 I think it's safe to say that we can learn just as much, if not more, from a movie that doesn't work than one that works perfectly. For that reason, I believe Ridley Scott's Alien Covenant is a perfect candidate for further inspection, a big reason being a lot of this movie does work. There are some legitimately terrifying scenes and some interesting ideas at work. There are also scenes like this. Alien Covenant is a movie that is less than the sum of its parts, and a big reason why is that the parts don't feel connected. There are three major aspects to this movie, and each one of these clashes with the others. You have the psychological horror element to the movie. These scenes take up a little less than half of the film's runtime, and a lot of them work really well. The empty hallways of the Covenant along with the deserted fortress provide great backdrops to illicit autophobia, or the fear of isolation. Autophobia is common throughout the horror genre, that's why so many of the best horror movies take place in desolate locations. Unfortunately, suspense or at least attempt set suspense are plentiful, and a lot don't work. Throughout the entire movie we see moments of attempted suspense, the opening ship failure, some of the confrontations with David, or minor squabbles within the group. The majority of these exist to move the story forward, they just use tension to try and do this. The result is that the tension is immediately resolved to help hurry the story along. Alien the original did something similar, but the tension was a part of the story, and there was no resolution until the end of the story. The more time we spend aboard the Nostromo and see the horrifying actions of the Xenomorph, the more tension is built. Story adds to tension, which in turn adds to the story. The two elements work together to create a great story that is full of tension. That simply doesn't happen in Alien Covenant, there are a short burst of it, but nothing stays throughout the entire movie. Although the action scenes in this movie take up the least amount of screen time, they still have one of the biggest impacts. A lot of people have compared them to aliens, however the action scenes in the two movies are nothing alike. In Aliens you have a team of well trained soldiers fighting an army of Xenomorphs, compared to a handful of colonists trying to survive on a hostile planet like we see in Alien Covenant. One of the biggest issues with the movie is the action scenes. I feel like they were thrown in there because of a necessity following Aliens. Once James Cameron directed Aliens he sent the series in a new direction. No longer is this a claustrophobic and personal thriller, in a movie like Alien Covenant, the action takes away from the suspense. Everything that made Aliens so great is the subtlety, the suspense, and never truly seeing the monster, and the subtle pacing that all builds up to an epic conclusion is all taken away in a scene like this 30 minutes before the movie ends. Saved for a few examples, horror and action rarely work well together. They are two genres that clash. What works for one genre is what makes the other fail. Unfortunately, when these two are combined, one takes away from another. The movie tried too hard to combine elements of horror and action, and because of that both elements ended up falling short. The third aspect to the movie isn't a genre, it's the film's thematic ideas. The film is full of questions and devotes over a third of the runtime exploring what it means to be human, the costs and benefits of being human, and what it means to meet your creator. All of these ideas are a continuation of those found in Prometheus, but I think it goes beyond that. In fact, a lot of the ideas found throughout Alien Covenant are a continuation of those found in Ridley Scott's previous film, Blade Runner. They both put a big emphasis on artificial life, and how artificial life interacts with humanity. The obvious question that it asks is can something inhuman reach our levels of humanity? In both Blade Runner and Alien Covenant, that answer is a firm yes, and the way in which these two movies show up that answer is identical. In both the character of the creator is shown off as a paternal figure, someone who has all the power, and his creations seem to be able to rise to the level of humanity when they understand compassion and deeper human emotions. However, Alien Covenant seems to look beyond this question that Blade Runner asks, instead focusing on what happens when something that was created to be subhuman as an assistant to humans tries to transcend humanity and become a god. Already both David and Walter are stronger, faster, and smarter than any human out there. However, David has a fascination to create, just as he was created. And his need or obsession to create life ultimately leads him to create a monster. I want to pause here, because if you follow my channel in any capacity, then you probably know that this is what I love in movies. Deeper explorations about the human condition should be right up my alley, but it doesn't work in the context of the Alien series. From the start, the Alien series has always embodied the ideas of Lovecraftian horror, that we are not alone in the universe, and what is out there is evil beyond belief. The Alien series is full of Lovecraftian ideas and influence. HR Giger, the designer of the original Alien, went so far as to name his first published collection Necronomicon after a grimoire of the same name, written by Lovecraft. With Alien Covenant, the monsters are no longer out of our reach, or out of our universe. They come from within us. They are a creation of our creation, an extension of ourselves. In addition, it would be easy to argue that with the introduction of David, the Aliens are no longer the embodiment of pure evil, instead he is. Alien Covenant's attempts to explore new grounds ultimately hold the movie back. They take something that should be the focus of the movie, and instead just make it another piece of the unfocused puzzle. This lack of focus is the biggest issue of the movie. The three conflicting aspects of the movie, the horror, the action, and the themes and ideas all go against one another, making a jumbled mess that ultimately falls short. I want to spend the rest of the video looking at what could have been done to make the movie the best that it can be, because as I stated earlier, I think there is a good movie buried within this movie. The first thing that I think should be done is tuning down the action scenes. There are too many in the movie that all take away from the suspense. There should be an action scene that puts an end to the movie, but all the action scenes scattered throughout the rest of the movie should either show off the strength of the neomorph or focus on character development. A scene like this doesn't add anything to the film, and if we were instead learning about some of the characters and who they are, their eventual deaths would mean more. I also think the movie would be greatly improved if David were to be removed entirely. Like I said earlier, the movie focuses too much on him, when it should be elsewhere. I also think that he hinders Walter's story. As it stands now, Walter had very little character development. He started the movie being unequivocally good, and ended up in the same exact position. In order for him to be a truly fleshed-out character with any real change, he would need to be a bigger focus of the movie, not David. I think a really interesting angle would be the interactions with the xenomorphs or neomorphs turn him into something evil, like a cold-blooded killer. Finally, this idea that the aliens were created and genetically crafted holds down not only this story, but also the series as a whole. I'm not one to complain about continuity in the series, but this current angle takes part of what made the first few films so great and completely changes it. I don't think that Alien Covenant is a horrible movie. I think it's a flawed movie with potential to be much better than it was. It is a jumbled movie trying to be something that it wasn't. Which makes sense. Four people working on the screenplay and story with additional oversight by Ridley Scott. It was too big, too unfocused, and ultimately fell short to the very high bar that the series set for itself. I am interested in knowing what you think of the movie. I know that some people really loved it, so be sure to drop a comment and let me know. I'm also interested in knowing what movies you think had a lot of potential that went wasted, but with a few changes, could have ended up being pretty good. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out my last video, where we looked at Mulholland Drive. I've also linked my playlist of videos exploring Ridley Scott's work, that includes discussions of the original Alien along with Blade Runner. Thanks for watching, and I will see you next week.