‘Romulus’ Injects New Life Into Iconic ‘Alien’ Franchise

The ‘Alien’ franchise has certainly had its ups and downs over the years. The first two films (1979 and 1986) became decent hits and, even though the sequel was highly acclaimed during its initial release, the first film was met with mixed reactions at first. After the 1986 sequel, the series delivered a couple mediocre sequels and a couple crossovers with ‘Predator’ (which weren’t really the best).

After its prequel series (Prometheus/Alien: Covenant), the film series sort of went quiet for a while. Now, one of the most iconic sci-fi/horror series is back in a big way in ‘Alien: Romulus.’

While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

After seeing the first couple trailers for ‘Romulus,’ I can easily tell that the filmmakers were trying to bring it back to its scary horror roots. And, they definitely succeeded! As soon as I saw the trailers, I was really hooked.

There are quite a few moments in ‘Alien: Romulus’ that can give you a good scare. This long-awaited sequel really does an incredible job making this entry feel dark and brooding, just like the first couple installments.

Once the space colonizers enter the rundown space station, the intensity really kicks in. Just like the first two films, the chases between the Xenomorphs and the humans are really suspenseful and thrilling.

There’s one scene where the remaining colonizers have to try to go through a room full of the iconic face-huggers without being detected. That entire scene is extremely tense! There’s also a scene that just about beats the infamous chest-burster sequence from the first film. In fact, it actually comes really close to beating the infamous sequence.

I’m not going to spoil anything about the third act, but it does feature something that ‘Alien’ fans will either like or dislike. Yet, with how intense the third act is and how everything ended, I really enjoyed it.

The cast that’s featured in the movie did a great job and actress Cailee Spaeney (who also starred in this year’s ‘Civil War’) did a remarkable job carrying this movie and her character is almost like this movie’s Ripley in a way.

If you are a fan of the series (or at least the first couple of films), then make sure to check out ‘Alien: Romulus’ on the big screen. The latest entry delivers lots of great thrills, a few surprises and nods to the other films and does a great job extending the world of ‘Alien.

The cast: Cailee Spaeney as Rain; David Jonssen as Andy; Archie Renaux as Tyler; Spike Fearn as Bjorn; Aileen Wu as Navarro and Isabela Merced as Kay.

‘Romulus’ is written by Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues (both collaborated on the ‘Don’t Breathe’ movies and Netflix’s ‘Texas Chainsaw’ sequel) and also directed by Alvarez.

Future ‘Alien’ movies were announced to be in development at the 2019 CinemaCon and ‘Romulus’ was officially announced in 2022. Just like the first couple films in the series, physical sets, practical creatures and miniatures were used whenever possible to help ground later visual effects work.

Initially, ‘Alien: Romulus’ was originally intended to be released directly on Hulu, but Disney/20th Century Studios changed it to a theatrical release shortly before filming started.

‘Alien: Romulus’ is rated R for bloody violent content and language and has a running time of two hours.

Let me know on my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page on Facebook what you thought of the latest ‘Alien’ movie and what your favorite installment of the franchise is. And also make sure to keep checking on the page to see what I plan on working on next!

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