Alien: Romulus is a worthy sequel to 1979 original
Film review: Alien: Romulus (15) - seen at The Light Cinema, Wisbech
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Ian Holm
Director: Fede Alvarez Run time: One hour, 59 minutes
Reboots, prequels and sequels - sometimes it seems that Hollywood has run out of good ideas. It hasn’t of course, it just knows when there’s easy money to be made.
Which is why I wasn’t excited when the latest in the Alien franchise was announced. But on hearing from two friends who know their films that the 1979 original was a classic and that this was a direct follow-up to that, rather than part seven, I decided to give it a chance.
Many will have re-watched the original Sigourney Weaver groundbreaker to refresh their memories. I’d never seen it but thoroughly enjoyed watching it on Friday evening before viewing Romulus on Saturday afternoon. So, 35 years for some, about 18 hours for me!
And having now watched both movies I can say that the latest is, at the very least, a worthy follow-up to Ridley Scott’s original.
Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine puts in just as good a performance as Weaver did more than three decades before her and British actor David Jonsson is superb as android Andy.
The plot sees a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, as they try to escape an enslaved existence in a dystopian hell town.
The early stages of the plot are just as tense and uneasy as its predecessor, before developing into a scary, well-paced sci-fi horror.
The musical score also stays faithful to the Seventies original and there are some lovely nostalgic nods to that film too, appreciated even more by someone who had seen it merely hours before.
A posthumous, computer-enhanced performance by original actor Ian Holm as original android Ash was also a lovely touch, although the other characters in the film were quite two-dimensional - still, I think we all had a decent idea that it wasn’t worth investing too much into them…
Rating: 8/10
By: Jeremy Ransome
