Alien/Aliens Fans Beware

Rating: 6/10 (5 June 2017)

If you are part of the crowd who really liked and appreciated the first and second installments of the Xenomorph saga, you should be careful going into this film.
This feels much more like a horror/gore-driven film than its predecessors. Now, while tolerances should be made for those who are predisposed to excessive gore/violence and are fans of genres where those elements are to be expected, I feel like the creators of this addition really went not only for the jugular, but entire halves of people...sometimes most of their insides as well.
As Chris Stuckmann recently explained, "Alien" was more suspense-driven and its closest sibling, "Aliens", an action-driven piece. Both of which are masterpieces. Some would argue that most of the subsequent sequels after that were...mediocre or lacking in some way. Mostly due to studio interference. However, this film is on a different course altogether. The two aforementioned pieces at least had some kind of resolve. A fearless heroine in the reluctant shape and form of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), along with relatively optimistic climaxes, all while leaving ample room for their successors to build their butchered story-lines on. 'Covenant is much more grim and hopeless.
Lots of folks wanted more "engineers", more Xenomorphs and more "answers". Here, though, the narrative largely revolves around the android that's part of the crew (Walter), as well as the one from "Prometheus" (David) who had his head ripped off by an "engineer" who woke up in a bit of a grumpy haze.
One thing that about this film that will really grab you by the face-hugger.........is the acting. Most of the characters are brought to life in an above-average manner by the skills doing the rounds amongst the cast. That is the thing that I feel deserves the most credit in this film. The characters and their reactions to their situations feel sincere and relatively realistic.
In terms of creatures, there's two neo-Xenomorphs to go around (which felt more like demons than alien creatures...so to speak), along with one traditional Xenomorph that's given a complete CG treatment. As far as I could tell, there wasn't any scenes with the creatures where they weren't CG. It's done very well, so for those of you still lighting a candle every now-&- again for the catastrophe that was Alien Resurrection, rejoice! For there is...hope? Well...visually at least.
The main (and only) antagonist has quite a bit of artificial hate going on inside him and the fact that he could have the desires and motives he does feels questionable when you think about it realistically. There are a few intense (in terms of atmosphere) scenes that flesh out the aspects of why he does what he does and we are, in fact, talking about a science fiction film, so logical realism is not supposed to hold one back here.
Conclusion: Alien Covenant may be seen as what most people are speculating; a slightly better version of Prometheus. Notwithstanding the fact that it does actually pick up from where the latter film ended in the story and time-line. In my opinion, people complained about Prometheus more than what the few problems it had might have merited.
Just know this...it's gruesome. Very gruesome. I'd say, more than any of its predecessors. The violence and gore in this film is what stuck with me for the most part. Which is sad in a way, considering the first two films didn't achieve their substance or exquisite suspense via excessive body-horror and violence. Those things were present, just not as concentrated. My friend and I both found ourselves averting our eyes too often for the sake of the next victim's innards being scattered across the floor.
So. It doesn't have that good old flavour of the first two films, but I doubt anything will ever live up to them. Only time will tell. Perhaps James Cameron should helm a sequel...