Alien: Romulus

After venturing into ‘Origins’ territory with Prometheus and Covenant, Romulus takes us back into the original quartet, with a new crew exploring the abandoned Nostromo docking station, which is overrun with face-huggers, who now seem to roam free without lurking in their Classic Greek plant pots. Corridors are lavishly decorated with eviscerated victims of the invaders.

Romulus does little more than rehash the first Alien, with the crew being picked off one at a time and trying vainly to find safe zones in the space station. But in the original all the crew members – not just Ripley (Sigourney Weaver, still much missed) – were distinct and distinctive characters. Here they are just meat for the grinders. Only the ‘synth’, Andy (David Jonsson) has a degree of individuality, and he is upstaged by the CGI guest reappearance of Ian Holm, the original synth from the Nostromo.

Explosive ‘birthings’ and close-ups of the silver-jawed aliens are not enough. The pace is relentless, the soundtrack loud, the lighting too dim for my tired eyes. Re-watching Covenant recently, it seemed to be reaching for an epic, mythical Lord of the Rings grandeur. Romulus has more of a Deadpool or Fast and the Furious crude immediacy. Under-scripted and down-marketed, this is a real dog’s breakfast of a movie. One of the most anticipated films of the year, a huge disappointment.