Alien: Romulus (2024)

<em>'Alien: Romulus'</em> is actually very good. Of the more modern day releases from this franchise, this is the one I've enjoyed the most. When I was immediately coming out of the cinema I was just plainly thinking of it as being solidly good, however the more I think about it the more I had fun with this seventh installment. The plot, or at least the set-up to it, is quite uncreative, as in I feel like so many films - from this series included - have a crew make-up of similar people and similar characteristics/motivations; <em>'Crater'</em> and <em>'I.S.S.'</em> (both very good, don't get me wrong) are recent examples that spring to mind. Happily, though, the rest of the flick makes up for any weakness in that area. Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are the great performers in this, I found them both to be excellent throughout. Two actors I want to see much more of, having already seen them in a few pleasing pictures; e.g. <em>'Civil War'</em> and <em>'Rye Lane'</em>. I also liked the sound design and even the jump scares, which I'm not usually a fan of (bit lazy etc.) but there is enough about how they do them here that it works. Those facehuggers remain brilliantly effective, though the xenomorph isn't amazingly utilised - the human version didn't hit for me, felt <em>'I Am Legend'</em>-esque. All in all, it's up there as one of my favourites from the franchise. For me, <em>'Alien'</em> and <em>'Aliens'</em> just narrowly better this, though it's a marginal improvement on (the entertaining) <em>'Alien Resurrection'</em> and it surpasses every other release, in my eyes.