REVIEW: ‘Alien: Romulus’ Is The Alien Film I’ve Been Wanting

Sometimes, returning to your roots is better. Alien: Romulus is an instance of honoring the past, writing the future, and capturing the movie magic, even as the sixth installment of a franchise. From producer Ridley Scott and writer-director Fede Alvarez (with writer Rodo Sayagues), Alien: Romulus recaptures the suffocating sci-fi horror and thrill of Scott’s first voyage with the Nostromo.

To keep it simple, the film’s logline showcases how Alien: Romulus looks to the past: “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” While the film’s base structure is extremely close to 1979’s Alien, Alvarez is careful to use his specific cinematic style to craft something new in the franchise.

With a cast of young stars, which include Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu, there is a level of naivete injected into the franchise. Poor children living in a mining colony all dream of traveling to a new system nine years away. There, they can be free of their debt and Weyland-Yutani’s capitalistic noose. At its center, there is Rain (Spaeny) and her brother Andy (Jonsson). Roped into her friend’s scheme to escape their colony, what they find on an abandoned station may not be worth what they stand to gain from stealing from the ship.

Some may chide Alien: Romulus for its video game aesthetic. At times, the way the characters traverse parts of the abandoned station or fight xenomorphs evokes some of the best horror games. However, it’s a plus for me, with homage seemingly pulled from Dead Space regarding production design and action. That said, Alien: Romulus never feels derivative. Instead, Alvarez gives audiences a masterclass in expanding a franchise while understanding what made it a beloved favorite to begin with.

The dedication to practical effects and capturing the banality of space portrayed in the original film is a sharp move away from the most recent franchise installments, Covenant and Prometheus. In doing so, Alien: Romulus returns to its roots without resting on its laurels. There is something to be said for capturing the head of a chestburster emerging from cracked ribs in the tactile way that practical effects work offers. But beyond that, the film’s innovation is shown nowhere clearer than in its creature design, practical and otherwise.

Sleek, disgusting, and vicious, these iterations of the iconic xenomorphs use their bodies to maximum effect, with a finale that you’ll have to fight not to see when you close your eyes. From creature designs to a stunning soundscape that twists the tension tighter and tighter, Fede Alvarez has put horror first. With well-timed and intelligently designed jump scares, Alvarez keeps you on the edge of your seat, all accelerated by the creaking abandoned station.

Alvarez ramps up the intensity in Alien: Romulus and doesn’t allow his audience to exhale. It’s a choice that absolutely pays off and thrives on the scariest thing about space horror – confinement and danger. The third act is where everything pays off. It’s the most unique of the film and allows Alvarez to leave his signature on the franchise.

If there is anything to critique, it’s in the characters. While Alien: Romulus is a kinetically paced film that doesn’t let up after the first 15 minutes pass, its characters do not propel it. Ultimately, the entire ensemble cast exists to be fodder for the xenomorphs. Sure, there are surface-level connections between each of the characters, but they have the depth to make them interesting. The only exceptions are Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson as Rain and Andy.

While they both are rigid at times, their connection and how they play off of each other ground the story. Rain evolves from a vulnerable and desperate character to a woman cut from the same cloth as Ellen Ripley. The only issue is that her trajectory for growth doesn’t have as much impact as that of the heroine she’s modeled after. With too many calls to Weaver’s iconic final girl and action star, Rain is consumed by it at times.

In stark contrast, however, is Andy. Jonsson steals the film by adding a new level of emotion and context around Weyland-Yutani’s Synthetics. Andy is the film’s heart and, ultimately, its hero, too. Alien: Romulus offers audiences a character to question and root for, offering depth and complexity to the story beyond what the rest of the ensemble offers.

I’d also be remiss not to mention that Alien: Romulus finds itself in the muddy moral water of using the digital likeness of a deceased actor. The inclusion may offer a special throughline from the original film to this sequel, but the practice remains dubious at best. That will impact your experience with the film and shouldn’t be ignored as it becomes an even more common practice in Hollywood with no thoughts of halting to respect the dead.

Even with those issues, Alien: Romulus is an astounding time at the theater. The strength of Alvarez’s command of atmosphere and confinement allows the set pieces to speak volumes and keep you clenching your armrest. Despite its hiccups, this is a film I would watch and rewatch in the theater and enjoy it more each time. Just a bit below greatness, Alien: Romulus shows a bright future for the franchise if Alvarez keeps at the helm.

Alien: Romulus is the Alien film I have been waiting for. While I don’t think anything will ever reach the pinnacle of the original film, Alien: Romulus is a horror-forward swing for the fences with a third act that is uniquely unsettling. With more than enough aesthetic, dialogue, and narrative parallels with the original film, this sequel manages to establish itself as a sharp and thrilling entry that embodies what the franchise is all about.

Alien: Romulus is in theaters everywhere August 15, 2024.