Alien: Romulus (2024)

Greatest-hits albums are fun until you notice nobody wrote anything new, and Alien: Romulus spends a lot of its 119 minutes playing covers. Famous lines come back almost verbatim, the corridors look lifted straight from the original, and one computer-made face looks like a rough draft somebody forgot to finish. Fede Álvarez is much better when he invents. Rain dodging floating droplets of alien acid in zero gravity is the best new idea this series has had in ages. David Jonsson is the real star as Andy, a glitchy android who tells corny jokes, and when an upgrade changes him, Jonsson plays both versions like different people. Cailee Spaeny makes Rain a tired, practical survivor instead of a Ripley copy. The young crew is likable and mostly there to make bad calls. It made $350.9 million worldwide on a reported $80M. A 6.6 because the new ideas are sharp and the nostalgia keeps grabbing the wheel. $351.27 says you end up liking Andy more than every human on that station and defend his corny jokes to anyone.

What works: David Jonsson’s Andy is the warmest presence on the station, and the zero gravity acid sequence is a genuinely fresh set piece.

What doesn’t: It leans on recycled lines and familiar shots so hard that it often feels like a tribute act, and one digital face looks unfinished.

Who it’s for: Alien fans who want the franchise back in dark, sweaty corridors, and newcomers who don’t mind missing a few references.