For some, this latest installment of Alien puts the series back in its place, so to speak. After two prequel entries from Ridley Scott (Prometheus and Alien: Covenant), Alien: Romulus returns to the old model of fitting a new film with a new director. With that said, Scott had at least some involvement here, and while the previous sequels furthered the journey of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley and the xenomorphs, ‘Romulus’ is more of a fond tribute to many of those films while occasionally adding its own ideas. The fortunate thing is that director Fede Álvarez knows how to build suspense and create terror. This film is the most horror-infused entry since the original. Tense, brutal, and not lacking in slime, even while playing some of the hits, Alien: Romulus has enough on its mind beyond just the facehuggers.
While the movies have given audiences blue-collar workers, colonial marines, mercenaries, and prisoners to follow in the past, Romulus focuses on a group of street urchins wanting a better life for themselves. They live on a mining planet that never receives sunlight. Between the Brazil-like bureaucracy issues and a vitamin D deficiency, the plan is for this young group to take their raggedy spaceship up to a seemingly abandoned space station hovering right above the planet. Once there, they can snag a few cryosleep chambers and make the 9-year journey to another planet featuring a lot more sunlight and less harmful child labor. Problems arise when this ambitious set of youngsters discover a deadly lifeform still exists aboard the station.
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Part of being on board with this film means rolling with the characters given. Some are stronger than others, but they certainly fit into familiar slots. As Rain Carradine, Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) is effective as the latest heroine set to face off against at least one xenomorph. Whether or not this film follows a similar trajectory regarding the Alien franchise’s affinity for having a final girl, Spaeny brings a grounded quality as far as seeing humans act with recognizable emotions despite all the chaos surrounding her.
The other humans fill in as needed. Archie Renaux’s Tyler is the neutral-good, de-factor leader of the group. Spike Fearn’s Bjorn is the hothead. Aileen Wu’s Navarro is a smart pilot and Bjorn’s girlfriend. And Isabela Merced’s Kay is the innocent one.
These actors are all well and good, but the film’s true MVP is David Jonsson (Rye Lane) as Andy, a synthetic who was programmed by Rain’s now-deceased parents to keep her safe. While this film is not nearly as interested in robots and artificial intelligence on a philosophical level as Scott’s Alien prequels were, Andy evolves as a character, makes critical choices, and ultimately delivers on having more cinematically human qualities than the rest of the cast. It’s a terrific performance and one of the film’s more refreshing takes on what we’ve seen before.
Looking at what Álvarez is offering to old and new fans alike, much effort has been put into creating a familiar aesthetic. The production design is very much in line with what was seen in 1979’s Alien. Naturally, being a 2024 release, the visual effects can deliver fully CG-rendered spaceships performing all sorts of space-based acts. With that in mind, Álvarez and his team still wanted to build as much as they could practically. This speaks to many of the interior sets we see and the deadly creatures. Finding that balance of retro sci-fi designs within a modern film, in this instance, works quite well, which is easier to appreciate when considering the wild sound design, let alone all of these aliens on display.
Romulus has no shortage of xenomorphs, whether it’s the facehuggers that latch onto a host and implant a specimen, the young form that erupts from a body, and, especially, the adult-sized monster that hunts its prey and menaces them with its slimy double sets of teeth. Having already proven himself in the horror arena with the 2013 Evil Dead remake and Don’t Breathe, Álvarez happily takes the opportunity to lean into the frights that can be generated by these beasts.
Once on board the space station, rarely does the tension let up. This film finds an assortment of clever horror setpieces, including a shallow water encounter with facehuggers, a desperate attempt to get through a compromised area without making any noise, and multiple scenarios involving doors that need to be opened or closed before it’s too late. Even the xenomorph’s famous acid blood plays a significant role in what to be concerned with regarding one’s safety in more ways than one.
Not unlike other recent Summer blockbusters that rely on delivering something audiences are accustomed to, Romulus is largely riffing on what we can expect from another Alien sequel. Given the plot ideas this film deals with, it could practically be lumped in with other legacy sequels, despite its choice to be set between Alien and 1986’s Aliens. However, regardless of how well other sequels of this kind succeed, Romulus’ strength is mainly in what Álvarez offers as a director. This is, by default, one of the scariest entries in the series, which is neat to see. It’s also a film that feels very much indebted to Scott’s original film but has a reverence for the series in general.
If there’s a hang-up, it comes in the form of additional story elements that I won’t delve into but complicate something already working fine, thanks to the straightforward approach. Still being vague, I can say that one particular element would have played much better were it a single sequence instead of a full-on subplot. However, I can say some key references emerged that had me at least respecting what this all means regarding the overall history of this series.
Getting away from these cryptic thoughts, Álvarez and his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues have delivered a script that is on-point in terms of stripping things down for the most part. Whether or not finding ways to make significant connections was a studio demand, it doesn’t derail the film by any means. However, compared to another former 20th Century Fox franchise that recently received a pre-sequel, Prey, I’m not so sure Romulus really has much on its mind to explore thematically. It’s delving into well-trotted ground already, with no real subversions regarding the character types we meet. Additionally, everyone who is not Rain or Andy has a one-track mind when it comes to how they behave, with no additional room left for nuance.
These may be the few cons I had with the film, but otherwise, Alien: Romulus is still a blast to watch. It thrives on twisting the knife in terms of building suspense and delivering gory jolts that are sure to make horror fans proud. I also received another fantastic android character to latch onto in this future world and appreciated what that offered. The story, as a whole, is intriguing enough as a new path for developing this sort of narrative. Even if plot convenience is key to setting things in motion, it makes for solid escapism matched with strong filmmaking skills on display. Where it goes from here remains to be seen, but as far as this movie is concerned, it provides good reason to want to hear those screams in space.
Alien: Romulus arrives in theaters and IMAX on August 16, 2024.
