Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Mercad, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, Rosie Ede, Soma Simon, Bence Okeke, Victor Orizu, Robert Bobroczkyi, Trevor Newlin, Annemarie Griggs, Ian Holm, Daniel Betts.

If you truly think back and think of all the films you claim to have been frightened by, where true terror has caused your heart to miss a beat, where you have felt your nerves shredded by the appearance of a creature so terrifying, then surely it can only be a handful; and then just one of them can be the mother of them all…Alien.

So high was the bar set in 1979 when the ultimate space/slasher/science fiction film hit the cinemas that even its own sequels and side projects have not been able to find a way to replicate the sensation since; many have tried, ultimately many have fallen short, and none have come close.

Alien: Romulus strives with increasing alacrity to deliver for the fan and cinema goer a film that at least pays homage to the sheer sweat of cold fear imagined 45 years ago, its zeal is one to admire, the tension for the greater part is ramped up to the point where the viewer considers the folly of humanity’s insistence of exploration of the stars to be beyond madness, it is damnation, it is, as the true horror of the piece makes itself know, death incarnate.

This is not to say that the film is perfect, far from it, at times it feels clunky, deprived of even basic keenness of spirit in some of the actors understanding of what they are immersing themselves into, and yet David Jonsson gives a powerful reminder of the conflicted artificial mind to be found in his portrayal of Andy, Cailee Spaeny frames the narrative well in a similar fashion to the then almost unknown Sigourney Weaver in the first film in the long running franchise; and the film itself would not have the same weight of interest if the effects team had not resurrected the facial expressions and tone of voice in their effort to bring the much loved and dearly missed Ian Holm back to the screen in a version of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation synthetic machine as its human-like antagonist.

The human characters, or at least a machine’s version in some cases, do not hold a candle to the creature itself, and like the 1986 sequel, there are more than the mind can hold back, this is rampant, it is a living black, acid blood fest of destruction, and the coldness of its existence is there in every menacing shot, every alarming, foreboding moment on screen.

Alien: Romulus is arguably one of the closest films to the original, it might be called a fan pleaser, but those who embrace the lore of the universe it is set in are amongst the hardest to please; and for this reason, the latest addition to the Alien franchise should be given the grace and applause it roundly deserves.

Ian D. Hall