The Alien universe is back, baby.
The latest entry, Alien: Romulus, hit theaters this week as director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) perfectly balanced the horror/action genres to return Xenomorphs to the big screen.
Alien: Romulus falls on the timeline about 20 years after the happenings of 1979’s Alien, and about 35 years before the Space Marines visit LV-426 in 1986’s Aliens. Weyland-Yutani, the corporation that has been trying to get their hands on the alien specimen for testing and exploitation, tracks down the Xenomorph that Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) “blew out of the [expletive] airlock” in Alien.
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Unsurprisingly, attempting to experiment on the alien goes horribly wrong for the scientists. As a result, their facility — a massive ship split between parts Romulus and Remus — appears to be dormant in orbit just above the Weyland-Yutani mining station, Jackson’s Star. Tyler (Archie Renaux) enlists the help of Rain (Cailee Spaeny) to travel to the derelict space station in search of cryopods to help them make their escape from the company’s control.
While Spaeny (Priscilla) and Renaux (Upgraded) are wonderful, David Jonsson steals the show as Andy. Jonsson flawlessly plays one of Weyland-Yutani’s older-model androids — or synthetic human, as they like to be called — that goes from twitchy, dad-joke sharing sidekick to company-driven and analytical after an unplanned upgrade.
Jonsson is a more-than-worthy addition to the impressive list of Alien universe androids that includes Ian Holm (Alien), Lance Henriksen (Aliens) and Michael Fassbender (Prometheus, Alien: Covenant). He elicits sympathy and unease as he switches between the versions of Andy.
On the whole, Romulus finds a way to mix in elements of its predecessors while bringing new — and terrifying — components to the universe. If you wanted not only way more face huggers but also more terrifying face huggers, well, you’re in luck. There are brutal deaths, chest bursters, explosions, bad decisions and more.
The third act will be talked about a lot, and for good reason as it dials up the horror aspect of the movie as far as it goes. While Romulus is not the best in the Alien franchise, it’s one that earned its spot in the upper echelon.
Movie: Alien: Romulus
Release Date: August 16
Director: Fede Alvarez
Stars: Cailee Spaeny, Archie Renaux, David Jonsson
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
