Alien : Romulus

Septième volet revenant aux fondamentaux de la franchise. Récit un peu lent à démarrer. Trouvailles ingénieuses. Réalisation tendue. Décors organiques. Interprétation inégale.

Fede Álvarez delivers an exciting new chapter in the Alien saga.

Alien: Romulus is a mostly kick-butt addition to the franchise, but it's hampered by some oddball choices that distract from the horror.

Le film de Fede Alvarez avec Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn et Aileen Wu (oui, ça fait du monde!) souffre d'un défaut majeur: sa fin. 

Après deux antépisodes plus ou moins convaincants, nous sommes heureux de voir que la franchise Alien a trouvé une manière d'offrir du « nouveau rétro ».

This is closer to a grandly efficient greatest-hits thrill ride, packaged like a video game. Yet on that level it's a confidently spooky, ingeniously shot, at times nerve-jangling piece of entertainment.

In Álvarez's final flourish, the film finally forges its own identity, pushing the franchise into a territory that it has yet to go in before. It might not stick the landing -- and in some ways it feels altogether silly -- but the twist plays so well into the gloriously indulgent mashup play that the film runs on that, by then, you're just happy to be on the rollercoaster ride.

It's got the thrills, it's got the creepy-crawlies, and it's got just enough plot to make you care about the characters. Alien: Romulus is a hell of a night out at the movies.

A final-act development lurches into overblown and slightly daffy extreme sicko horror, but there's enough that works, especially in terms of sustained tension and big juicy frights, to give the xenomorph-hungry what they want.