Rain and her android Andy, who she pretends is her brother, are stuck in a dreary mining colony and desperately want to find a sunny planet to call home. But the sneaky Weyland-Yutani corporation tricks them with a bogus offer. With no other options, they take up their friend Tyler’s wild idea: stealing cryo modules from a Weyland-Yutani space research station to make their own journey. Only thing is, this station is split into two sections, Romulus and Remus, it’s falling apart, and about to crash into a planet’s ring. Oh, and it has the remains of an android plus signs of some creepy creatures that wiped out the crew.

Alien: Romulus brings the Alien saga back but with Disney’s touch for the first time. Directed by Fede Álvarez, who adds some gritty B-Movie vibes but mixes plenty of nods to previous films in the series.

It ends up feeling more like a mix tape of past flicks rather than something entirely new. However, Álvarez does introduce fresh ideas here and there. What really stands out are the interactions between characters when it comes to Andy, played impressively by David Jonsson—he nailed it on TV’s Industry but now gets his big-screen moment! For Rain…
Andy is all that’s left of his dad for this crew, and he’s like a brother to them. The problem? They just can’t bring themselves to tell him the truth: when they get to their destination, he’ll basically be obsolete. Meanwhile, another team member sees Andy as everything wrong with the corporation that took their mom away, making them despise all androids. But here’s the kicker—Andy is super important for their mission ’cause he’s got these special access rights on this orbiting station thanks to being built by Weyland-Yutani. And if that wasn’t enough, Andy ends up being taken over by a company module that gives him a fancy upgrade but also messes with his original orders.

Just like in those other movies like Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, a lot of what’s happening revolves around an android. But here it’s different, focusing more on how humans feel about the whole situation and diving into corporate shenanigans that are kind of a hallmark of the series. Something wild Álvarez did was digitally bringing back Ian Holm’s look for this sketchy ship android character. Normally, people might find that super tacky, but it works here ’cause this android looks totally busted up so his face doesn’t really need to pull off looking human at all—it suits the story perfectly while giving a nod to the first movie.

But Alien: Romulus isn’t just sticking with Ridley Scott vibes; it jumps into James Cameron territory in act two when our main folks run smack into a xenomorph nest. There’s even more stuff where…
So, this movie takes the genetic experiments from “Prometheus” and adds a bit of flavor from “Alien: Resurrection.” Plus, the director threw in some ideas from the game “Alien: Isolation” with those onboard phones that play a role as everything starts going south.

For most of the film, things are working well. But then they tack on this big showdown at the end. It’s supposed to remind you of that little face-off in Scott’s film, but here it drags out way longer than necessary. Honestly, they could’ve saved that Jeunet movie reference for another sequel instead of making “Alien: Romulus” run long when being concise is what makes it shine. Another thing—they overdo it with face-to-face moments with aliens. There’s a lot of teeth baring and liquid spraying, which just gives characters more time to figure out how to escape those xenomorphs.

Overall though? After all the heavy follow-ups since the third movie and those forgettable meetups with Predator, it’s sorta nice to see something trying to capture that original vibe again. It might not feel completely fresh, but it’s like getting some cool air recycling through an AC. Compared to cooling off “Predator” with “Prey,” this attempt doesn’t quite hit the same mark but still gets by.
Álvarez brings some cool new stuff to the mix, and honestly, he pulls it off pretty well. Cailee Spaeny isn’t exactly a Ripley-style action hero, but she definitely holds her own and leaves an impression.