Well fam, I went and saw this thing Friday night. I crossed the picket line because childhood sci-fi nostalgia or something. So if you care about such things, beware there are spoilers below:
Anyway -- the film is visually well done, typical of Scott's cinematography. The PCness of the promo videos is not apparent in the film itself. You wouldn't even know the fag couple was a couple except for a quick look of despair when one of them shuffles off to GRIDS Heaven. The Jewess is literally eaten by a creature, after she makes the exceptionally wise decision to separate from the group and go take a bath or some shit.
By far the most interesting aspect of the movie is the interaction between the two identical looking androids. David, the survivor of the previous Prometheus mission, has been on this planet for years conducting experiments with the Engineer technology. Walter, the new android, was designed to not have the creativity and idiosyncrasies that made David unsettling to people. Walter is more like a digital assistant with superhuman strength. Walter and David do not see eye to eye on the relationship between androids and their human creators.
On the major plot point of the film, i.e. David as creator of the xenomorph, I am not as hostile as some. On the one hand it does undo a lot of the creepy, unsettling, and frankly alien origins of the creature. It also directly challenges previously established facts, such as the crew of the original film remarking that the derelict spaceship had been there for a very long time, and the mural in Prometheus showing a xenomorph-looking creature.
On the other hand, the idea of the creature arising from an android's experimentation with a mutagenic substance is intriguing. It carries forward the theme of Creation eventually becoming arrogant and enamored with its own abilities, challenging the supremacy of the Creator, and usurping the Creator's power to create -- to ultimately destructive ends. Personally I think the evidence elsewhere in the films is too strong for the creature having already existed long ago. I think if anything David just discovered their "recipe" and learned how to create individuals, rather than being the author of the entire species. Indeed the creature in this movie was not exactly the same as the "classic" xenomorph. It was more fleshy and less mechanical. It seemed like a beta version to what would eventually become the definitive creature from the other films.
It was entertaining, but not in the same league as the original film or the follow up Aliens (my personal favorite). The original had a ponderous build up of claustrophobic tension, you could sympathize with the characters on screen being paralyzed with fear. Covenant is not ponderous at all. The pacing is too fast, particularly in the final act.
I really feel like Ridley Scott is trying to muscle out anyone else's contributions to the Alien universe. Considering that some real turds have been dropped in that sandbox, I can see why his ego might want to do this. I have been tentatively on board with it, but if he starts undoing the second film, Aliens, then F him.
Anyhow, I'm sure it's on Kodi by now, for you goys who want to check it out without throwing any shekels into (((Hollywood's))) coin purse.
