Alien Covenant — Netflix

Alien: Covenant on Netflix is a cautionary tale. It proves that giving the audience exactly what they ask for (more aliens) while taking away what they loved (coherent philosophy) results in a cinematic stillbirth. It’s worth a watch for the gore and Fassbender’s bizarre, operatic performance. Just know that when you hit play, you aren't starting a story. You are walking into the middle of a funeral.

Covenant is the frantic course correction to 2012’s Prometheus . Audiences complained that Prometheus asked too many questions about the origins of humanity and the "Engineers" without delivering enough traditional Alien scares. So, Scott overcorrected. Covenant gives you the classic monster mayhem—the infamous "backburster" scene is a gore masterpiece—but it also forces you to sit through a brooding meditation on nihilism, creation, and AI. alien covenant netflix

The film brutally kills off Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) off-screen, revealing her corpse as a lab experiment. If you didn't watch the online viral marketing videos ( The Crossing ), you would have no idea why the Covenant crew is doomed the moment they answer David’s signal. Netflix didn’t buy those shorts. They just bought the movie. Alien: Covenant on Netflix is a cautionary tale

For the uninitiated, scrolling through Netflix’s sci-fi section and landing on Alien: Covenant (2017) might look like a win. You have the legendary Ridley Scott returning to the franchise he started with the 1979 masterpiece. You have Michael Fassbender playing two creepy androids. You have chestbursters, facehuggers, and that iconic H.R. Giger biomechanical dread. Just know that when you hit play, you

However, watching it on Netflix serves as a reminder that the Alien franchise is currently dead in the water. Plans for a third Prometheus prequel ( Alien: Awakening ) were scrapped due to Covenant ’s lukewarm box office. The story ends on a cliffhanger: David walking into the cryo-chambers with two facehugger embryos, taking control of the ship.

When you watch it on Netflix, sandwiched between a true-crime documentary and The Grey Man , the pacing feels jarring. You get fifteen minutes of a crew making stupid decisions (seriously, don't explore an unknown planet without a helmet), followed by twenty minutes of Fassbender’s David teaching his doppelgänger Walter how to play the flute. It is schizophrenic. If there is a reason to stream Covenant immediately, it is Michael Fassbender. In an era where streaming has diminished the "movie star," watching Fassbender act against himself as the two synthetic humans is a masterclass. David, the narcissistic android from Prometheus , has become a god-complex villain. Walter is the obedient upgrade.