Flawed, but nostalgic.

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2017)

I really disliked Prometheus. While I appreciated the ideas it tried to convey, the execution was poor. It tried to be an exploratory adventure, but also tried to be a horror film, not knowing exactly what it wanted to be. It posed way too many questions and fell flat in doing so. Very disjointed and all over the place. Plus the characters were a total bore and one-noted.
In Alien: Covenant, it's as if Fox and Ridley Scott knew of the outcry and decided to make the Prometheus sequel more like Alien, and to be honest, that washed away most of the sour taste I had.
Look this movie is not perfect by any means, but the addition of that Alien flavor really put this film into higher gear. I was thoroughly entertained throughout the film. Of course there's trouble lurking around as the movie progresses. People get messed up in this film and it's gruesomely entertaining.Yes, the cast is absolutely expendable, but this time around I felt as though they were handled better. I think what really helped was the YouTube clip released prior, with the cast talking before they went into hyper sleep.
The crew members in this movie are more likable than the crew members of Prometheus. Key crew members aboard on the Covenant ship include Katherine Waterston as Daniels, who is resourceful and probably the only one who makes the smartest decisions of the bunch. Yes she is a character that is inspired by Ripley, but Scott doesn't make that too obvious. I enjoyed Billy Crudup as Oram and Carmen Ejogo as Karine, who are both a couple in this film, and are calm and collected. Danny McBride is Tennessee, a wise cracking, cowboy hat wearing pilot. Something I expected was to see was the typical character McBride is known for playing on screen, but it turned out to be the opposite so it was refreshing to see him in this light.
The highlight is Michael Fassbender as David and Walter. David is the synthetic android that returns from Prometheus and Walter is the new, advanced and sophisticated android helping out the Covenant crew. Fassbender's work in these duel roles are fascinating to watch. He brings different traits of personalities to them both as they interact.
A lot of questions are still unanswered, some of which were teased at the end of Prometheus, but perhaps they'll be answered eventually. Yes the scientists make the same stupid mistakes, and yes there are some plot-holes, but Ridley Scott has rejuvenated my interest. At best Alien: Covenant plays out like a "greatest hits" or a cover to Alien and Aliens. While that might turn off some people, I found it to be nostalgic.
8/10