So many critics bashing this movie its mind blowing.

the movie had so much potential but was a huge let down imo. it was like watching highlights of a 2 parter. it jumped a lot and there was little character building. id like to think theres more to the engineers than a total of what, 15 minutes worth of screen time of them in 2 movies.

Try the book. You get way more backstory in it. Remember the movie has to put everything in for the running time and you miss key points that are in the book.

to me the way to have down it properly was to make covenant into 2 movies. that way nothing is missed in the movie. plenty of character building in the first movie, battles on the planet with the neomorphs ending with the audience becoming aware david has killed walter and taken his place and has snuck a xeno onboard then the second part being much like the original movie but id have david and the xeno win and then wer left with much the same scenario as we have been left with from covenant. books do usually have more in them but the vast majority watch the movie and don't bother with the book so there shouldn't be as much left out of the movie that ridley has left out.

Regardless of whats in the book, the primary audience is film.

Its their own fault.

give us a few more reveals and a little of The Engineers

(it was a "sequel" to Prometheus dont forget)

AND Promoted as such.

If they had of done this it would of been totally different.

Fine margins.

The 2.5/3 / 5 Movie could of been 4/5 cos RS does make beautiful films.  They look great. No question.

sherries, totally agree. why should we have to go watch a film, any film, and still have to purchase a book to fill in the gaps. covenant had huge gaps in it. visually it is stunning but then ridley has always mad stunning movies. so much potential here yet so little of that potential realised imo

100% BULL ALIEN people just need to step back and look closer, or read the book. The film is not perfect but beyond the flaws is a rich, thoughtful and insightful story.   

I don't think it's mind blowing at all.  This isn't a movie based off of some amazingly popular literary work.  This isn't a Stephen King adaptation.

The book is simply a movie novelization.  As such, a book based on a movie or written as a companion piece to it.

As someone who read the book - I can tell you that I enjoyed it, but it actually made the film worse in comparison.  The film left gaps and confusion in spots that were well thought out and delivered in the book.

The film is being shot to pieces due to it being a badly cut film with holes. 

Making audiences read a book that was written around a film in order to get key information, is in fact, bad film making and nothing more than a petty cash grab.

It's no different to when A L I E N was released. Skip down to Release and then Critical Reception here to see for yourself how nothing has changed and never will. 

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

There have been times that I have disagreed with a consensus on critic reviews.  This time I agree with them.  Poor execution of this movie.  Actually, the high percentage on RT is very generous.

I too was a little let down...in fact, i haven't posted on here in nearly a month because I felt this movie had potential to be an epic movie that future Sci-Fi could be compared against...

I guess it was just not to be...so many plot holes that continued from Prometheus and the way they glossed over other things like Shaw and the Engineers really left me feeling empty. I really see this heading to David being the Space Jockey.

...I will just have to continue finding solace on the bottom shelf of the friendly neighborhood package store..

yea the david route is a huge spoiler for me

Take a look at Rotten Tomatoes, but ignore the critics score.  Look at the audience score.  61% for 'Alien: Covenant' and 68% for 'Prometheus', and 'Prometheus' had many problems (this coming from someone who still enjoyed it as I liked the direction and questions posed).

I don't love A:C nor do I hate it. It left me with the same indifferent feeling like Prometheus. Kinda like "That's it?".

The backlash isn't surprising. They promised answers and didn't deliver. Viral-campaign with scenes that weren't in the movie. The situation reminds me of the saying "Live by the sword and you'll die by sword".

Not to mention that you need the novel to understand certain things in the movie. For me that's a no go, even though I enjoyed the read.

I said this before and will say it again. Tell the story in a way that even Donald Duck understands. Nudges and hints for a "deeper" meaning are ok but shouldn't be the main element of storytelling. People don't like movies they don't understand.

Tiwaz: "said this before and will say it again. Tell the story in a way that even Donald Duck understands. Nudges and hints for a "deeper" meaning are ok but shouldn't be the main element of storytelling. People don't like movies they don't understand."

'Enuff said...

If we mere forum junkies can figure this out, then why can't a multi-billion dollar enterprise...?

According to RT most 
Reviews were positive.

What makes you think
 Most reviews were 
Negative?

@Tiwaz - You are 100% correct!!! 

Fucking awful movie other than the David and Walter scenes. That's just my opinion. 

Nowadays, people expect more than they are willing to contamplate - and the chances are that they will feel frustrated in the end.

Let me put it this way: I loved "Alien", the first and only. Enjoyed "Aliens", but felt something had been lost - the atmosphere, James Cameron is not a master when it comes to it. I didn't feel the deaths of Hicks and Newt in "Alien 3" as some might have felt. And I don't actually care about "Resurrection".

With "Prometheus", I felt such a thrill, although it could have been better, and I was looking forward to "Prometheus 2". When it became "Alien: Covenant", I got a little anxious, thinking that we might have just an overdose of bugs and that was it. So, when I finally watched it, I felt relief and liked it, for I was expecting far less.

Audiences decide where a movie is good or not and they are staying away from this. It's a poor movie I cant believe Scott will accept such poor scripts and no real character development. The lead role was a damp squid. Who is she? The franchise is dead. Only on thing to do now. Alien5 and Ripley please

The studios are willing to sacrifice the carreers of some fine actors by greenlighting these horrible scripts. I honestly think Ridley Scott almost ruined Noomi Rapace's image by giving her specific instructions to portrait her character as a clueless, naive scientist in Prometheus. And now it was Waterston's turn, made to play her part as a weeping straight Mary Sue.

The critics are correct this time.

Alien Covenant was not a good movie.

Yeah this movie was meant to answer some questions and what we got was More questions. This is dragging along too far. Next movie up, even more questions.

DECEPCIONANTE!!! Nada nuevo vi en esta pelicula, me encantan las Peliculas de Alien, pero esta: COVENANT, no creo que vaya a mi colección, esperaba mucho mas, esperaba un mundo de los ingenieros como el de videojuego  SCORN, la verdad para que una película como esta me deje maravillado, tiene que haber algo nuevo, algo jamas visto u oido, de esta COVENAT, no vi nada nuevo!!! mala, entretenida pero mala.

For garden variety viewers, they shouldn't have to read an additional book that fleshes out unexplained things in a movie. Seeing a prior movie- yes; but other references- no.

It seems people would like a dumbed down version of alien Covenant. There is an interview with IGN or something were Sir Ridley Scott says Covenant is a start of another trilogy. Alien awakening is the sequel to Prometheus. I don't understand how stupid the audience can be for not understanding this movie. It seems more people with the attention span of nat would be better of watch a Marvel movie rather then thinking about a bigger picture movie. Also anyone that wants Sigourney weaver to come back to the alien movies is out of their mind. She is to old and we have done that story line to death. I love learning new things about the Alien timeline. We have two different trilogy's going on right now. You think the Alien movie if released right now with no other movies would involved would do good in the box office your out of you're mind. People would say what is this? Who or what is that? How dies that work and so on. The movie audience today is dumb as a box of rocks. I watched this movie in a foreign language before it came out in theaters and I understand what was going on. I don't want a dumb James Cameron movie. I love having to think about the bigger issues going on.

I can't wait for Alien Awakening to fill in all the gaps from Prometheus. I don't want or need an alien 5 with some dumb ass story put together. I am a true fan and can't wait for more Alien movies.

Bring on the hate but it will do no good because I can understand this type of movie and I don't need cheap thrills or 3rd grade storytelling to understand a movie.

bull. for me the this movie couldv probably been done in 2 parts. movie 1 on the planet where we see davids experiments in more detail and part 2 on the covenant. its like a 90 football game but ur watching the highlights. this is my biggest gripe. I am a true alien fan aswell but covenant and the direction that is suggested its going imo does not do alien any justice. the engineers have had all of 15-20 mins screen time in over 4 hours of film and their meant to be such a huge part of it all, which is a let down to me. I want awakening to rise to the occasion and hold hope it will.

BULL ALIEN: You seem to be belittling people who disliked Alien Covenant. 

I believe you created a thread in the past saying that Aliens was a horrible movie, and the whole concept of the Queen was ridiculous. You also said that Alien 3 was a masterpiece...

movies like all forms of art are objective

BULL ALIEN This movie is all that you are saying it is not. This is a very dumb movie, with maybe 10 minutes of decent screen time, all of them involving Fassbender. I personally didn't want action, I just wanted imagination and suspense, get invested in the story. Funnily enough you compare this with Marvel and entertainment for an audience with short attention spans, and this is exactly what Covenant is.

 ali81 you mean subjective, right?