Random thoughts the morning after my first viewing -
I thought the justification as to why this crew would investigate a rogue transmission was well handled ie - habitable planet closer than Origae, recent death in the sleep pods, etc.
I AM WILLING to look past it, but all the misfortune the Covenant crew experiences could have been avoided if they had taken basic precautions and used helmets/suits on this uncharted Alien world, no matter how suitable to human life it is.
The growth of all the creatures in the film is a bit too accelerated for my tastes, I know we are talking sci-fi here but it just doesn't seem realistic or congruent to the rest of the series.
The dynamic between David and Walter is the real highlight and core of the film. David's workshop is one of the most haunting visual setpieces in the entire series. David's contempt for humanity is well explored, but I feel David's motivations for slaughtering the Engineers and murdering Shaw in the cruelest ways possible could have been much better elaborated upon. He makes a grave, a garden, and a tribute song for Shaw as if he truly had affection for her. So why experiment on her and defile her?
I never interpreted the "fingering/blowing" line with the flute as some sort of sexual innuendo/joke. That's how a flute works. I'm not sure why people are running with this.
Speaking of haunting setpieces, the bombing scene was gruesomely beautiful. I loved seeing the weapon deployed on a massive scale and the havoc that wrought on the Engineer's biology. You could see hybrid creatures ripping themselves from the husks of the Engineers. "To create, one must first destroy" indeed. Humans were obsolete creations to the Engineers, and this appears to be David's perception as well.
The Neomorph not attacking/killing David makes NO SENSE to me. It's been established that the creatures of this series will kill Synthetics with Bishop being the obvious reference point.
I would have preferred the film to lean a bit more on practical effects and less on CGI for the creature work. Despite this, the Neomorphs were handled very well and I like that they have the look of the "beluga" from the Prometheus concept art. I could swear that when Oram was shooting it and it bared its jaws, it looked like the toothy mouth of the original concept art.
The shower scene is disappointing on many levels, primarily in character motivation and logic. The crew have just survived a harrowing endeavor. Surely there is something more natural this couple could have been doing when they get killed by the Xeno than blasting music and getting intimate.
The body language for the Alien was handled well all the way until the Terraforming Bay scene where it loped into the room like a dude taking his work break and going out for a smoke.
The Daved/Walter switcheroo was WAY too obviously Telegraphed. One of them might as well have had a Spock mustache. Daniels gives a number of sideways glances, insinuating she suspects something is awry. Why wait until you are at your most compromised, in the sleep pod, to challenge that notion?
Final thoughts - despite any problems I have with the film, I quite enjoyed the experience and look forward to revisiting it soon. The characters and their interactions felt much more natural and logical than in Prometheus and I can safely say that this is the superior film. I would have liked to see some more resolution/closure from the unresolved threads from Prometheus. It's clear that David is the focus of this prequel saga and the series benefits from the philosophical questions he poses. It's also nice to have an antagonist that isn't just the faceless W-Y Corp. for once. The first and second acts were full of mystery, dread, and moody setpieces. The third act is a bit disappointing as it is quite derivative of the first Alien and somewhat rushed. I'd rate Prometheus a 4/10 and Alien: Covenant a 7/10.
