Don't overthink "Alien: Romulus," a thrilling adventure that doesn't aspire beyond its homage orbit

Forty-five years after “Alien” launched horror into space, little hasn’t been analyzed about its hissing xenomorphs, face-huggers or the lingering untrustworthiness of “synthetic persons.” These recycle endlessly through a franchise that is ever expanding, like space itself, but the metaphorical power of the 1979 original and its 1986 sequel, “Aliens,” still inspire appreciative analyses all these decades later. “Romulus” is set between the events of “Alien” and “Aliens,” two of the four movies built around Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley and everything her corporate overlords stole from her: motherhood, stability and plain old peace. Álvarez directed a capable update of one of the best with 2013’s “Evil Dead,” followed by “Don’t Breathe," in which he soaks long silences in dread, And that is what we have in “Alien: Romulus” – a good time that drives like it’s on rails but slows down the action to steep us in fright. Since the notion of “best” is subjective, for our purpose let’s say “Alien” and “Aliens” set the bar – although, for superfans, there is no such thing as a truly bad alien movie. Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine and David Jonsson as Andy in "Alien: Romulus" Jonsson, a familiar face from HBO’s “Industry” tops that list with a performance that shifts between a glitchy, affectionate simpleton whose only purpose is to protect his sister until, inevitably, circumstances upgrade him to meet the enemy on its level.