“Alien: Romulus” (2024) is the newest installment in the Alien franchise from visionary director Fede Álvarez, who previously directed “Evil Dead” (2013) and “Don’t Breathe” (2016). One of the main themes in the franchise is being able to create life. With “Alien: Romulus,” Álvarez managed to get rather close to adding some life into this somewhat overdone series while falling into some traps of a typical Alien movie.
The film stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu. The film is canon to the Alien movie universe and takes place after the events of Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979) but before the events of James Cameron’s “Aliens” (1986).
After her contract is extended by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, young Rain Carradine (Spaeny) and her adoptive brother Andy (Jonsson), a synthetic human, are left with nothing on the mining colony, Jackson’s Star. However, Rain’s ex-boyfriend Tyler (Renaux) persuades her to join him on an expedition to an abandoned spacecraft and retrieve cryostasis chambers.
With them, the group will be able to escape to a planet named Yvaga. The abandoned spacecraft they board is a ship divided into two sections titled Romulus and Remus, a reference to the classic Roman legend. Things are looking good for the group until they accidentally unleash frozen facehuggers when gathering the cryostasis chambers. From there, the team is faced with a force of nature that is unpredictable, terrifying and alien.
“Alien: Romulus” is a weird film to dissect. On one hand, it delivers in its cinematography, score, acting and production design. The film is truly beautiful to look at and listen to as it echoes the same creepy atmosphere that made the original “Alien” so impactful. On the other hand, it is a messy assortment of references from other films in the series.
For those who adore the Alien franchise, it is the ultimate fan film. It contains callbacks to every film and even has inspiration from some of the video games based on the movies. However, this serves as a detriment to the film because it does not feel like it is doing something new with the original source material.
Beside that negative, the film does excel in other areas. The acting, for one, is great from such a small and young cast. Spaeny does an incredible job playing Rain. While Rain does share similarities with Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver), she still has plenty of differences separating the two. One of those differences is her relationship with Andy.
Rain and Andy have great chemistry despite only one of them being human; it is a testament to how great Jonsson is in the role. Casting directors should keep an eye on Jonsson, who pulls off the perfect balance of acting human and like an android.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for the other characters. The performances are there, but the characterizations of Tyler, Kay (Merced), Bjorn (Fearn) and Navarro (Wu) are not. These characters serve no other purpose but to be killed by the Xenomorphs. This film would have benefited from a few re-writes of its script, so that the supporting characters had more depth to them other than being alien chow.
A brilliant technical aspect is the use of animatronics and costumes for the facehuggers and xenomorphs. There are some scenes where CGI is used, but the inclusion of animatronics help conceal that and makes the aliens feel and look much more realistic than previous films, such as “Alien: Covenant” (2017).
The references to the other films will cause some viewers to roll their eyes, but one in particular is handled well. The black goo, introduced in “Prometheus” (2012) and used in “Alien: Covenant,” makes an appearance in the film. It is utilized in the climax of the film, where the character Kay injects it into her body which then gives birth to a creation scarier than any of the xenomorphs.
This monstrosity does not have a lot of screentime, but it is just enough to give viewers nightmares — even when it is not at its full growth and potential. Honestly, it should have been the main conflict of the film. By the end, the audience wants Rain and Andy to stay as far away from that thing as possible.
“Alien: Romulus” is a mixed bag, containing a varying degree of moments. If you are looking to watch a decent horror film with people fighting off aliens, then this is right up your alley. If you are a fan of the franchise, it is only a matter of opinion of what the film is to you.
Rating: 3/5
