The Alien franchise has had its ups and downs, but the original two films, 1979’s Alien, and 1986’s Aliens, are undeniable classics that have held up and continue to entertain. The universe the films have been set in is seemingly ruled over by the tyrannical Weyland-Yutani corporation that seems to own everything or is in the process of acquiring it. The horrifying xenomorphs that haunt it keep drawing the company and viewers back for more.

Set between those two iconic films, Alvarez’s latest film, and the ninth in the franchise has a lot of heavy lifting to do as it ties the first film directly into the events depicted in Prometheus and Covenant. Don’t worry about the AvP films, nobody else is.

And that works in good and bad ways for the film. It ties all of it together wonderfully and gives a new perspective on the company’s work on Archeron (LV-426) as seen in Aliens.

Alvarez clearly loves the franchise and has worked to painstakingly recreate the future retro look seen in the first two films (and those sound effects just send me back). And while there is plenty of solid VFX work, the space sequences are simply stunning, it’s nice to see that the practical effects are plentiful and give the xenomorphs and the facehuggers a terrifying reality that has been lacking in some of the other more recent instalments.

It is also filled with dozens of visual nods to the films of the franchise, homage shots, costumes that feel familiar, music cues and a dirty, lived-in universe that echoes the space trucker and colonial marines vibe of the Scott and Cameron classics.

Romulus takes place some twenty years after Alien, which means it takes place thirty-seven years before the sequel. On a planet 65 lightyears from Earth, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her synthetic person, Andy (David Jonsson), who seem to be in perpetual servitude to Weyland-Yutani, are contacted by a group of friends who have an ambitious plan to get to a free system.

And the things they need to make the trip are right above their heads, in orbit, in a deserted Weyland-Yutani space station.

Of course, things aren’t going to be that easy, because the station isn’t quite that deserted and things go badly for the group from there.

The first two-thirds of the film really lean in to recapturing the feel of the first film and its universe, with flavours of the second mixed in, brewing up a nice concoction, but the final act when you know there’s one last ‘scare’ coming feels almost in line with Resurrection.

Playing on the haunted house in space that worked so well for Alien, not to mention the ticking clock aspect of their mission, the stakes are high for the characters from the get-go. We are given character sketches of Rain, Andy, Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and Navarro (Aileen Wu), just enough for us to form preliminary opinions and minor attachments before things go sideways.

With reveals that begin with the opening sequence and carry on throughout the film, Alvarez makes the film completely at home in the universe that has drawn so many viewers in. And while it does expand a little on the xenomorph life cycle, the film doesn’t offer a lot that’s new for the Alien franchise.

In fact, the shot and line lifts tend to make the film and its beats a little overly familiar. Combining that with the genre it’s in, and you can see where most of it is going. That’s not to say it’s not a fun ride, I love how the film looks, but I find myself hoping that there’s a director’s cut that’s like forty miles of bad road, and expands on characters and moments and fleshes out the film into an even more terrifying experience.

There are some truly outstanding sequences in the film; the swarm of facehuggers seen in the film’s trailer is truly terrifying on the IMAX screen because you know what happens when they claim a victim, and it’s fantastic to see a practical xenomorph on screen in those future retro settings.

In the end, Alien: Romulus makes for a fun excursion into familiar territory with a final act that will be divisive for many people, even as it wraps up the story threads laid down in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.

The look, the sounds, the imagery are very much what Alien fans love and for some it will be enough, for others, they may want a little more, but all of them will want to see this one on the biggest screen possible.

Alien: Romulus opens this Friday!