Prometheus 2 Merged with Traditional Alien Movie

Rating: 7/10 (16 May 2017)

I'm aware that I'm one of few in the world who actually really enjoyed Prometheus and it's philosophical musings on the creation of life, so to hear the next movie was just another "Alien" film didn't particularly excite me; we've had four of them already. I want to know more about the Engineers, I want to know why they created humanity, and why they decided to wipe the slate clean. I wanted to delve into their society and really see what they were like as a civilisation.
Covenant is both an Alien movie and a Prometheus movie. It's a best-of-both-worlds scenario. The movie opens, right from the get-go, with the creation of David by the hands of Guy Pearce's Weyland. David shows an inquisitive and introspective nature that serves as a prologue to the events that will unfold, and it's important to keep this scene in mind as the movie goes on. The movie then jumps to a new colony ship, ten years after the events of Prometheus, with an upgraded model of David looking after it's 3,000+ inhabitants. Things go wrong, the crew awaken, they land on a mysterious planet, and all hell breaks loose.
The crew of the Covenant eventually meet up with a long-haired David, and we get a lot of insight into what he's been up to since the previous movie, and where Elizabeth Shaw is in all this. We even, and most tantalisingly, get to see a little hint of the Engineers' civilisation. Not going to lie, this was the highlight of the movie for me. I mean yeah, I would've liked a proper Prometheus 2 where we actually see all of it unfold rather than the short (but sweet) narrated flashbacks we got, but I'll take what I can get. Furthermore, it cleverly shifts the role of antagonist from the Xenomorphs to David himself, which is necessary as Xenomorphs stopped being scary nearly thirty years ago. David, on the other hand, becomes a villain of the ages, displaying unparalleled sadism in a quest of scientific curiosity.
Beyond that, the movie makes a big effort to mirror, and in some cases directly homage the original Alien movies. The wooden bird toy dipping it's beak into a glass of water is here, some choice lines of dialogue are lifted and supplanted from the original, and even the general format of the story. SPOILER ALERT BUT NOT REALLY: The crew returning to the ship safely in orbit is not the end of the horror. The original Xenomorph returns as well, with it's large head, secondary jaws, and protruding back spikes. While Scott has said he has more movies planned, and once again I find myself yearning for a direct sequel to carry this story on, Covenant pretty much ties the origins of the Xenomorphs up nice and tidy, making the need for more movies a bit suspect.
Probably the biggest problem for Covenant is it's characters. There's a lot of crew members, and most of them get no development at all. Crucial to the crew's makeup is that they're all couples, but we're never really shown who's with who soon enough, despite the constant bits of dialogue that point out "my wife". I spent quite a large portion of the movie trying to figure the couples out. The homosexual couple in particular were so poorly handled that you only realised they were a gay couple when one of them dies. Thankfully there's a fairly easy fix to this, put the Last Supper prologue sequence back in the movie, showing the whole crew before they enter cryosleep. We see them banter, gossip, and enjoy each others company for a bit, making them feel human and providing a little source of attachment to them. Alas I had to watch this an hour ago on my computer, after I'd already seen the movie and the damage of no development had already been done.
That said, there is some good acting here regardless. Katherine Waterston was easily the least annoying that I've seen her, Billy Crudup does remarkably well with the flimsy role he's given, and Danny McBride forgoes the crass humour to display some dramatic chops. Of course though, Michael Fassbender is the star of the movie, relishing the opportunity to play two similar, but very different characters. In fact, the best scenes were with Michael Fassbender talking to Michael Fassbender. The conflict of wills and ideals between Walter and David were truly tantalising, and seeing David back and more evil than before was thoroughly entertaining. Fassbender owned both sides with complete conviction, being both a force to cheer on, and a force to fear and hate in equal measure.
I found Alien: Covenant a lot more enjoyable than I expected, but I did have my expectations set to catastrophically low. It completely lacks any character development, is riddled with stupid, nonsensical decisions in order to drive the plot forward, and isn't nearly as horrifying as it should be. That said, it feels more like an Alien movie than Prometheus did, while simultaneously not just brushing Prometheus under the rug. Would I like to see the hypothetical movie between Prometheus and Covenant? Absolutely, but at this point I don't feel it would particularly add much. Similarly, would I like another movie to bridge the gap between Covenant and Alien? Again, yes, but also again I'm not sure what purpose it would serve in the narrative. Covenant feels like a perfect marriage between the two. I give Alien: Covenant an enjoyable, but hardly groundbreaking 7/10. I recognise it's flaws, and there are many, but I simply enjoyed it too much to not give it a positive rating.
P.S. Please release a Director's Cut with the two prologues actually in the movie. 'The Crossing' is as close as I'll ever get to a proper Prometheus 2, and 'The Last Supper' would've done wonders for character development.