Now, I know the title from the mostly okay movie from the 2018 film. It doesn’t have the best reviews but having watched it again post book completion I can understand why but I still find it an entertaining enough movie. Anyway, our story takes place on a “dark and stormy night” which I feel is always a wonderfully dramatic way to start a story. As the story opens we’re introduced to our main characters of Meg Murry, Charles Wallace, their mother Katherine and, eventually, Calvin O’Keefe. Poor Calvin was not much liked by my daughter to begin with and even though her stance softened by the end, was none too pleased to discover he and Meg marry later in the series. Additionally we meet Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which, three supernatural beings who are the catalyst for Meg, Charles and Calvin’s adventures to rescue Dr. Alex Murray; Meg and Charles’ father. Along the way we visit far off planets and the villain of our story called the Black Thing.

As I read through there was plenty of religious messaging in there, particularly when referring to the fight between the light and the dark. It’s not subtle but nothing that feels overpowering or preachy, least not in my view anyway and I’m pretty far from being a religious person. What I did find comforting was it’s messaging around being yourself, taking pride in who you are, and not feeling like you have to conform. As I read this to my tween daughter I hoped that some of this messaging sunk in as she is going through such a transformative time as she not only navigates her first year of high school but changes that come about from puberty, too. For the same reason, I’ve been very focussed on movies, games and stories that feature strong female characters whether they are the hero (most preferred) or a main character in the story. Reading to her about Meg and how she was able to figure things out and overcome the challenges she faced with her intelligence and wit was very important the more we read through the story.

In Summary

A short review to kick this new section off and a way to test the layout but what I will say about A Wrinkle in Time is that it is worth your time to read, especially if you have a tween or young teenage daughter. Meg is a fantastic heroine who no doubt paved the way for future strong characters such as Katniss Everdeen. If you worried about some of the religious symbolism, don’t be, as there’s plenty more to the story and its messaging that just the relgious aspect.

Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows Rain and her group of friends ill-fated expedition to scavenge a recently discovered station in orbit of the world they’re living. Her need is desperate as Weyland-Yutani continue to increase her quota requirements to leave and the planet she’s on is, well, pretty awful. Here we see another one of Weyland-Yutani’s attempts at “building better worlds” and whilst, on the planet’s surface at least, things are going better than Hadley’s Hope (LV-426) it’s not a picnic either. There’s a rampant new disease, work deaths aplenty and they’re on a planet that never sees their system’s sun. So when an opportunity presents itself to leave the system for good, it’s hard to blame Rain and her friends decision to get the heck out of there.

Unfortunately, the station harbours a dark secret and what ensues, whilst very safe in terms of its narrative and arc, is an action packed romp with some fun callbacks to other movies in the franchise. Not all of them hit and more than one is a bit cringy, but it doesn’t quite go full fan-service and tells its own story in the confines of the universe it’s set in. It’s what Alien: Resurrection should have done, there was no need to bring Ripley back after her three-movie arc had completed and the existence of the Xenomorphs on the USM Auriga could’ve been explained in multiple different ways. In fact, Alien: Romulus does this rather neatly even if I felt it was a bit of a stretch.

Ultimately some of the characters you’re introduced to are a little thin but I’m sure you can figure out why that might be. The story of Alien: Romulus circles around Rain and brother Andy and spends precious little time with the rest of the cast. That’s not to say we know nothing about them or their own motivations, it’s just that the movie uses Rain to drive the movie forward much like Ripley did. I’m not wholly against this and is very typical of the horror genre. It keeps the story tight and prevents things getting too bogged down with exposition. I also felt that a particularly characters presence, due to how, was a little jarring, equally though it made sense given when this movie is set within the timeline.

Alien: Romulus is by far the best entry to the franchise since Aliens. Some have been decent (Alien 3) whilst others have been woeful (Alien: Resurrection & Prometheus). It shows that you can have the classic Xenomorph without having drag Ripley in somehow. Sure, she’s central to the original movies, but there’s lots of lore outside of her story to provide adequate settings for other movies. Alien: Romulus ties itself smartly to the timeline but remains able to tell its own story much like Alien: Isolation did albeit as a video game. I’m hoping that this movie is a success and that we can, hopefully, have more Alien movies that can tell a decent story but provide good scares and provide interesting twists and turns.

5 facehuggers out of 5