Parents' Guide to

Alien: Covenant

Movie R 2017 123 minutes
Alien: Covenant Poster Image

Common Sense Media Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson By Jeffrey M. Anderson , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 15+

Blood, gore, moody visuals, and a strong female character.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 14+

Based on 24 parent reviews

age 14+

Gory alien film

It was a good idea, but this gory alien slasher was just disappointing. I fell asleep later in It
age 17+

WE WANT RIPLEY BACK!!!

This movie is complete garbage. I have been a fan of the alien series for a while. I wish I hadn’t watched this it’s just disappointing. It doesn’t make sense, the characters are bad, bad language, super unnecessarily violent, it literally had a sex scene which is super inappropriate. It’s a huge let down for the finale movie of the franchise. It’s a miss.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (24 ):
Kids say (54 ):

While the story offers little new -- it seems patched together from Alien, Prometheus, and even Blade Runner -- director Ridley Scott's moody, thoughtful style makes this sequel worth seeing. Alien: Covenant, which is -- counting the two Alien vs. Predator movies -- the eighth in the Alien franchise, starts quite similarly to the original 1979 film. It has an unexpected wake-up call, an investigation, and the discovery of the horrid monster.

But even as Covenant moves into territory already covered by Scott's other sci-fi movies, it proves that Scott knows what he's doing. He creates powerful, striking imagery right out of myth, from a doomed necropolis filled with blackened, statue-like bodies to David's years-old laboratory cave, filled with creepy specimens and papers flapping quietly in the chilling draft. And the slightly faster, noisier way that Scott handles the alien attacks -- they're not as spooky as they were in the original -- is easily forgiven after scenes between David and Walter arguing over the meaning of existence.

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