If you love the franchise but don't treat it like a holy bible, you will enjoy the film to an extent.

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 2017)

It's time to put things in perspective and look at this film as it's meant to be seen.
A good indication whether you are going to like it or not, is Prometheus. True, this one has Aliens in it, but the overall feel of everything is very much Prometheus. So for that reason, I would consider it a fine sequel.
People criticize Ridley Scott for going back into this universe for a good reason. It sheds light on a franchise that maybe should have been left in the dark.
Whether you approve of Ridleyt Scott's choice, has nothing to do with how good the movie is. If you are not curious of what he has to say today about something that was done by him in 1979, then don't watch the movies, stay home. We had no problem ignoring the existence of Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection and the horrible Alien vs. Predator universe. Why stop here?
But if you are curious enough to watch these movies, you saw Prometheus and came back for more, try to judge the film for what it is...
This is the best thing that happened to Alien since Aliens (1986) by James Cameron. Which is not saying a lot, but still better than expected.
It continues the story of Prometheus well enough and delivers some really good horror scenes that were actually scary. New concepts we are not familiar with shake up everything we know and give us a very small taste of what it felt like watching Alien for the first time and not knowing what to expect.
The acting of Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston is great, way better than the rest of the cast which I think were not held up to the same standards. The soundtrack was also great with some really well placed music, sounds and background noise.
The problem with the film: It's a huge mess.
I honestly believe that this is the one true reason why this movie and its previous installment are a disappointment to most. There's too much going around. The film refuses to focus on one thing, It tries to catch as much as possible, but fails to do anything to perfection.
My biggest disappointment is the lack of practical effects. How come that in the year 2017 with a movie done by a director with so much experience from a time you had to build Alien puppets and uniform, we still don't understand that highly visible close-up CGI looks like crap. Noting looked real enough in this moive and the illusion was broken pretty early.
Beside that you have a few typical cinema sins, but I really don't care much for those. It's really the fast pace and the amount of information they shoved in this one movie. A few good ideas would be enough.