Why do they kill

It's a movie. They are the antagonists coupled with evil corporations or crazy androids. It's just the way it is. They are predators. 

I am a hunter, both archery and gun.  Predators kill when they are hungry, not for sport.

The neo fed, the xeno killed for no reason that was obvious.  It's a plot hole.

@spear they are the mega predator. Hunters kill for sport as well. There is no need to hunt in today's society. Ever heard of a grocery store? Your point makes no sense. If you are a hunter and live off the land then fine but I seriously doubt you live off the land full time.

your point is invalid. Sorry.

I Fish. I don't keep my catch I let it go. You hunt in a modern society to kill. People hunt for sport and profit all the time. You are naive to think they don't.

Sorry to be blunt but who cares? I don't even care anymore about any of this, Ridley Scott has gone bonkers. Alien, Aliens and Alien 3 are the only Alien movies I care about. I was hoping Covenant would be great well that was a mistake.

@splatterpunk  I wasn't gonna say anything cause I didn't want to get in an argument about hunting. So thank you for saying what you said, I feel the same way about hunting. We may not agree about Alien: Covenant but we agree about hunting.

@dr obviously people care enough or people wouldn't be posting. I mean if you have nothing to contribute then fine. Carry on...

@dr. Thank you. I don't hate hunting but I've read or seen sick stuff hunters do and it's not for food but a trophy or kicks. 

@splatterpunk   You're welcome

@Dr

Thought Alien 3 was a disgrace - not just to the Alien canon but just in general terms. Bizzarely it has become quite trendy the last few years to say: 'Actually it wasn't the director's fault the film was so shit - there were major production problems.. was lucky to film anything decent in the circumstances.. this particular cut of the film is not so bad..' etc etc

For me Alien 3 impressively managed to undo everything good in the previous two films. Godfather 3 pedigree. 

Not sure why you brought it up but it's not that great. I think I watched it twice for a full view. Once on rental and a prep before covenant. I watched bits and pieces on tv but yeah, meh. It has it's fans though.

I love Alien 3

Like I said it has it's fans. Nothing wrong with that. You like alien 3 I like covenant:)

Yep and I can understand why people don't like Alien 3.

Mega predators?  No, that is different than a slasher/murder.  Nice try.

I take responsibility for the protien I eat.  Do you?  I dont pass that off to the grocery store and remove myself from the fact that an animal died.  leather shoes? Leather belt? Leather coat?  Do you have these?

My eyes face forward to enable stereoscopic vision, to enable an attack of prey (like what u enjoyed in Covenant?).  I have two ears to enable stereoscopic hearing to track prey by their sound.

I would guess if we all followed your design/lineage we would have 10 thumbs so we could text faster?

Interesting topic.

 *spoilers*

David was on his close-to final stage(?) with the eggs and tinkered them a certain way. Oram was the guinea pig.  I think member @S.M once compared it to cancer.  effecting everything in its own way. and david's close-to final step(?) was a raging experiment not quite refined probably a mix of mad dog and stealth beauty...not bio mechanical yet...or as u said "cat" like

i dunno

Animals sometimes go rogue and kill just to kill, an example are the lions the movie The Ghost in the Darkness is based on. They just killed to kill.

When something major doesn't add up I understand that's a plot hole. Them killing and why is not!

People and their need to understand and relate to what they see on film instead of just understanding, in this film it's gonna be this way. Use your brain and imagination, not everything is gonna be spelled out or defined by extensive exposition in film.

for Petes sake it's an Alien species we are talking about. It's suppose to be Alien in name and characterization.... alien as a noun and an adjective.... Trying to compare it to coyotes or any earthly predator is foolish. If they were and acted exactly like creatures on Earth they wouldn't be very alien, now would they?

these creatures are the by product of genetic mutation by a compound that we have no understanding of. They could perhaps have no other biological instinctual urge other than to kill..... We do not understand them, because they are Alien.... If they could be understood and easily matched up with traits from creatures on Earth they wouldn't be very Alien.

So you are missing the point, they are Alien, perhaps they kill just to kill.... They are suppose to be Alien in every way, beyond comprehension.....having them be understood misses the point and goes against why most of us have loved the idea of these creatures for almost 4 decades. 

They are Alien, use your imagination....let them be Alien

That's kind of the beauty as a franchise. Alien has a solid fan base. Some people like different films better than others. It's common place in any franchise. As a fan base it's important to support it so more quality films can be made. Of course a movie line resurrection can hurt. People may have issues with covenant or Prometheus but neither of those films is even close to the despair of resurrection. For those who like it god bless. 

If anyone thinks covenant is close to resurrection go watch that again. Don't you really shouldn't...

Resurrection was and is hot garbage ....it's a horrible film, I really really enjoyed Alien Covenant and think it's a great Sci Fi film to add to this universe. ....comparing Covenant to Ressurection? I will not take much stock in anyone's opinion making such a claim...as they clearly don't understand the Alien Thematic properties or just what an epic piece of garbage Ressurection was.... There are bad movies, those are forgivable but then there are movies like Alien Reasurection.... I pretend it was never made, I sleep better at night

@spear nice try. I can tell I got to you. Hurling an insult how juvenile. Must be all the protein. I do not have leather anything just so you know. Hunter's are not an important part of society anymore. Most hunters hunt deer. Fine deer population needs to be kept low. A lot of hunters are scumbag poachers or rich assholes who go on a pleasure hunt to kill a giraffe. Or that asshole who shot an endangered condor and made a joke by posting it on facebook. He got in trouble by the way.

sure some tribes who need to hunt for food. They are hunters you are not. Sport is what you do and you can lie and insult all you want.

oh and I wish I had ten thumbs along with my fingers I could sure write my books faster. As far as this conversation goes I am done. I'm not here to talk about hunting. 

Good grief.  My point was the neo eats, he's hungry.  The proto/xeno just kills.  And you helped my point that big cats exibit a murderer mentality.  A murderer kills to kill, a hunter kills to eat (unless you want Costco to kill for you and slice it up and sprinkle herbs on it, then it's just lunch meat).

Are you guys (?) Dating Ridley?

@splatterpunk  You know I agree with you. This was the reason I didn't want to say anything but you know I got your back if you need it. I'm pretty sure you can handle yourself just fine.

I'm fine Dr. I'm done with it. No worries but thank you.

Splatterpunk - you got me.  Your intelligence is amazing.  So is your understanding of the Dynamics of being an omnivore.  And we will give you time to look up that word..  8:58pm EST - go

Spearfish

i did not mean to offend I just plainly wanted to state these are Alien creatures and as such we aren't suppose to understand them, I don't think the neo feeding was a plot hole as such.

as far as all that other stuff about hunting in society whether it's needed .... I'm not getting into that to far just that 

i value hunting and fishing and certainly am no "male romper wearing liberal" lol.... But that wasn't my point, I was just pointing out these are Aliens they are and do things we don't understand by definition

Yep, you guys are right.  We should just get our food from the supermarket and try to forget about what happened to bring it there. 

Back on topic...why doesn't the proto/xeno eat?

@splatterpunk    You're welcome

@WonderBoy, I recommend you watch Alien3-The Assembly cut which adds 25 minutes to the movie.

OP, if you remember Aliens, the Alien species does have intelligence and an organization hierarchy.  They seek to reproduce and increase their numbers and view everyone as an enemy to their species.  What came first? The Queen or The Egg?  lol  Covenant makes it seem like the egg came first.

Perhaps the exno does eat. It's just not something they have explored. However, it is clear the neo was sitting down to feast on its fallen prey. As far as the other aliens go the audience was never privy to it because no one ever lived long enough to tell the story. In alien the directors cut Dallas was stuck on a wall with bugs crawling on him. That was a solo exno with no eggs. Perhaps it was storing him for a snack.

use your imagination. I happen to be a creative person so it is easy for me. Author and all that stuff:)

Just because we saw only one form eating doesn't mean the other forms don't.
That said, as was pointed out, this is a genetically-engineered and absolutely unfamiliar species of creature, that's un-finished.

Thermodynamics and energy conversion being what it all is, all the forms must intake food to balanve their energy output, that's just physics, plain and simple.

As to why they kill...the baby Neomorph might have been hungry, probably was, given the insane speed they mature and grow with, that takes a LOT of energy and building materials!!

As they're all genetically engineered, maybe they're all hyper-aggressive, and David has yet to adjust that aspect of them, dial it down a bit??

Just catching up - So, from a transitive standpoint, since I hunt, I am a poacher and a criminal?  Hilarious.

In Alien Directors cut there were not bugs crawling on Dallas... Him and Brett were both in that room and both were being egg morphed is what was happening... This has been confirmed

Blackwinter - that is fair, as we saw the Neo's in their infancy, whereas the proto aged off screen.

Looked like bugs to me. Hmm, fine I haven't seen it in awhile. Then going by that aliens queen is bunk and shouldn't be cannon since the Xenos can turn people into eggs and no queen is necessary. Or it was a scene that didn't work and out was cut. See this is why I want a box set of just Scott's movies. 

Counting the directors cut as cannon then all David needs is one alien and he can morph everyone into eggs. 

Something doesn't seem right...

Spearfish

The nasty remarks about hunting and such, I'm trying not to pursue. I and hubby hunt exclusively with a bow, or slingbow for small game and birds. Neither hubby nor I use guns when hunting, a missed shot clears the area of game, and it just feels wrong to us...impersonal.
That said, we are both very experienced in the use and care of firearms.

Now, before anyone gets 'uppity', stupid and hippy-dippy on me...
I'm a Native American, Blackfoot Nation as is Husband. When I hunt, or when hubby does, we aren't hunting for trophies, we're doing so to provide for our family and for others outside our family who depend on us doing so. It is an integral part of our culture going back many millenia. We do our best to keep our people's culture and identity alive, as will our children and theirs.
And just to say, not a scrap is wasted. Most people shy from eating organ meats and such,we do not.

Thanks.  I was raised on the land as well.  Same type of folk who would have been on the Covenant!

@Blackwinter-witch    That is hunting the way it is intended and I will never have a problem with that. You are Native American that is awesome. This is your land and you shall do with it what you like. Sorry for us terrible white people who came here and stole your people's land. It is something that never should be forgiven, even though we didn't do it some form of our ancestors did. It is unforgivable.

Umm...?  Blackwinter - good for you and your family.  Hunting is an important factor to understanding the value of life, and to teach it as well.  But this isn't the place for that conversation, so if anyone can tell me  how to delete this topic that would be great LOL.

I still think it's curious that we don't see the xeno/proto eat.  They are the poacher/trophy hunters as discussed above.  But whatever.

Well they are engineered from black goo and countless mutations. So possibly they were cross gene mutations of very violent and aggressive killing machines or whatever. They have been referred to as the perfect organism. Maybe David used very aggressive creatures, DNA of creatures or whatever, or maybe it's from the black goo.

Hunting is natural. All living things must eat another living thing to survive. Plants are just as much alive as the wolf that stalks the deer. Mankind was designed to kill and eat other creatures - it is the simple, baseline truth. Nature is, and always will be, red in tooth and claw.

Beyond humans, sharks could be called "perfect predators", but they kill to eat - hence predate..  I would think a perfect "organism" would monitor the food supply and not kill everything asap.  That approach wouldn't be so perfect.  Are they calculating and killing resistors?  That is an option but I don't see this on film.