I liked Covenant (in a vacuum, therefore not connecting it to the first movie), but the Lifter scene did nothing to me (besides the shot of the Xeno hitting his head against the glass).
Well, i guess the "Cargo Lift" ost hits pretty hard though.
But the scene had too much CGI, so it just felt fake.
If you're going to show the Xeno in broad daylight, you might as well make sure that it looks perfect in every shot, not just two or three.
That is why i think that the final fight with the Protomorph in the Terraforming Bay was way better, since not only was the CGI impressive in pretty much the entirety of the sequence, but it also had a very claustrophobic vibe with the way Daniels had to trap it inside of the truck.
Also tricking the Xeno into jumping at the right moment, so that it gets impaled by a terraforming vehicle as it falls into Planet 4 was way cooler than angry Xeno actively throwing itself at the the Claw from the Lifter.
Also, the movie having 2 Protomorphs actively made the creature have less impact that it should.
The characters defeat the Xeno once in the Cargo Lifter scene, but it's practically an afterthought, not to mention that Lope's baby and the timing behind the impregnation are way too sudden.
