Rain and her robot buddy Andy, who she tries to pass off as her brother, are stuck on this dreary mining colony. They’re dreaming of getting out and heading to a sunny planet. But things take a twist when Weyland-Yutani frames them with some fake deal, leaving them no choice but to team up with their pal Tyler. His plan? Steal some cryo modules from a spooky-sounding space research station owned by Weyland-Yutani, which they’re supposed to use for their escape trip.

This station is divided into two parts named Romulus and Remus—and it’s not in great shape. It’s falling apart, on the verge of crashing into some planetary ring. Also, it’s hiding remnants of an android and eerie signs of creepy creatures that wiped out the crew there.

So, Disney’s bringing back the Alien vibes with this new flick helmed by Fede Álvarez. He loads it up with gritty B-Movie chaos while also tipping his hat to older films in the series. Honestly though, “Alien: Romulus” can sometimes feel like just a mix of greatest hits instead of something fresh. Álvarez does have some cool ideas up his sleeve—props for that—but you can tell he leans heavy on what came before.

Still, one standout element is how everyone deals with Andy the android, brought to life by David Jonsson. You might remember him from Industry—well here he’s finally got his big screen moment! As for Rain…
Andy means the world to her since he’s all that’s left of her dad, like a brother. She just can’t bring herself to tell him that once they reach the new planet, he’d be shut down. One guy in their crew sees Andy differently—kind of like a walking reminder of corporate greed. He blames a company like this for taking his mom away, making him hate all androids. But they really need Andy for the mission because only he can unlock certain parts of the space station since he’s from Weyland-Yutani. And things get messy when a company module takes over Andy, upgrading him but also messing with his orders.

Much like in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, this story keeps an eye on the robot guy throughout—but it does it in its own way, focusing on how people feel about him and spotlighting the big, bad corporations theme we know from the series. Even goes so far as to digitally bring back Ian Holm’s likeness as this unsettling ship android. Usually not a cool move but here it works because this bot isn’t supposed to act human; its creepy mask-like face fits right in with what they’re doing and gives a nod to the original film.

But Alien: Romulus doesn’t just stop at echoing Ridley Scott’s vibes. In Act Two, our heroes stumble upon an xenomorph nest—hello James Cameron territory! Plus there are some bits that…
Okay, so here’s the deal with “Alien: Romulus.” It dives back into those crazy genetic experiments from Prometheus and ends with a nod to the movie Alien Resurrection by Jeunet. The director even threw in some Easter eggs from the video game “Alien: Isolation” using stuff like old-school spaceship phones and how they’re part of the chaos unraveling.

The film’s got a good grip on things for most of the ride. But just when you think it’s wrapping up, there’s this extra showdown tacked on at the end. It feels like a bigger, more drawn-out version of that last-minute scuffle on Scott’s spaceship, which maybe wasn’t all that necessary. Honestly, they could’ve saved some of these callbacks for another sequel instead of stretching out Romulus when it’s best kept nice and tight. Also, there are way too many alien face-offs where these creatures spend ages baring their teeth and splashing goop around—which buys time for our heroes to figure out how to escape yet again.

Overall though, after all those heavy-handed sequels since the third film—and let’s not even talk about those forgettable Predator crossovers—this one nails capturing that original series vibe pretty well!