The Screen Addict Recommends – 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻: 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘂𝘀 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰)

This is freakin’ awesome.

Fede Alvarez’ take on the franchise follows a young mining-crew battling the shimmering beast on a derelict space-station.

It’s not particularly groundbreaking, and I’m fine with that. More importantly – 𝗔:𝗥 plays like a beautiful love-letter to all previous entries in the enduring Saga of the Xenomorph.
The many tributes to Scott, Cameron and even Jeunet almost made this Alien-aficionado’s head explode.

Did you spot them too?

I actually did two back-to-back viewings to confirm every Alien Easter-egg.

[SPOILERS]

Obviously 𝗔:𝗥 features a couple of fairly explicit throwbacks, like The Big Chap, Nostromo debris, Ash/Rook, a proto Pulse-Rifle, The Hive, another Atmosphere Processor, more Black Goo…

Not to mention the direct quote “Get away from her, you B*TCH!” – which was a bit too much on-the-nose for my taste, but I’m sure it got a rapturous response in US theaters.

There are less conspicuous nods too, though.

Alvarez and his crew wisely continue the gorgeous production and sound design of 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻 (𝟭𝟵𝟳𝟵) and 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘀 (𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟲), while franchise-newbe Benjamin Wallfisch incorporates several Goldsmith and Horner cues in his soundtrack.

Spike Fearn’s Bjorn is obviously a younger version of Bill Paxton’s Pvt. Hudson, and Cailee Spaeny’s Rain and Archie Renaux’ Tyler share a nice scene that is reminiscent of Hicks teaching Ripley how to use the M41A Pulse-Rifle.

Actually, there are several Hero-Shots of Rain that are obvious visual quotes of Ripley in 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻 and 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘀.

The zero-gravity shooting gallery is another nod to a scene from Cameron’s masterpiece, albeit a less widely-known one. It refers to a sequence in the Extended Edition, in which the UA 571-C Automated Sentry Guns are deployed to ward off a massive Xenomorph attack.

The Black-Goo infected rat-Xenomorph hybrid the crew finds in the lab, strongly reminded me of the Ripley Clones in 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻: 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟳). As did Rain’s final showdown with the Engineer-like creature, which is clearly a reference to The Newborn fight in Jeunet’s film.

And then there is the obligatory drinking-bird toy. The exact implication of this franchise regular is unknown, although a popular theory is that it indicates the unrelenting passage of time during a crew’s hypersleep.

Did I miss any?

Aileen Wu’s bald head perhaps refers to Fincher’s 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝟯?

Is The Xenomorph stabbing and then lifting up Tyler with its tail may be a salute to Paul W.S. Anderson’s 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝘃𝘀. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 (𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟰)?

In any event…

The franchise is in capable hands with Alvarez.

Seek it out & get your fix.

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