Set between the original Alien and its more bombastic sequel, Aliens, Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus echoes the greatest elements of those films while also delivering his own spin on the 45-year-old franchise. There’s the elegant interplay of light and shadow from Alien, along with nods to Ridley Scott’s artful aesthetic, and finely crafted set pieces evoking the horror and sheer badassery of James Cameron’s Aliens. Alvarez expands the Alien universe by focusing on a group of twenty-somethings raised in a decrepit Weyland-Yutani colony, aiming to escape their corporate overlords. Rain, played by Cailee Spaeny, recently losing her parents to a mining operation, joins her malfunctioning android brother Andy, played by David Jonsson, in a covert mission to leave their colony, encountering horrors along the way. Despite some recurring themes, Alien: Romulus introduces a new generation to the franchise, highlighting the exploitation of workers by corporate greed and the looming threat to humanity.
