'Alien: Romulus' Is Firmly One Of The Best Movies In The Franchise. FULL REVIEW!
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Let me give this a little backstory.
For my money's worth, Alien is one of the most fascinating franchises in all of movies. Sir Ridley Scott, LEGEND, creates the iconic original movie which helps start the sci fi boom (along with Star Wars a couple years previous). It is an incredible horror movie that introduces us to arguably the greatest female action hero ever in Ripley. James Cameron, LEGEND, takes over and makes 'Aliens', pivoting away from straight horror and making one of the greatest action sci fi movies ever made. David Fincher, LEGEND, takes over and makes 'Alien 3', an imperfect and misunderstood character study.
Three of the greatest directors of our era who all made three very different movies within the same franchise. And all this praise is without even mentioning the very underrated 'Prometheus', Scott's prequel movie. This is all to say that this franchise is pretty amazing which is why I was very excited when Fede Alvarez was announced as the director for this movie. He previously did a very solid late installment to a franchise in 'Evil Dead' and, more importantly, did an amazing job with 'Don't Breathe' His experience on the latter, which is a small-scale horror movie that is keyed in on the senses, fits so perfectly with what makes Xenomorphs scary.
I am happy to report that, for one of the lone times this summer, optimism for a movie has paid off. 'Alien: Romulus' is a fantastic installment to the franchise and one of the best movies of the summer. Like usual, I'll give it to you in some quick pros and cons.
PROS:
- This movie is a perfect blend of 'Alien' and 'Aliens'. There is a lot of focus on luring in the audience and delivering well earned scares and the pure action sequences are also great.
- The production value is everything you could hope for and more. There is a very clear emphasis on practical effects which, in my opinion, clear CGI 10/10 times in the horror genre. There are big, real sets, cool props and very unsetting creature work.
- The big CGI pieces they do have look amazing. Some of these space squences are among the best I've seen in movies.
- The cast is great. Cailee Spaney is solidifying herself as the next it-girl and David Jonsson did great work as well.
- You'll see a lot of people talking about the third act and deservedly so. It is really scary and introduces you to some stuff you've never seen in this franchise before.
CONS:
- I liked the first two acts a lot but I could also see why some critics are complaining about the pace.
- It could definitely use a little more of it's own identity but maybe that wasn't totally the idea.
- There is one creative call about a reference to the original movie that I disagree with. I can't say a ton more without spoiling but I wasn't a huge fan.
Overall, this movie a great time It's one of the best movies of this summer and if you're not a person who typically makes it out to the theater, let this be one of the occasions.
The movie comes out tomorrow with Thursday night previews tonight.