Movie · 2017 · Horror, Science Fiction · 2h 2m · R · English
Curator score: 2.8/10 (847.7K ratings)
The path to paradise begins in hell.
Overview
The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise but is actually a dark, dangerous world.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.8/10
IMDb: 6.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.07/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 65%
Metacritic: 65
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Ridley Scott
Production
20th Century Fox, Brandywine Productions, Scott Free Productions
Cast
Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Amy Seimetz, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, Uli Latukefu, Tess Haubrich, Lorelei King, Goran D. Kleut, Andrew Crawford, Tom O'Sullivan, James Franco, Guy Pearce
Where to watch
Max
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually polished, mean-spirited sci-fi horror sequel that works best as a bleak, pulpy machine for grotesque set pieces and Michael Fassbender’s dual-role theatrics. It’s less satisfying as a coherent chapter in the Alien saga than as a cold, angry creature feature with big ideas about creation, faith, and control.
Best for
Viewers who want glossy, R-rated space horror with body horror and gore
Fans of android-centered sci-fi and twisted creator/creation stories
People who enjoy Ridley Scott’s grand, oppressive production design
Anyone curious about a divisive franchise entry that plays like a horror-thriller first and a lore movie second
Skip if
You want a tight, emotionally grounded ensemble story
You dislike nihilistic, mean-spirited horror
You need the film to respect established franchise logic
You prefer suspense over shock, or subtlety over operatic melodrama
Overview
Alien: Covenant is a sleek, nasty piece of studio horror that feels like Ridley Scott working through a grudge. It has real visual authority: the ship, the planet, and the industrial gloom all look expensive and lived-in, and the film never lacks for atmosphere. When it leans into creature-feature panic or lets Fassbender’s androids dominate the frame, it can be genuinely electric.
Worth noting
The problem is that the movie is often more interested in provocation than payoff. It keeps reaching for big philosophical ideas about creation, evolution, and godhood, but the character work is thin and the plotting can feel like it’s sprinting from one grisly beat to the next. That makes it feel both overstuffed and undercooked at the same time.
Bottom line
Still, there’s a strange confidence to its ugliness. If you’re open to a franchise entry that is less about satisfying continuity than about staging a furious, elegant nightmare in space, it has a lot to offer. If you want the cleaner, smarter version of this material, though, this is more fascinating than fully successful.
Top Letterboxd reviews
cora ✨ (3★) · 8654 likes
"you blow, I do the fingering" is an actual thing michael fassbender said
Lucy (3★) · 7036 likes
james franco being cast as the captain of the ship only to fry to death in his cryotube in the first five minutes is the weirdest and funniest fucking cameo i've seen since channing tatum showed up in the hateful eight hskehdknsheksjsh
Patrick Willems (4★) · 6092 likes
GIVE ME EIGHT MORE MOVIES ABOUT DAVID DOING WEIRD SHIT IN SPACE
alyssa (2.5★) · 3514 likes
in space, no one can hear two Michael fassbenders fuck each other
davidehrlich (3.5★) · 3101 likes
A huge improvement over PROMETHEUS, and a film that forgives / retroactively gives purpose to its prequel, COVENANT is a majestically shot mash of almost every Alien movie that's come before it, but it only works because it clarifies that these new films are NOT really Alien movies... Prometheus was about the creation of horror, and Covenant is about the horror of creation, and a much better film for that. Scott and co are smart to realize that Fassbender —… more A huge improvement over PROMETHEUS, and a film that forgives / retroactively gives purpose to its prequel, COVENANT is a majestically shot mash of almost every Alien movie that's come before it, but it only works because it clarifies that these new films are NOT really Alien movies... Prometheus was about the creation of horror, and Covenant is about the horror of creation, and a much better film for that. Scott and co are smart to realize that Fassbender —… more