Alien: Romulus – A Worthy Addition to the Franchise!

Ridley Scott's "Alien" (1979) and "Aliens" (1986) are two of the most iconic horror monster movies of the last 25 years.  Fede Alvarez (Writer/Director) has done an excellent job sticking to the basics of what made these two prior films classics, and adds a few interesting and thought-provoking wrinkles and curve-balls, as well. Rain (Cailee Spaeny) is a blue-collar employee of a large company.  She has been working for years on a planet without any sunshine, in a toxic mine that previously also killed her parents.  She has finished her tour of duty, but the company informs her that it has just extended her tour for ten more years, and she has no way to appeal the decision.  This has also has happened to four of her good friends.  Rain is very close to her synthetic, Andy (David Jonsson), who has been with her since her childhood – they relate to each other as siblings.  His directive is to do what's best for her. One of Rain's friends has spotted a vacant, unaccounted-for space station.  The station has cryo pods required for suspended animation, needed for inter-galactic travel.  Rain, Andy, and their four friends decide to go AWOL, hop onto the space station, steal six cryo pods, return to their space ship, and then travel to a different galaxy, where they can live on a life-supporting planet with sunshine.  Unfortunately, guess who's also on the space station! Alvarez gets fine performances from the cast, especially Spaeny and Jonsson.  There are great sets, and the film has terrific CGI.  The "Alien" plays a huge part in the film and is in many scenes, but he doesn't deserve an AA, since his role lacks subtlety and has only limited range.  The movie is fun, suspenseful, and very scary at times, which is what you want from a good horror flick.  The pacing is good and the film is just about the right length (2 hours). Although the film is apolitical, it nevertheless makes a compelling case for tighter border controls!