History YMMV / AlienCovenant

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A big gripe about ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' was the decision to make the movie a [[StealthSequel Stealth Prequel]] instead of emphasizing that it was a prequel to ''Film/{{Alien}}'', as the original, unproduced ''Alien: Engineers'' script did.[[note]]''Alien: Engineers'' being the prototype version of what would become ''Prometheus''[[/note]] Concerns that the sequel would follow suit went away as soon as it was announced that ''Alien'' was part of the title -- then the teaser poster featured the Xenomorph's unmistakable face front and center, and in almost every advertisement afterward. Other fans disagree and lament that Scott didn't do as he'd originally planned, showing Shaw and David exploring space.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: As noted in several reviews, ''Covenant'' has the same problem as ''Prometheus'', namely being simply not what everybody wanted to see regardless of how well executed it was. At the time, detractors accused the latter of letting the franchise stray into intellectual and derivative terrains instead of focusing on the beloved creature butchering people, which moved Ridley Scott to abandon the original plans of the sequel in order to satisfy them with a more classic, horror-oriented premise. However, given that ''Prometheus'' eventually gained its own fans who ''did'' want to follow Elizabeth Shaw's adventures in the Engineer world, this decision ended up falling on its face anyways for many people, with Scott being ultimately accused of shameless PanderingToTheBase (see below) and little care for his own works. Even worse, ''Covenant'' being a sequel to ''Prometheus'' meant it could not get rid completely of its storyline and baggage, making sure that the result of departing away from its original direction would mark its return to the horror flick genre with aborted arcs and abrupt changes in tone. It is safe to say that, after the hype of ''Prometheus'' was gone and its new take on the franchise was met with criticism, it was practically impossible for the sequel to succeed.

* DramaticIrony: Considering this is a prequel set in a well-established universe, it's astonishing how much of its criticism is predicated upon the assumption that its characters actually know they are in a horror film. The fact that there's an entire page for "WhatAnIdiot" is proof of this.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: It goes without saying in a horror movie, but some viewers found the relentless darkness and [[spoiler:David's continual bastardry, his murder of and experimentation on Shaw, and successes]] to make the film too cynical to really enjoy. Some even accuse some plot points of being {{Ass Pull}}s just to make sure that [[spoiler:David wins]].
** In addition, the reveal that [[spoiler:Shaw was killed offscreen some time between ''Prometheus'' and ''Covenant'' has hurt some fans' enjoyment of ''Prometheus'', as all of Shaw's struggles were rendered completely meaningless.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A big gripe about ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' was the decision to make the movie a [[StealthSequel Stealth Prequel]] instead of emphasizing that it was a prequel to ''Film/{{Alien}}'', as the original, unproduced ''Alien: Engineers'' script did.[[note]]''Alien: Engineers'' being the prototype version of what would become ''Prometheus''[[/note]] Concerns that the sequel would follow suit went away as soon as it was announced that ''Alien'' was part of the title -- then the teaser poster featured the Xenomorph's unmistakable face front and center, and in almost every advertisement afterward.

* FanDislikedExplanation: [[spoiler: The Xenomorphs weren't created by the Engineers, but by David. Moreover, they're not mechanical organisms, but the result of David infecting wasps on the Engineers' planet with the black mutagen.]] This was highly criticized by many fans for being anti-climactic, removing the sense of eerie mystery around the creatures and for adding yet another notch on the belt of a character who many see as Ridley Scott's personal CreatorsPet.

* FanDislikedExplanation: [[spoiler: The Xenomorphs weren't created by the Engineers, but by David.]] This was highly criticized by many fans for being anti-climactic, removing the sense of eerie mystery around the creatures and for adding yet another notch on the belt of a character who many see as Ridley Scott's personal CreatorsPet.

** Oram's religious persecution complex is something of an InformedAttribute if you think about it. He claims he's religious, and says he was passed over for a promotion because of that. However, he is adamant that the crew doesn't have the time to have a service for the deceased captain. He believes himself persecuted and denied that promotion because of his stated faith, yet none of the crew bring up his religion as a negative point, and we see him make a number of mistakes that would not only explain why he wasn't chosen as the original captain, but actually call into question who thought him capable of serving as a competent XO. So, is he truly a devout follower of a faith who is persecuted because of it, or is he an inept bungler who uses the excuse of religious persecution to excuse his own mistakes? And was his attempt to forbid a funeral service really because he felt there wasn't adequate time, or was it bitterness and jealousy for the man whom he felt was unfairly promoted over him?

* FandomRivalry: A weird ''intra''-fandom example. Fans of the original films were not happy when it was announced that Creator/NeillBlomkamp's pitch for a potential ''Alien 5'' (which would have brought back Ripley, Hicks, and Newt, and retconned the hated ''Film/Alien3'' [[CanonDiscontinuity out of existence]]) had been effectively cancelled in favor of this movie, and it got even worse with how [[BrokenBase controversial]] this movie proved to become after it was officially released.
* FanDislikedExplanation: [[spoiler: The Xenomorphs weren't created by the Engineers, but by David, from mutated wasps.]] This was highly criticized by many fans for being anti-climactic, removing the sense of eerie mystery around the creatures and for adding yet another notch on the belt of a character who many see as Ridley Scott's personal CreatorsPet.
* FanonDiscontinuity: The Xenomorphs' origin story as presented in the film version of ''Alien: Covenant'' was not well received by fans who prefer what was implied in previous films and outright stated in the ''Alien: Engineers'' script and the novelization of ''Alien: Covenant'' -- that the Xenomorphs are a bioweapon created by the Engineers; or what was established in the Dark Horse comics and ''Alien vs. Predator'' expanded universe -- that the Xenomorphs are a naturally-occuring species from a planet called Xenomorph Prime.
** The segment of fans who actually ''liked'' ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' were not happy with the way this movie handled it, namely by [[spoiler: [[DroppedABridgeOnHim abruptly killing]] Elizabeth Shaw and the entire Engineer race without answering [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot any of the complex theological questions that were raised by the previous film.]]]] It's no surprise then that many fans prefer to keep this film on the "Never Happened" shelf next to ''Film/Alien3''.

* AwesomeMusic: Jed Kurzel produces a rather nice, effective score, even incorporating Creator/JerryGoldsmith's iconic theme in the first act.

* EightDeadlyWords: The CharacterDevelopment -- or, rather, total lack thereof -- has been criticized, even by the standards of the horror genre. When the film ''opens'' with a RedShirt being StuffedInTheFridge, it's not off to a good start. (Even worse, being a RareMaleExample actually ''deflates'' the impact because of "MenAreTheExpendableGender".)

** If the massive IdiotBall in the story was recognized by almost all the fans and the question was only how much it harms the film, then the incredibly heavy and straightforward religious symbolism of the film caused much more serious controversy, where people argued about whether this work is a very clever and profound philosophy about the nature of "God" and the destiny of mankind, or that this film is merely an annoying mediocre film in its pretentiousness, with the same FauxSymbolism issues as ''Film/TheMatrix''.

** [[http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/alien-covenant-review-1202409157/ The Variety review]] pointed out that having Oram, who's shown to be religious, and David, whose experimenting with the planet's life [[spoiler:to create Xenomorphs]] in the same scene could have made for an interesting character interaction and spiritual conflict. [[spoiler:Instead Oram just holds David at gunpoint, demands that he explains himself but gets no answers, and is then killed via face-hugger]].

** The whole of the prologue video "The Crossing" is narrated by David, as he talks about his journey with Shaw to find the Engineers's home world. [[spoiler:Their almost convivial and tender relationship is very much at odds with David's later murder and dissection of Shaw -- but then again, we only have ''David's word'' that the events of the video [[UnreliableNarrator happened as they did]]. He might well have been bending the facts or straight up lying to whoever's listening to him; he certainly lied in the film proper about how exactly Shaw died...]]

* ContestedSequel: While the movie still has its detractors (some citing the same problems that they had with ''Prometheus'' popping up in the film and others expressing disdain for the movie for other reasons), the majority of ''Alien'' fans that weren't fond of ''Prometheus'' consider it [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel an improvement]]. Conversely, fans of ''Prometheus'' are [[BrokenBase split on the quality of this movie]], although many of them agree that it's a better ''Alien'' movie than ''Alien 3'' or ''Alien: Resurrection''.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'''s [[https://youtu.be/BirGJS23Nfo promo for the film]] has Rick gets attacked by a facehugger for a few seconds, only for for it to succumb to the drugs and alcohol in his system. In the film itself, [[spoiler: Lope apparently didn't have this excuse and still managed to get infected anyway.]]

* {Narm}: [[Narm/AlienCovenant Enough for its own page.]]
* {NarmCharm}: The idea of David coming up with teaching Walter to play flute in their meeting is both ridiculous and out of place, but there's something so strangely human in the scene and Michael Fassbender's performance is so heartfelt (summed to the VisualEffectsOfAwesome which allow him to play both roles) that the part ends up being instead one of the highest points of the movie's philosophic baggage.

* {{Narm}}: [[Narm/AlienCovenant Enough for its own page.]]
* NarmCharm: The idea of David coming up with teaching Walter to play flute in their meeting is both ridiculous and out of place, but there's something so strangely human in the scene and Michael Fassbender's performance is so heartfelt (summed to the VisualEffectsOfAwesome which allow him to play both roles) that the part ends up being instead one of the highest points of the movie's philosophic baggage.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: As noted in several reviews, ''Covenant'' has the same problem as ''Prometheus'', namely being simply not what everybody wanted to see regardless of how well executed it was. At the time, detractors accused the latter of letting the franchise stray into intellectual and derivative terrains instead of focusing on the beloved creature butchering people, which moved Ridley Scott to abandon the original plans of the sequel in order to satisfy them with a more classic, horror-oriented premise. However, given that ''Prometheus'' eventually gained its own fans who ''did'' want to follow Elizabeth Shaw's adventures in the Engineer world, this decision ended up falling on its face anyways for many people, with Scott being ultimately accused of shameless PanderingToTheBase (see below) and little care for his own works. It is safe to say that, after the hype of ''Prometheus'' was gone and its new take on the franchise was met with criticism, it was practically impossible for this film to succeed.

* PanderingToTheBase: One of the perceived conceptual faults of the film, which was noted by both the people who wanted to return to the simplistic roots of ''Alien'' and those who preferred an answer of the mythological questions opened by ''Prometheus'', was how ''Covenant'' tried to smash both gimmicks together in an attempt to please all the sides of the fandom. This was pretty much confirmed after it was known that Scott had altered his original plans from the franchise after the divisive reception of ''Prometheus'' and that the script of ''Covenant'' had been massively rewritten several times.
* PlotHole:
** Given that this film is established to take place only 18 years prior to the original ''Film/{{Alien}}'', there's a fairly large one. When exactly does the Space Jockey take a bomber filled with Xenomorph eggs to LV426? Where is he supposed to come from now that the film has established that [[spoiler: David kills every Engineer on the planet immediately after he and Shaw arrive, and he hasn't even produced the final form of the Xenomorph yet?]] Ridley Scott has addressed this issue in interviews regarding his plan for the next film, [[spoiler:stating that Engineers who were off-world would go after David seeking revenge for the destruction of their homeworld.]]
** Don't forget how the Engineer corpse in the ship in ''Film/{{Alien}}'' was actually fossilized. It's easier to assume that David had simply replicated older Engineer work because otherwise the movies don't make sense.
** The novelization, which was based on an earlier draft of the script, had David's lab contain several "Protomorph" specimens as well as an Engineer-produced Ovomorph, and explicitly stated that David was replicating the work of the Engineers. However, Ridley Scott changed his mind late in development and altered those scenes in the film to make David the sole creator of the Xenomorph.

*** ''Alien'' fans who didn't much care for ''Prometheus'' can feel this film is undermined by [[spoiler:David's AGodAmI experimentation and heavy-handed insertion into the mythos and creation of the Xenomorph species]].

** The Neomorphs have a very promising premise. The fact that they grow from pods that once broken can zero in on people to infect. Paranoia fuel could have ran rampant among the crew in trying to figure out how they get infected. Instead about 2/3s through the film the Neomorph threat never comes back to focus back to the Xenomorphs.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: As noted in many reviews, ''Covenant'' has the same problem as ''Prometheus'', namely being simply not what most long time fans of the franchise wanted to see regardless of how well executed it was. Detractors accused the latter and this film of letting the franchise stray into intellectual and derivative terrains instead of focusing on the beloved creature butchering people, and often cite the now cancelled Creator/NeillBlomkamp's ''Alien 5'' as a work which would have portrayed much better this format. Even worse, given that ''Prometheus'' eventually gained its fans who ''did'' want to follow Elizabeth Shaw's adventures in the Engineer world, the decision by Ridley Scott to abandon these original plans in order to satisfy the first group ended up falling on its face by depriving the second of its own elements of interest, with Scott being ultimately accused of shameless PanderingToTheBase (see below) and little caring for his own works. It is safe to say that, after the hype of ''Prometheus'' was gone and its new take on the franchise was met with criticism, it was practically impossible for this film to succeed.

* ContestedSequel: While the movie still has its detractors (some citing the same problems that they had with ''Prometheus'' popping up in the film and others expressing disdain for the movie for other reasons), the majority of ''Alien'' fans that weren't fond of ''Prometheus'' consider it [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel an improvement]]. Conversely, fans of ''Prometheus'' are [[BrokenBase split on the quality of this movie]], but many of them agree that it's a better ''Alien'' movie than ''Alien 3'' or ''Alien: Resurrection''.

* ClicheStorm: The film uses almost all possible religious allusions in science fiction, especially the theory that our Creators are a developed alien race that has perfected genetically engineered technology and influenced the culture and technology of most ancient civilizations.

* {{Misblamed}}: A lot of people, including Film Brain of WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown and Reelz Rejects, were quick to blame Creator/RidleyScott and this film as the reason Creator/NeillBlomkamp's proposed ''Alien 5'' was canceled. However, Scott stated in a few interviews that it was actually Fox who canned the film. In fact, Scott expressed interest in producing Blomkamp's film.

* AngstWhatAngst: [[spoiler:In the third act the survivors seem unusually chipper, relaxed and good humoured for a handful of crew who have just lost family and friends to a tragic accident, followed by an extremely traumatic encounter with alien monsters and a genocidal android. This really stands out when Tennessee and Daniels are casually joking with one another, despite both having just lost their ''spouses'' along with several friends, only for two more to be killed when it turns out another Xenomorph is onboard ''while they were having sex in the shower;'' despite, again, just losing several friends to horrific events.]]

** Is it a worthy attempt to make the CultClassic series more intelligent and interesting, or just an awkward attempt to turn it into an extremely pretentious authorial movie? Should Ridley Scott transfer the continuation of the series to other people, or is he coping enough with it within as part of his later career as a director?
** If the massive IdiotBall in the story was recognized by almost all the fans and the question was only how much it harms the film, then the incredibly heavy and straightforward religious symbolism of the film caused much more serious controversy, where people argued about whether this work is a very clever and profound philosophy about the nature of "God" and the destiny of mankind, or that this film is merely an annoying mediocre film in its pretentiousness, with the same FauxSymbolism issues as ''Film/Matrix''.

* FauxSymbolism: Many people complained that the film abused so much as possible the most obvious religious symbolism, that it can not be seriously watched because of excessive pretentiousness and attempts to look deeper than it really is. This also caused a large BrokenBase due to the fact that the fans began to argue about whether or not the whole religious philosophy really needed the film.
* FranchiseOriginalSin: As already mentioned, the original series also suffers very badly because of IdiotBall and other common mistakes in horror films, even in everyone's favorite first two films. However, if at that time people could still turn a blind eye to it or ignore it, as this films did not try to seem deep or intelligent, in the case of Prometheus and the Covenant it turned into a major problem that can not be ignored.

** HoYay between the two Fasbenders became one of the most famous and parodied scenes of the film, after many people discussed how much she was narmy because of her awkward homoerotic and pseudo IncestSubtext atmosphere.

** Is it a worthy attempt to make the CultClassic series more intelligent and interesting, or just an awkward attempt to turn it into an extremely pretentious authorial movie? Should Stone transfer the continuation of the series to other people, or is he coping enough with it within as part of his later career as a director?