It has been awhile since a film from the Alien franchise has really hit. Alien: Romulus, directed by Fete Alvarez, is the film that has broken that streak.

The best Alien film since the original two films with Sigourney Weaver, Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus is tense, frightening, full of action and amazing to look at.

Planning to escape their nowhere jobs, a group try and convince Rain (Cailee Spaeny) to come with them to salvage cryogenic pods from a derelict space station floating above the planet’s surface. With these pods installed in their own ship, they could afford to take the nine-year journey to find a new life.

Rain has a “brother” named Andy (David Jonsson) who was actually an android and the group needs him to override security aboard the space station.

Of course, they find more aboard the space station than they expected and it leads to some awesome action sequences, some of the most creative of the franchise. And it has a surprise connection to the past that is a wonderful bit.

I was unfamiliar with the entire cast of Alien: Romulus, however, I found they all did a really great job. A couple of the characters did not have much depth to them, but it did seem as if the film did its best with the time it had to give each character a hook in which the audience could relate to them.

The film does start a little slowly, but it picks up the pace extremely well and the third act is just completely thrilling and unbelievable. The third act is bonkers and filled with amazing scary imagery and situations.

The special effects are fantastic and the alien creatures look beautifully horrifying.

When this was first announced, I was not sure this was a film I needed. It felt like this franchise has runs its course. Then, a master filmmaker like Fete Alvarez gets his hands on the franchise and breathes life into it, bringing it back to the forefront of monster movies.

I will admit that some of the trailers may have given away too much. If you can avoid those before going in, the experience may be a richer one. Either way, this is a great film.

4.8 stars