A good movie in its own right

Rating: 7/10 (11 May 2017)

Reviewing any new movie from a "legendary" franchise like "Alien" is tricky. For fans of the franchise who have seen the 4 Alien movies and the 2 Alien v/s Predator movies and the Prometheus, the "awe" factor diminishes with each subsequent movie. However, for anyone who picked up the series from Prometheus or watching it for the first time, this movie holds extremely well.
First the plot summary: In 2104 the crew of the colony ship Covenant is bound for a remote planet with two thousand colonists and embryos aboard. While en route to their destination, an energy surge from a nearby star damages the ship, killing its captain and waking the crew. As they repair the ship, the crew intercept a radio transmission from a nearby planet and decide to investigate as the transmission is human in origin but the planet is supposedly lifeless.
Alien: Covenant is the continuation of the Prometheus movie (and be mindful that the events of the original Alien movie is still 20 years away). At the end of the Prometheus movie, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and the android David (Michael Fassbender) flew one of the "Engineers'" ship from the moon LV-223 in search of the Engineers' home planet. While what happens to Dr. Shaw is revealed later in the movie, David is now the sole occupant of the Engineers' planet.
The crew of the Covenant face unimaginable horror on the planet in the form of the alien creatures. There is a lot more blood and gore compared to the previous films in the series. Michael Fassbender plays a double role-he is an improved version of the previous android (David) with the Covenant expedition and is named Walter. The interactions between David and Walter are some of the highlights of the movie as it explains a lot of plot lines.
Obviously, Michael Fassbender is the highlight of the movie in both his roles. Apart from that, Katherine Waterston character as Daniels is the only other that creates an impact. Rest of the crew is too monotonous and doesn't connect with the viewer. Production values are of the highest quality and the first 20 minutes or so in the space setting, the movie hits all the right notes in terms of the build up. The Alien planet is depicted well but the eeriness is missing which was done so well in the original Alien movie. The ending provides further scope and hopefully another movie is made that takes it closer to the story of the first Alien movie.
Overall, a fine movie in its own right and for anyone who gets introduced to the franchise for the first time. However, for the "Alien veterans", an average movie.