Alien: Romulusis the ultimate piece of fan art inspired by theAlienfranchise.
Each of thesequels and prequelsis in there somehow.
Other times theyre just a splatter on the side.
The Xeno is back in Alien: Romulus.Image: Fox
Fans will love it, but you dont have to be a fan to enjoy it.
Andy, however, isnt her biological brother.
In fact hes not biological at all.
Rain and Andy in maybe the film’s best scene. Photo: Murray Close/20th Century Studio
Hes a synthetic and programmed by her parents to keep her safe.
This setup givesAlien: Romulussome interesting and ripe blocks to build from.
The friends talk about changing their fates.
Gun training. Image: 20th Century Studios
Doing better than their parents who lived and died on their planet.
Seizing a chance to do something better with their lives.
From this, you expectRomulusto continue to explore the characters spreading their wings.
Instead, the only thing they spread is their brains over various parts of the mystery ship.
Which, of course, is exactly what you want from anAlienfilm.
You want the action, the gore, and the scares.
ButAlien: Romulusso wholly pivots from its early ideas that its a bit disappointing.
Thats the only thing thats disappointing though.
OnceAlien: Romulusgets cooking, its built for pureAlienenjoyment.
You get new wrinkles with the Face Huggers.
It takes everything you love and makes it better.
If anything, the actual aliens themselves may be the least scary component.
As this is all happening, those sprinkles of the otherAlienfilms are always present.
Maybe its a piece of set decoration.
Maybe its a turn of phrase.
But its all there in a way thats rarely overwhelming or obvious.
Especially if it elevates the story which, in this case, it does.
Pacing inAlien: Romulusis also noteworthy because the whole thing continually snowballs.
In the end,Alien: Romulushas its hiccups.
In space, no one can hear you scream, but in a movie theater, they can.
And they will when you watchAlien: Romulus.Its in theaters on Friday.
Want more io9 news?
News from the future, delivered to your present.
