Ripley, we need you!

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2017)

Let me start by making it clear that I do enjoy these films. I love a good prequel that answers a ton of questions the original series did not address, Alien: Covenant does just that.
It pretty much answers a lot of questions that were created by Prometheus. So if for no other reason but to find out what happened to Shaw and David you should see this film. You should see this film if you love the Alien franchise and you should see this film if you want to see a good thriller. *****SPOILER ALERT******
This is just my opinion but this franchise is famous for producing some of the strongest and influential female characters in the past 35 years of film. You have Ripley in the first four films, and Vasquez in the Aliens (1986) film. Two female characters who I believe should be required classes (they can call the class Ripley and Vasquez) in any Women's Study degree in every university. They are the models for what strong, intelligent female leadership would and should look like.
Then we enter Alien: Covenant...again ****Spoiler Alert*** The Covenant is a colony ship on the way to a planet for, well, colonization. So I am going to assume with near certainty that the crew flying this ship would be trained professionals. Pilots, engineers, medical personal etc. Ripley was a military pilot, Vasquez was a marine. But this crew on the Covenant are just random people they found on the street, or at least that's how they behaved.
One scene in particular that I felt like almost getting up and walking out was when they land on a planet where they received a faint signal. Of course they need to check it out, of course. They leave Faris back at the landing ship to watch over things and in typical Alien fashion someone gets sick and has to return to the ship. Without going into great detail, I will let you watch it for yourself, what goes on in the next 5 minutes can only be described as a Jerry Lewis like slapstick incompetents of a colossal magnitude.
Everything from straight panic, to slipping and falling, to more panicking, to shooting wildly in a ship FILLED WITH OXYGEN TANKS!! Come on Ridley Scott!! What are you doing?? This scene was both embarrassing and completely ridiculous! These are suppose to be trained professionals who know how to handle stressful emergency situations but instead we get the equivalent of shaggy and Scooby's reaction when they see a ghost.
Covenant has very weak characters that time and time again put themselves into harms way due to stupidity and an apparent lack of any training in anything. Where are the strong leaders I am use to seeing in this franchise? I was completely disappointed in these characters who by their behavior and reactions appeared to be in a huge rush to die!