Romulus”, a seventh successful film, faithful to the spirit of the saga

“Alien: Romulus”, the latest chapter in the famous science fiction horror saga, directed by Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez, has been on French screens since August 14.

One of the great qualities of the franchise Aliencompared to many others in cinema, is that with a few exceptions, it has suffered very little decline in quality or road trips since Ridley Scott’s original film in 1979 and the five others that followed it. Until Alien: Romulus.

The events here take place, precisely, between the events of the first two films. We follow a group of young space colonists in search of freedom and a better life on another planet, who dock with a drifting ship to steal its cryogenic pods, but will inevitably be confronted with the famous extraterrestrial creatures.

Fede Alvarez, talented director of the remake of the horror classic evil Dead and more recently of Don’t Breathewhere young burglars were trapped in the house of a blind and sadistic old man, strives to remain faithful to the imposed figures of the saga, expected and even demanded by the fans, while renewing it with its own vision, for an extremely successful and effective result.

To the Uruguayan filmmaker’s credit, in particular, an exposition that takes the time to introduce us to the issues and characters before letting loose in the action or survival scenes. Some scenes attest to his great virtuosity: in one, the protagonists must keep quiet and not stress or sweat under penalty of being spotted, in another it is weightlessness that allows them to better resist the xenomorphs that attack in groups.

Finally, we also really appreciated the very strong and touching friendship between the two main characters: Rain, the young girl played by Cailee Spaeny, seen as Priscilla Presley in Sofia Coppola’s film, and Andy, the android played by the revelation David Jonsson.