edward Douglas, New York Daily News:

Further proving his mastery of creating tension and thrills, Scott has effectively created a satisfying hybrid of Alien, Prometheus and even James Cameron’s Aliens.

Bilge Ebiri, Village Voice:

Alien: Covenant seethes with self-importance yet is never boring or portentous. It can’t come close to matching the greatness of the first two films in the series, but at least Scott seems to understand that these movies thrive on ambition.

… but some still found it stale or unsatisfying.

Germain Lussier, Gizmodo:

Here are a few pockets of enjoyment in what unfolds on screen and watching it is semi-pleasant. But after the credits roll, mulling over everything you just saw, the film continues to sour like milk left out in the sun. It was good for a little bit, but not for long, and that’s just not good enough for a franchise with this history.

David Crow, Den of Geek:

Instead of looking to the franchise’s future, it is hopelessly stuck in its past, reworking old tensions with a few new jumps and blood splatters that quizzically stay bloodless. It might end with a set-up for another sequel, but that threat is merely the closest it comes to a genuine scare.

Terry Staunton, Radio Times:

Scott has relinquished the directorial reins of the upcoming Blade Runner sequel, and it might have been wise to do the same here, to bring a more fully formed perspective and a fresh slant to the saga.

Critics can’t decide whether it’s more like Alien or Prometheus—but either way, it will feel familiar.

Kevin P. Sullivan, Entertainment Weekly:

Much like The Force Awakens did with the first Star Wars, Covenant succeeds by recreating what it feels like to watch Alien. The tropes it plays with are the ones the original created. Here, they’re reproduced so slickly that you remember why you fell in love in the first place. But a well-done retread is still a retread.

Peter Debruge, Variety:

Alien: Covenant attempts to have it both ways: Taking place in 2104, a decade after Prometheus and 18 years before the original Alien, this latest chapter is essentially a Prometheus sequel with aliens in it.

Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian:

The vu has never been so déja: it’s a greatest-hits compilation of the other Alien films’ freaky moments. The paradox is that though you are intended to recognise these touches, you won’t really be impressed unless you happen to be seeing them for the first time.

The one thing they can agree on? Fassbender, playing dual roles, is fantastic.

Eric Kohn, IndieWire:

Fassbender appears again as another robot, an affable, practically minded model named Walter who has more in common with Star Trek shipmate Data than his curious-minded manifestation as David. That disconnect will become more obvious once Walter actually encounters David, and Fassbender singlehandedly elevates the experience by playing two characters at once.

Cath Clarke, Time Out:

Fassbender is electric, giving a spectacularly skin-crawling performance.

Kevin P. Sullivan, Entertainment Weekly:

Fassbender is given the most to play with, but few actors could have delivered on the levels that he does. You almost feel spoiled watching this guy work.

Fans of alien chest-bursting have a lot to look forward to.

Alfonso Duralde, the Wrap:

… this is the kind of movie that’s more about putting meat puppets in the way of the alien than about character development. Still, the meat-puppet-consumption is pretty spectacular, and on a gutbucket genre-film level, Alien: Covenant delivers when it delivers.

Peter Debruge, Variety:

Still, in an effort to appease Alien fans, Scott has returned the series to its horror-movie roots, unleashing a sequence of gory death scenes as four aliens body-snatch and otherwise terrorize the crew.

Eric Kohn, IndieWire:

There’s more exposition this time, and ponderous dialogue from a robotic Michael Fassbender about Darwinian concepts, but that’s largely sidelined by the shocking effect of watching gooey monstrosities burst forth from the bloodied chests of terrified human victims. What did you expect? It’s an Alien movie.