This post was updated Aug. 18 at 9:06 p.m.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

“Alien: Romulus” launches the franchise into orbit for the first time in almost 40 years, despite presenting a familiar experience that is anything but alien.

The latest generation of the “Alien” film genealogy, written and directed by dormant horror franchise caretaker Fede Álvarez, burst into theaters Friday. Orphan Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her android brother Andy (David Jonsson) join a risky mission to an abandoned space station, salvaging parts in hopes of escaping their industrialized home planet. Once they discover a dormant alien threat and unravel the Weyland-Yutani corporation’s evil motives, they navigate a maze of thrilling sci-fi set pieces in a desperate attempt to escape.

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More than any sequel before it, “Romulus” is a recreation of the original “Alien” experience. Narratively set between Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror film “Alien” and James Cameron’s 1986 action sequel “Aliens,” the film revives 80s production sensibilities, with remarkable practical effects destroying retro-futurist sets lined with chunky buttons and LCD screens. The film honors Scott’s original themes of artificial sentience and corporate greed while paring down the extraterrestrial cast to primarily the facehuggers and xenomorphs seen in “Alien.” “Romulus” strikes a middle ground between the pure horror of “Alien” and the action of “Aliens,” finding an engaging balance of jump scares and high-octane sequences.

With a familiar scene set, a familiar story unfolds. Too familiar, one might argue – some audiences may feel that “Romulus” is a mere retelling of the original “Alien.” This is not a film that just pays homage to its roots but rather occasionally plucks entire plot sequences, shots and twists out of the films that came before. The camera will occasionally pause for a beat amid an establishing shot, begging the audience to recognize an iconic set or prop Álvarez has resurrected.

The worst example of this self-indulgent behavior is Rook, a half-destroyed android whose allegiance to the sinister Weyland-Yutani corporation puts him at odds with the heroes. Rook shares the likeness of Ash from “Alien,” with Ian Holm’s face projected atop another actor’s performance, despite Holm’s death in 2020. Watching a decaying, corpselike android relay a performance from a dead man is harrowing.

So, why use Holm’s likeness at all? Because “Romulus” is not just a retelling of “Alien.” Instead, it is a warped mirror image, completely flipping familiar situations to create narrative depth. In this film, the cast distrust the Weyland-Yutani corporation from the beginning, a marked difference from the crew of “Alien.” Andy, the android among them, is not only revealed immediately, but is presented as a hero from the beginning. Even small details align with this philosophy: the crew use cryofreeze technology to fight aliens, the opposite of “Alien’s” flamethrowers, and the iconic cat is replaced with a ship full of mice in “Romulus.” Everything is the opposite of how it once was.

This subversion regularly preys on audience expectations. When Rook’s familiar face issues the crew a command in “Romulus,” the audience is primed to rebuke it, much like the crew of “Alien” rebuked Ash’s demands to escape. Instead, Rain and her companions must eventually comply with Rook’s instructions – defying audience expectations. For anyone not familiar with the source material, these warped parallels do not diminish the film’s story in any way – it remains an immersive ride throughout. For those aware of Scott’s original work, these flipped scenarios ensure the film feels fresh as it provides thematic depth to both “Romulus” and its progenitors.

Everything else neatly coalesces around this solid script, including the actors’ performances. Spaeny brings exemplary final-girl energy to her performance as Rain in a departure from her youthful roles in “Civil War” and “Priscilla” this past year. Her frequent interlocutor Andy oscillates between a pitiful child and a menacing corporate device, but Jonsson elegantly keeps up, ensuring the audience feels Rain’s protective urge for him throughout the story.

The other characters in the film do not receive nearly as much attention, to the film’s detriment. The film gives explicit, limited backstories – the scavenger crew is full of orphans, siblings, cousins, a pregnant woman and more – but little of it stands out as the audience attempts to connect with the supporting cast. The emotions felt in death scenes are intensity and fright, not sadness that these characters, whose names the audience never quite grasped, will never fulfill their dream of a better life. These men and women are fodder for the movie’s monsters, and they fill their roles as expected.

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When the monsters do strike, there is occasionally something lacking. The film’s sound design can be loud and blaring even when there is no action or monster to gawk at, making the true jumpscares lose their punch. Additionally, the film generally succeeds with close-up camera work to heighten terror, but it maintains these tight angles a little too frequently amid some action sequences, leading to an occasional lack of visual clarity.

But these issues are usually minor quibbles – save for the audacious zombification of Holm. “Romulus” is still an immersive experience complete with stellar practical effects, immaculate production design, engaging screenwriting and solid performances. This is not a cash grab that conflated a big budget and grand visuals for quality. Instead, it is the product of care, hard work and a fastidious understanding of what makes the original films excel.

“Alien: Romulus” succeeds as both a nostalgic reimagining of “Alien” and a standalone film, a feat that feels extraterrestrial in the modern Hollywood landscape.