On the strength of the chilling suspense he brought to such films as Don’t Breathe, there’s a lot of anticipation over having the Uruguayan director at the helm of this latest installment - which, timeline-wise, occurs between Alien and Aliens. This is technically the eighth Alien film, a franchise about to have as many lives as a cat. From directors Ridley Scott to James Cameron and now Fede Alvarez, it’s been quite a ride for this IP and its most recognizable character, Ripley.
On the strength of the chilling suspense he brought to such films as Don’t Breathe, there’s a lot of anticipation over having the Uruguayan director at the helm of this latest installment - which, timeline-wise, occurs between Alien and Aliens. That may be the timeline, but despite the fan service and Easter eggs, this is practically a standalone story, so it doesn’t matter if this will be your first exposure to the Alien franchise. The action takes place on a space mining colony and how a band of young colonizers attempt to escape the planet via an excursion on a derelict space station that’s floating in the planet’s atmosphere.
There’s not much to the narrative as it’s all about making the new lead characters resonate with us, then bringing on the face-huggers and the fully-developed aliens - we know the drill. There’s a definite slow burn to this film, as Fede seems to be teasing us on purpose, wallowing in exposition and introducing the characters. Rain Carradine (Cailee Spa.