Alien: Romulus (Fede Alvarez, 2024, USA/UK/Hungary/Australia/New Zealand/Canada)

Alien: Romulus, the seventh installment in the Alien franchise (excluding the Alien vs. Predator films), represents a return to form for the franchise. Instead of diving deeper into the lore of the Alien universe, Alien: Romulus goes back to basics, essentially delivering the greatest hits of Alien and Aliens, while dropping a few Easter eggs to those familiar with the lesser-known films in the franchise. Much in the same way they did with the Star Wars franchise, Disney has Disney-fied the Alien franchise, playing on the themes, motifs, and imagery that made the franchise successful in the first place, while not offering anything much in the way of innovation or surprise.

Director Fede Alvarez and his team must be commended for using practical effects here. The sets and visual effects are some of the best things about the film (the one glaring exception here being the return as the android Ash from the first film, played by the AI-generated version of the late actor Ian Holm). The cast is passable, and the one noteworthy performance comes from David Johnson as the android Andy, carrying the tradition of androids and their moral dilemmas that reoccur throughout the Alien franchise.

Alien: Romulus perhaps owes more to video games than any prior film in the franchise. In many respects, the film feels like a video game, as we follow the characters through various levels. It is no surprise that Alvarez was influenced by video games including Alien: Isolation during the making of the film. Given the financial success of Romulus, we are likely to see more Alien films in theaters shortly. One hopes that these deliver a bit more in the way of surprises and deeper exploration of the film's universe, which has been richly fleshed out in other films in the franchise.

6/10