Director: Fede Álvarez
Cast: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced
Have I Seen it Before: No… Except for… No. I’ll get to that in a minute.
Did I Like It: With last year’s strike, it feels like there just haven’t been that many movies released this year, and as such I was a little worried that my best-of list at the end of the year would be mostly 2023 films which didn’t see a wide release until this year.
Happy to report that his film shoots up to the tippy-top of the list. It is the best film of the series since Aliens (1986) by several miles. The production design of the film is top notch, always selling me on the fact that this takes place between Alien (1979) and its sequel. I’ve never been more delighted to report that in the future, the Commodore 64 will see something of a renaissance.
The movie takes the Xenomorphs in new directions, and nearly all of those new directions are terrifying. I spent most of the two-hour runtime with my with my jaw on the floor or recoiling in terror. Much of my obscene tank of popcorn masquerading as a small did not get eaten.
This praise is not without some very real reservations. While it is the best since Aliens, neither of the first two movies’ positions as all-time greats are threatened here. Mainly my qualms comes in the shape of fan service. I’m not reflexively anti-fan service. A film can truck exclusively in fan service (I’m looking in your direction, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) and still be enjoyable within that context. References to what has come before are fine too. I’m honestly kind of charmed by this film being a soft reboot for the franchise, while also not being at all ashamed of what came before, when we might have forgiven them for ignoring some of what had come before. The problem comes with dialogue call backs. Andy (Jonsson, easily the MVP of the cast) indicates he prefers the term “artificial person,” I’m fine. When Andy also tries to give one of the xenomorphs an order which we all heard before, I rolled my eyes, but everyone else in the theater cheered. Maybe I’m wrong? When Rain concludes the film with a log entry proclaiming her final girl status, I can’t help but be a tad disappointed that a film which was so well-crafted and felt so fresh (the intermediate stage between full-xenomorph and chestburster, anyone?) decides to offer us these sort of nuggets that never feel quite as right as the rest of the film surrounding it.