Incredibly making 'Prometheus' seemed decent in comparison, 'Alien: Covenant' is a glorified monotonous pit stop in the film series.

Rating: 5/10 (10 May 2017)

Set 10 years after the events of 'Prometheus,' the story begins with the crew of the colony ship Covenant receiving a possible distress call coming from an uncharted planet that seemed to be paradise for humans to live on. Once there, the crew discover the world is much dangerous than it seems but none more dangerous than encountering David, the android from the doomed Prometheus expedition.
From the get go, none of the human characters in 'Covenant' are interesting or memorable enough and except for a few, most of them are just faceless red shirts. Some of them act annoyingly hysterical which results in some face-palming reactions and some act like they're in a B-movie slasher flick, but worst of all, a few do something so incredibly stupid that you end up wondering if Weyland- Yutani intentionally hires morons to be part of their billion dollar expeditions.
Katherine Waterston plays Daniels and although she is probably the "best" character among these losers, she's not written very well nor does she have any notable moments. Michael Fassbender did a superb job with his dual role of David and Walter. Most were expecting Danny McBride to stink up the place but he turned out to be one of the very few reasonably decent characters. Billy Crudup's Oram joins the ranks of Fifeld and Millburn as the dumbest people in the 'Alien' series.
Despite the many flaws of 'Prometheus' and the numerous dumb human actions, the characters there were at least not boring and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) was a good leading character that had many memorable exciting scenes. 'Prometheus' even had some thrilling action spectacle that wowed audience and expanded the Alien mythology.
Those that are expecting to learn more about the Engineers will be sorely disappointed as they are just briefly touched upon. The whole movie just feels like one big glorified set-up to show the transition from black goo to neomorph to finally xenomorph. Ridley Scott stated he plans to make three more 'Alien' prequels after Covenant. The problem now is we will get three more movies in the future to convolutedly and exhaustively tie everything up leading up to the first 'Alien' movie where the Engineer spacecraft somehow lands at the LV-426 moon.
The horror element in 'Covenant' is quite satisfactory, showcasing some spine-chilling terror and graphic kills. The action though is hugely disappointing with the last two big action sequences being uninspiring and unexceptional. The pacing during the last few minutes after the fake-out ending seemed rushed and dissonant. The xenomorph felt shoehorned. The pink-skinned neomorph was a worthy adversarial monster on its own and much creepier than the xenomorph.
If this is what Ridley Scott has in store for future Alien prequels, he should just stop and do something else. Or better yet, allow Neill Blomkamp to proceed with his planned 'Alien' do-over sequel where Hicks and Newt are still alive. Interest for the 'Alien' franchise will probably die down steadily with each prequel Ridley releases. This is starting to feel more and more like when George Lucas' botched up the 'Star Wars' prequels.
In space, no one can hear you scream. With each passing Alien prequels, no one cares anymore.
RATING: 5.5/10 or 6/10