When a franchise stops learning.

Rating: 3/10 (10 May 2017)

Some movies almost don't need a narrative at all (Alien, Aliens, Mad Max: Fury Road come to mind). In these works, the whys and hows are left as an exercise to the viewer and fade into the background to let the action create an emotional resonance.
Alien: Covenant attempts the opposite, and smothers its own pace with lazy exposition and confusing explanations. After so many years of xenomorphs killing humans, the franchise was in dire need of either a return to its source, or some drastic innovation, expectation which aren't met either as the movie deliver action scenes everyone is already used to, without proper build up and without any surprise at all.
One would have also expected Alien:Covenant to have learned from the many mistakes committed by Prometheus. Sadly, the story only goes forward thanks to plot holes combined to the terrible absent-mindedness of the characters who seem to repeat the very same gaffes as the crew of the previous movie.
In short, a film which would have deserved a moist, dark, intense claustrophobic atmosphere and desperate struggles for survival was instead given the plot of, well, mostly every other action movie with disappointing CGI monsters thrown-in, shaped like xenomorphs to remain faithful to the license.
I wish I could give it more than 3 stars (for the okay acting), but considering the waste of potential of this movie and the hype it created, it's only fair (at least in my books).
Not recommended. Wait for the DVD if you're curious.