Best viewed with an open mind

Rating: 7/10 (24 August 2017)

I feel like a little understanding can help amend some viewer's questions about the film and I think a wider scope of influence can inform the audience about what is really being done and being said in the film.
I won't attempt to answer all the questions for you, because that's half the fun, but to look at Alien: Covenant solely on its surface is a poor way to view and critique this film.
Where to begin though?
I guess I'd begin with Prometheus. Prometheus was an epic-scaled science fiction blockbuster that was Ridley Scott's (trumpets blare) return to sci-fi. And it left a lot of people disappointed. I loved Prometheus so we won't debate that movie here, but you can't look at these movies as analogies to the original Alien film or its sequel. They're a whole 'nother beast.
Prometheus asked a question and answered it. Who created us, and what do they think of their creation? That answer may have confused and turned-off some portion of the audience, but let's face it, a film asking these questions, and setting it in a universe with acid-blood aliens is not going to offer a very peaceful or answer to ANY question. This is a horror franchise, set in a scientific world. The monsters, the Gods, the creators, are enigmas and they are without mercy. A:C asks where are we going and what awaits us?
And Ridley Scott informs us, just like in the fabulous The Martian, that space is cruel and unpredictable. It's not sabotage or a creature from the unknown that causes the initial problems of the Covenant it's simply unpredictability that leads them to make a choice out of fear and curiosity that sets the films events into place.
So, Alien: Covenant.
My first critique is after the initial prologue, I felt the movie moved simultaneously too quick and too slow.
An online promo video introduces us to the Covenant crew, but if you haven't seen that you have no idea who anyone is, their relationships, the fact that they're ALL couples, or why they're on this mission, and even if you have seen it, that Last Supper scene is sorely missed from the finished product.
Keeping this film a tight two hours is a good idea, but I don't think the cuts should have come from the first 15 minutes of the film. I do agree that the foggy relationships between characters could have been prevented very simply and very quickly right up front in the film,
The rest of the movie moves like a freight train, which may have turned some viewers off, but it's another way to keep you on your toes. Nothing is concentrated on for too long, nothing overstays its welcome and the quick pace forces an anxiety and tension that a slow plodding plot couldn't have withstood.
Let's face it, in horror movies a majority of the cast is monster bait. I come from a generation after Sigourney Weaver was already a star, and the original Alien doesn't surprise me with her survival, so the fact that I see this cast as full of unknowns now, reminds me that the first time I watched Alien I didn't know who Tom Skerritt was, or Ian Holm, or John Hurt, or Henry Dean Stanton -- they were all monster bait. It is weird that the first victim in A:C and the second in Prometheus are smoking weed, but maybe either Ridley is a fan or isn't a fan, I can't really tell.
The rest of the criticisms I see are that "oh, they go down there without protective gear", well they're on a futuristic space ship that can probably read the atmosphere and THEY KNOW a human sent a transmission from there at some point so, probably pretty safe. Or: They fail to kill the Alien early on – you know, like in all Alien or monster movies. Soyeah.
And some have claimed that the David and Walter scene was scarring, or homoerotic or ruined their ability to appreciate the Xenomorph and to that I have to call out bull***t. Just F***ing B******t.
One, Fassbender and the film crew put in an incredible amount of work to show the dichotomy of two characters that were both built by the same corporation yet have completely different programming, and two, the effect of having them interact with each other and their dialogue is superb and provides an awesome insight into both characters and plants a seed for the ending.
Again I'm not saying there isn't a flaw in the movie, but people are way too quick to react negatively.
You wanted claustrophobic horror? Check the cave sequences or the running through the ship sequence at the end.
You wanted military shoot-em-ups like in ALIENS: see the field sequence or the Oram / Tunnel sequence.
If you liked Alien 3 there's something there for you too.
I've said it plenty throughout this review, this film has flaws. Almost all movies do. There are very few perfect films. I consider Alien to be near-perfect, but it isn't perfect. Some reviewers on the internet believe that every film has an obligation to deliver them what they like, how they like it, and surprise them in ways they like. If a film doesn't meet that criteria in spectacular fashion they deem it as a failure and a pock on the face of a movie they enjoyed when they were 12, sitting in a dark room late at night and not know what to expect, and that's no way to experience an interesting, action-packed horror, science-fiction Alien movie that has plenty of cool gore, action, suspense and ideas to make Alien: Covenant a joyful experience, so enjoy it for what it is.