REVIEW:
The best movie in the franchise since Aliens, it has been decades since they figured out how to do these movies right, and finally they have hit on something that works. This movie is in many ways like the first Alien film, and that’s not a bad thing. It works. Just like The Force Awakens took a similar story to the original Star Wars film A New Hope, and ended up being the best Star Wars movie of those last three episodes. By far. Here, Alien Romulus features a whole new crew on a new mission that brings them to an abandoned space station looking to steal some supplies. Seeing them walk around in this locations surrounded by dead bodies and the thoughts of what must have taken place before they got there definitely has Event Horizon vibes. And that’s good company to be in.
The haunted house on a space ship concept that worked so well for the first movie in this series, Alien, also works here. So does the brining back of a character from the very first movie in a most unexpected way. And unlike the first movie, which barely showed the alien until the end, this one has the creatures on full display. It does take its time to get to them, which turns out to be a great move for suspension building, but once the face huggers are unleashed the real terror begins.
There are definitely countless moments in this movie where you find yourself practically yelling at the screen with how stupid some of the things the characters are doing. At one point, a character stands right under an alien who is bleeding, as if he doesn’t know that the alien is bleeding acid blood. And that’s just one example. But even still, the thrills are real. There’s a very cool zero gravity alien blood sequence. And the characters are for the most part interesting. The final act is the only part of this movie that seems to go a little too far in the realm of grossness. This is a Fede Ala=varez film, after all, and he’s a horror movie director by nature. The final act definitely feels more like an Alvarez move than an alien movie move. It’s extreme and over the top, but maybe that’s what this movie needed to keep audiences shocked and on their toes. Overall this one is way better than expected.