Not Oscar-worthy, but not as bad as people say it is

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2017)

Expectations play a lot with movies. I saw all of the 1 out of 10s people have given this film so I didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this was. Sure - there's plot holes and stupid decisions both by the crew of the Covenant AND the director - but this is an Alien film. There's been two good ones period - the rest are varying degrees of terrible.
What was good: - this film answers many questions: what happened to Shaw and David, did they find the Engineers, where did the Xenomorph come from. - Acting-wise Fassbender is excellent, and most of the cast hold their own. - FX are brilliant. Tasteful use of CGI. Genuinely horrifyingly real at times. - the pace was good - great tie-ins with Prometheus, Weiland, David etc - I felt scared, horrified and full of pending dread!
What was bad: - as others have said there are logic and plot-holes. - plot twists were pretty predictable - predictable jump-scares.
Why watch it? - you love the Xenomorph - you want to know what happened to Shaw/David after Prometheus.
I know this is from acclaimed Oscar-winning director/creator Ridley Scott who did such great sci-fi in the 80s and so expectations are high. But Prometheus proved he can make an average movie. Lower your expectations! This is part of the Alien franchise which more often than not are average movies. A key theme of the alien franchise is the folly of humanity, of "playing God", and vanity and that theme is very present in this movie. Alien Covenant successfully reminds you that "in space no-one can hear you scream" (except everyone else in the cinema).