Summary of A:C and the franchise as a whole.

Hard to argue with that last paragraph, def...

Totally agree. This movie is so torn between being a Sequel of Prometheus and trying to satisfy the Alien fans. Unfortunately, this movie does not satisfy both platforms / fan base. The story about the engineers is simply butchered to almost nothing. It only shows some bald humanoids who even don't look like the white/almost translucent skinned engineers from Prometheus who live in a civilization quite ancient instead of being bio-mechanic and advanced. The way it finishes Shaw is also very unsatisfying.

For Alien fans, this movie is not scary at all, as the Protomorph is mostly shown in the bright, you know where it is. It only sneaks up once in the shower scene. The chestburster scene is terrible. Not only does the CGI look below standard for a block buster but the design is dumb. It is basically a fragile looking mini Protomorph where I question how it can burst through a chest so easily. The original chestburster is snake like where you could believe it uses its strong thick tail to boost its movement, pressing it against the spine of the host.

Speaking of CGI...why did they overuse it in this movie? Didn't Ridley say, that if something can be done practically, we would do it?

After this movie, I'm even not sure if I want to watch another Alien movie by Ridley. Characterization almost non-existent with an extremely low IQ Covenant crew.

"who even don't look like the white/almost translucent skinned engineers from Prometheus" No offense, but this is a prime example of the current mind-set among millenials. 

They need to have their hands held at every possible step, unable to come to the simple conclusion that maybe putting extra time and money consuming make-up on several hundreds extras wasn't practical. 

Well, Ridley doesn't have to rely on shadows anymore. A lot of what made Alien great was because it had some fresh ideas, a great team in front and behind the camera (it isn't super often that a team like that comes together for a project such as Alien), and a lot of improvisation/cheap tricks. They had to make Alien in such a way because of lack of technology, money, etc. 

Covenant brings forth some ideas, techniques, settings, sequences, and the design/the Alien's actions that Ridley could not achieve in 1979. They used a lot of CGI because what they wanted made more sense (usually) to do that way. It does suffer from franchise fatigue, you know, how it is a series of callbacks to films that came before it (especially in the franchise), but I don't know. I will be back to elaborate (I have yard work to do), but that's the tip of the iceberg

The xenomorph is no longer what it was BECAUSE they brought it out in the open instead of keeping it in the shadows, which I think is the most important part of what set Alien apart and made it so rewatchable. now the universe is just another monster with pop culture references and call backs to past movies. 

We have toys, posters, pictures and even gifs of the alien, so we already know what it looks like, why should they make another movie with it lurking in the shadows? 

Ridley had to work with what he got at the time when making Alien, so the movie leaves most to the imagination of the audience to fill in the gaps, making it somewhat scarier and mysterious. But I'm so glad we finally got to get a look at it from Ridley's perspective.

I think I'm the only hardcore Alien fan that actually enjoyed this movie.  Thanks to the internet, not only have I seen it in theatres, but in my bedroom multiple times.  

I understand all the frustration about this film, and some of the plot points are down right slaps in the face. (They want us to believe the ship crashed at one moment, and then shows the ship docking at some station.  Ok. You showed two scenarios.  Which one is real?  Can't have it both ways).

As much negativity this film has surrounding it, it is fun nonetheless. I'm hoping beyond hope they let someone else grab a pen and fix the messes with this film, and give the series a proper launch into the original.  I'm thinking everything that happened in alien covenant is fine, but let's say this planet is not "paradise", the ship happened to crash on this particular rock because of David messing around/killing Shaw.  Let's go back for a minute and show the actual engineer getting to the ship that goes to LV426 and flesh out everything that needs to be done.  Whatever happens with David, stays with David.  He could be irrelevant if they do it right.  

I lied about elaborating because I think that's all I wanted to say actually haha. Snake's reply also made me realize that part of wanting the Alien to be treated how it was back in '79, is about reliving that experience, just through a different movie. Trying to exactly repeat something like that doesn't go well. Movie sequels/prequels are either really idfferent from the original, or almost exactly the same (with a couple of new elements thrown in). The ones that go down the same path usually don't turn out great because we have seen that before. 

It sucks though because I dont TOTALLY love the Alien jumping around in the open, brightly lit areas such as if it is a hungry, mindless beast, but it does actually work for me. Doesn't have to be everyone's cup of tea though. Oh also, I read in the, "Art and Making of Alien: Covenant," that the DP mentioned how they wanted to turn traditonal horror on it's head in the backburster scene. He said they purposely placed it in the brightly lit medbay because things like that always occur in the dark in horror movies, so I think that may be something that was in mind for almost all of the Neo/Protomorph scenes/sequences. Plus, Ridley still thinks that the beast is cooked, so I guess he isn't trying to hide it and make it what it was, he is trying what he thinks it could/should be.

I still have faith in these prequels.  I admit I was fascinated by David played by Michael Fassbender.  I thought I was the only one who owned a copy (actually 2) of the Art of Alien Covenant.  It's a great book and allows me to enjoy the film for what it is!  I think it will all come together nicely!

Parasite68 Bless your soul. Everything is about David now. The only hope for a different approach now is if the movie does not make much money and Ridley Scott leaves the director's chair. 

in a way, the fans only have themselves to blame for what we got. Prometheus was slammed for.... not enough aliens so RS is quoted as saying 'they want aliens ill give em f****g aliens'. yes he has got the whole tempo of the movie badly wrong imo which is unlike him. no character building either which is somewhat of a mystery to me. it just seems like they had so much story theyv decided to chop what could have been 2 epic films into a 2 n a bit highlight movie. its rushed and the plot flies from act to act in the blink of an eye. their on the planet one minute then cut, full grown xeno on the covenant moments into the next sequence??? wheres the suspense? at the moment the franchise is in limbo, its been paused with waited breath in anticipation of ridley slapping us in the face with an epic to rival the original movie that in truth, should have been AC. we had been introduced to the engineers. their pathogen. their wanting to destroy humanity. so much potential lost but I will wait for awakening to see if fox will let ridley be ridley. this movie is poor. visually stunning as always from RS and fassbender is good as always but that's it, and the studio is still going to make money so surely ridley has earned the right to tell the story he originally wanted, though after AC I don't think theres much room for his original vision now