Nirvana for old-school "Alien" fans, Fede Alvarez's ALIEN: ROMULUS is jaw-dropping, gory, exciting and packed with Easter eggs of the slimiest green variety.
It's been years since I've heard as much applause as filled the packed IMAX house last night, when the credits rolled after one of the most relentless final acts in the entire series.
NO SPOILERS.
Matching Ridley Scott's pace of the original "Alien", we are introduced to a group of blue collar workers in a Weyland/Yutani mining colony that will look very familiar to fans of "Aliens".
We meet Rain (Cailee Spaeny, so great earlier this year in "Civil War") and her synthetic "brother" Andy (newcomer David Jonsson) as they carve out a hard life with one goal in mind, escaping this dreary planet a long way from Earth.
Rain's ex Tyler (Archie Renaux), his a-hole cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn), Kay (Isabela Merced) and Navarro (Eileen Wu) have a plan that will get them all out of their dreary existence much more quickly. It seems that there's a massive abandoned space station called Romulus Remus that lies dormant in the atmosphere above the giant rings that orbit the planet, constantly circling Saturn-style.
But why that station is abandoned and if it's actually without life quickly come into question when they dock and begin searching for the suspended animation pods and fuel they need for their plan.
Once they dock with that station, Alvarez kicks the tension and the atmosphere into overdrive.
ROMULUS takes place between the events of the original "Alien" and James Cameron's excellent sequel, "Aliens". Alvarez and his team do an incredible job taking us back to that lower tech, future world where the computers boot up slower, water and chains seem to drip in every loading dock and the corners always seem forbidding.
I'm not going to say anything more about the story and where it goes, but it delivers in every way I wanted it to. There are countless call backs to the best films in the series, both in sight and sound.
There are so many surprises and great set pieces within, it's a puzzle I want to unwrap again soon with a second viewing. It comes at you so fast after the set up opening that I know I missed a hundred things.
The creature work is incredibly good, a deft mix of actual physical effects and CGI. After enjoying the hell out of this, I'm convinced there's never been a better monster than the Xenomorph, originally designed by HR Giger back in the late 70's. It's fantastic.
Think about the first film, when that original face hugger jumped out of the egg onto John Hurt. Now, take several characters, put them in a room with dozens of face huggers who are very, very anxious to plant their eggs, make the entire scene completely silent and hang on.
When the film isn't leaning in on quiet, it's got one of the best sound design mixes this year. The explosions are huge, the scale of spaceships and contact with them is so well mixed you can almost feel them at key moments. You can also hear every rib cracking and popping when our new friends decide it's time to leave their hosts.
The acid drips echo in your head and every massive airlock door seemed to seal up the theater. You can't prepare your ears for this insane trip.
This must be The Summer of Benjamin Wallfisch. After his thrilling "Twisters" score, he delivers a roaring, moving and wholly original music for ALIEN: ROMULUS that deftly honors the legacy of Jerry Goldsmith & James Horner's beloved scores for the series.
Classic scenes abound.
The final 30 minutes re-creates the same tension and fast-paced relentless thrills of James Cameron's chapter, spinning wildly into unknown territory that I loved.
In IMAX, there is no relief (in all the right ways) in either sound or visuals in that final act.
I loved Alvarez's "Evil Dead" and "The Girl in the Spider Web", a very underrated entry in the Salander series. This is, for me, his best film to date, a sure handed tour of all your favorite moments in the series that made me smile from beginning to end. More importantly, I never knew quite where he was taking me.
Alvarez looked for members of the "Aliens" special effects team to help him create the same feel of gritty realism that film oozed. Mission accomplished.
Spaeny is terrific, creating a reluctant kick-ass heroine that would make Ellen Ripley proud. Jonsson and Renaux are also standouts, creating characters you want to survive.
Like Gareth Edwards excellent "Rogue One", ALIEN: ROMULUS is a brilliant stand-alone entry that not only honors, but elevates the film series it is born into. Get ready for thrills, people and find the biggest IMAX screen you can.
It lands an A+ for me as the third best film in the series, right behind it's timeline bookends of "Alien" & "Aliens".
High praise, and bloody well deserved.
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