A return to form for the Alien franchise

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2017)

This is what Alien fans wanted Prometheus to be and I mean that in a great way. Alien: Covenant puts the franchise on track for some great future films, Scott's vision is felt in every scene, and it is wonderful, albeit horrific, for the poor unfortunate souls who exist within it.
This is truly an Alien film that appropriately tethers itself to what ground work was laid in Prometheus. It's got Ridley Scott visual style all over it, as it should, and its score, by Jed Kurzel, is beautiful and haunting in what feelings it elicits. From the moment I saw the classic Alien title stylings accompanied by that aforementioned score, I had a feeling this would be a good one.
As the story unfolds and what is truly going on is discovered or, more accurately, revealed to the ill-fated crew of the Covenant, it began to evoke Frankenstein (Shelley herself actually gets name dropped), but even more so, The Island of Dr. Moreau. As things become clearer, things become only all the more difficult for the colonization crew. The story here is incredibly well put together and is twistedly clear on just what is going on come the third act.
The crew itself is well cast with there not being a single weak link in the bunch. A quick cameo from James Franco was nice and Danny McBride takes a wonderful dramatic turn as an actor. He does get to be the source of a couple of well placed, but not out of place jokes that provide some wonderful bits of humor, but his acting definitely impressed me especially when things get truly tense toward the end. Billy Crudup and Demian Bichir, Watchmen and The Hateful Eight alum respectively, are excellent in their supplementary roles. The unsurprising star here and spiritual successor to Ellen Ripley is Katherine Waterston. I began to plot out her character's path throughout the film simply given how the crew itself worked, however, the great thing about this film in terms of being a horror/thriller was that it was difficult to see who was next a lot of the time and it wasn't afraid to kill off multiple characters at one time. As the audience, I had a pretty good idea of who would remain come the end, but getting there wasn't as easily foreseeable. Michael Fassbender as the androids David and Walter was fun to watch and his journey in the film is spectacular
This film is a great example as one with layers that one could choose to examine for deeper meaning or overlook in favor of taking its surface as a great popcorn horror/thriller flick. Given the interactions that Fassbender's character has, multiple meanings for the title beyond that of the ship itself emerge. I'm being purposefully vague as not to spoil anything, but the underlying philosophies and a small study of a covenant between creator and creation does exist. I myself can only take it so far as I've only seen the film once, but I wouldn't be surprised to find even more on a future viewing.
And I will certainly revisit this one. Alien: Covenant delivered for me in a big way. It had action, suspense, was gross as hell, and while there wasn't a great deal of "horror," the story it told was wonderfully self-contained such that a newcomer to the franchise could watch it alongside a veteran and understand what was going on. That being said, you'll appreciate a great deal more if you're a fan. This is a big bridge for the franchise as, one can gather from the trailers alone, the true Xenomorph comes to form in this film. I'm not sure what route the franchise takes next, but I am very optimistic.
Also, I couldn't help, but come up with an, admittedly lengthy, alternate title while watching: Alien: An Origin of Species. It could have easily been something akin to this and been very much appropriate.