The Alien is back, and its origins are finally explained

Rating: 8/10 (21 September 2017)

I am a HUGE Alien Franchise fan. I have all the movies, collected countless figurines, and sit down and watch the original anthology at least once every year. In 2012, I was over-excited when I finally went to the cinema to see Prometheus, and came out loving it just as much as I loved the Alien anthology. Many people did not like that film. I am usually the odd one out among my Alien franchise friends when I say that I loved Prometheus just as much as the other Alien films in the series. That film seemed new and fresh and I liked how it went in a different direction. I guess when it comes to anything set in the Alien universe, I love, and I am guessing that is why I also came out loving the sequel to Prometheus (the second entry in Ridley Scott's Alien Prequel films) Alien: Covenant.
The film is set 10 years after the events of Prometheus. The colony ship Covenant is en-route to a planet in the far galaxy called Origae-6 when a solar flare damages it, killing 40 of the colonists on board and the Captain, Branson (James Franco in a very brief role). Afterwards, the crew land on a remote planet and meet David (Michael Fassbender) the Weyland Corp Synthetic and sole survivor of the USCSS Prometheus mission. Not to give too much away, the crew discover that David has wiped out all life on the planet (the species which appeared to be the Engineers from the previous film) and has been meddling with the black goo from the Engineer planet. It is also revealed that Shaw (Noomi Rapace from Prometheus) is dead, and has been used in a number of David's bizarre experiments to create "the perfect life form"......that "perfect" life form David talks about eventually ends up birthing the very first Xenomorph creature. This, of course with any Alien film, ends up leading to many gory deaths. It is up to Captain Branson's wife, Daniels (Katherine Waterston), to destroy the creature and try to put a stop to David's experiments before things get out of hand....
Now, I really enjoyed this film. It is the first Alien film for a long time. True, I loved Prometheus, but you must admit it was very different from traditional Alien films in the franchise. With Covenant,I could not help having a huge smile when the Xenomorph is first born. I also love the Neomorphs in the film (the apparent predecessors to the traditional Xenomorph we all know and love). They reminded me of the "Newborn" from Resurrection, which is one of my favourite-looking monsters in the franchise.
This film seems to have gotten a lot of hate from my friends. They seem to say the biggest problem with the film is that it is revealed David created the Xenomorphs rather than the Engineers. However, I actually love the fact that David created them. It is ironic when you think about it. David having been created by humanity would go on to create life of his own, the famous ALIENS, who go on to pose a huge threat for humanity in the original films. Thus, in effect, we created David, who created Xenomorphs, and thus HUMANITY is slightly responsible for the creation of the creatures. There is a theory that David was not the original creator of the species, and was merely copying what the Engineers had created long ago. However, I hope this is not true, as I for some reason,just love the fact that David was the one who created them. It is pretty creepy when you think about it. I guess we'll have to wait for the sequel, Alien: Awakening, to find out if David truly was their creator.
Some questions that I have tried to counter with my friends about David being their creator, are things such as "he did not create the REAL Xenos, as the chestburster burst out of Oram (Billy Crudup) too quickly, unlike the original films when it took a few hours at least". But you must remember, this film is set BEFORE the original films. The Aliens you see here are the first samples of the creatures. David has yet to "perfect" them into the ultimate weapon. This is also why the grown Xeno looks different than the original, lacking the bio-mechanical features. Another one is that many hate the fact that David seemed to be the "Puppet Master" or "Android Queen", as in the film the baby Xeno mimics David, as if David were "God". Well....haha.....yes, the Xenos do appear to serve and obey David......FOR NOW! I am guessing that in the next film, we are likely going to see David create too many of these things who turn on him and eventually kill him, and thus leading into the events of the original films. At this point, David is arrogant and thinks he will be able to control what he will create, not knowing just how savage they will be. We all know exactly how savage these things are, David doesn't, and that will likely be his downfall.
All in all, I loved this film and am looking forward to the next film. Many other fans of the franchise seem displeased with it unfortunately, but as for me, I love it and and am looking forward to 2019's Alien: Awakening.
8/10