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. The Alien franchise has been quite an anomaly when it comes to consistency. The original 1979 Ridley Scott film is a landmark in sci-fi horror while its arguably superior James Cameron directed sequel Aliens is widely regarded as a masterclass blend of sci-fi horror and action filmmaking. I consider those two films (specifically their special editions) to be some of my all time favorites movies. I won’t get into Alien 3 or Alien: Resurrection, as those movies can be discussed another time, but I will say that I loved the prequel Prometheus and had mixed feelings about its follow-up Alien: Covenant. With that out of the way, it’s important to note that Alien: Romulus takes place in between the events of the first Alien and Aliens, so plan your Alien marathon accordingly. Although Alien: Romulus still has many of the same flaws of the franchise’s lesser sequels, I am rather surprised to report that director Fede Alvarez did a fairly solid job bringing the series back to its horror roots while still telling somewhat of a nuanced story in its own right.
When it comes to the technical aspects such as cinematography and production design, this movie is absolutely perfect in that regard. Whether it’s the breathtaking shots of space or the shots of the interiors of the various spacecrafts, it all looks very real and has that industrial retro futuristic aesthetic the ships in the original film had. Total blue collar future too, adding to the grit and desperation of the main characters, which I’ll get to in a bit. The use of practical effects really allows the viewer to feel as if this is a tangible, lived-in world, both concerning the xenomorphs themselves as well as the ships. I was really able to feel the claustrophobic and isolated atmosphere in a manner that only the original Alien film and some of the second film pulled off. Lots of quiet and ominous tracking shots with virtually no sound and it sets the mood and tone perfectly. I honestly don’t think the xenomorphs, facehuggers or various aliens on display have ever looked more terrifyingly real than they do here. Mixing practical effects and CGI for the aliens allowed each and every physical detail to shine through in the most frightening and creepy ways possible.
Alien: Romulus benefits from having far fewer characters than in both Prometheus and Covenant, and while they don’t match the likes of a Ripley, Newt or Bishop, they are most certainly serviceable for this particular story. By far the most compelling and interesting characters are Cailee Spaeny as Rain and David Jonsson as Andy, a synthetic android/Rain’s companion. In the first act, Andy gets bullied and pushed around by Bjorn played by Spike Fearn, who is a complete asshole but is given a reason for having a passionate hatred for synthetic androids, which isn’t a brand new idea by any means but was a nice touch to make a completely unlikable supporting character not a total cartoon caricature. There is something very neat the film does with the character of Navarro played by Aileen Wu involving the infamous chestburster scenario which definitely made even a desensitized me squirm in my seat a bit. Archie Renaux and Isabela Merced are also quite good in the film and have some of the biggest standout moments. The blood, gore, and body horror are among the franchise’s best. It’s genuinely scarily realistic when xenomorphs are maliciously attacking victims or certain abominations are popping out of character’s chests or other body parts for that matter. Yeah, it’s bloody as hell and most definitely not for the squeamish.
The movie has some very shocking callbacks to aspects/characters of previous entries in the franchise, and surprisingly enough, these elements felt totally natural to the story and circumstances. There is one specific familiar character that shows up about halfway through to dumb exposition and although I was mostly fine with it, this part may be a bit controversial for some viewers. This movie does a pretty good job at tying together a lot of the lore and mythology from the franchise, so if you have not seen Prometheus, I suggest you do for continuity's sake. Some of the dialogue can be a bit cheesy at times, there are a few really idiotic decisions made by the characters, and the movie never truly breaks new ground storytelling wise. That is to say though, the third act does something really cool and unsettling concerning the aliens and I was shocked by how much I dug the insane direction it went. Benjamin Wallfisch’s score is fittingly eerie, foreboding, and pays homage to Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner’s classic soundtrack without ever trying to fully copy any of it. All in all, I came out of Alien: Romulus having a far better experience than I initially thought I would have, and perhaps that is due to my low expectations going in. It still has some questionable elements that made me scratch my head and your typical Alien movie series clichés, but I am thrilled that I was genuinely engaged in the film and would be open to more installments in the future. Overall, while Alien: Romulus exhibits some of the same pitfalls that have been prevalent throughout the lesser entries in the Alien series, Fede Alvarez’s tense, atmospheric, and visually stunning film brings the 45 year old franchise back to its horror roots with mostly favorable and effectively unsettling results.
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