Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus manages to bring together all the elements of the Alien franchise that make it great, while still forging new territory.
With Prey bringing the Predator franchise back into audiences’ good graces, all eyes have been on Fede Alvarez to see if he can bring the same magic back to the Alien series. Folks, I’m excited to tell you he absolutely nailed it.
Alien: Romulus
Directed By: Fede Álvarez
Written By: Fede Álvarez
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Aileen Wu
Release Date: August 16, 2024
The basics of the story are relatively straightforward. Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, Romulus puts the focus on Rain (Cailee Spaeny), an orphan on one of the many mining colonies controlled by Weyland-Yutani. When her hopes of one day making it off the colony and traveling to a more hospitable world (one where she’s no longer essentially a corporate slave) seems to come crashing down, an opportunity from some old friends comes knocking.
A derelict station recently reaching orbit around their junk planet offers the chance to escape their lot and make a new life for themselves. To do so, they’ll need to hop on board, secure some cryo-stasis chambers, and get out before the station crashes into the planet’s orbital belt, destroying everything.
Once on board, however, they discover the station is far more than a typical Weyland-Yutani ship. Rain and her friends soon find themselves contending with a deadly Xenomorph, while racing against the clock to escape.
I’m not going into the story much further, as I don’t want to spoil anything. That said, I WILL discuss one big spoiler at the END of the review (with plenty of warning) that comprises the only real issue I have with the film.
Generally speaking, though, Alien: Romulus isn’t exactly the film I thought it would be. What starts off feeling like it could be a by the numbers reboot (with plenty of callbacks to the previous films), ends up diverging in some interesting ways. The third act especially takes some big swings with the franchise lore that is both in line with what’s come before and sets the table for more stories to come.
More so, it captures the heart of what made the original films—and creature features in general—work so well. Romulus does a fantastic job of establishing the world and characters almost instantly. Within the first few scenes, you have an innate understanding of the harsh reality of this mining colony and how Weyland exploits its workers.
Much of the hype about the film has been about it being a “return” to the horror roots of the original film. In this, it goes pretty hard. There are some solid jump-scares thrown in, with some gnarly moments in terms of gore (nothing that felt over the top or out of line with the rest of the franchise though).
More than the “scares,” however, Romulus excels in keeping the tension consistently high. Just when you think there’s room to breathe, some new “oh fuck” moment pops up. At one point, I literally had to force myself to pull my hands apart from clenching so hard. Most of the time, these type of white-knuckle moments had nothing to do with the fear factor, just the sheer tension created in the scene. Imagine the first time you witnessed the raptors in the kitchen sequence from Jurassic Park. Romulus is like that all throughout its run time.
What makes it all work, however, are the characters. From the moment they’re introduced they are engaging. You get a sense of deep history between them, which makes them immediately endearing. In just the film’s first 10-15 minutes, you already feel like you’ve been with these characters, and in this world, for far longer. It’s an impressive bit of visual storytelling, one which Fede Álvarez has always been good at.
All of the actors do an incredible job selling you on these characters and their individual quirks; but there’s no denying Cailee Spaeny is an absolute standout. In a franchise that gave us one of the most badass women ever (Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley), Spaeny manages to standout and deliver. I suspect much of the conversation about the acting will be focused on her, but it’s worth mentioning David Jonsson’s portrayal of Andy. He manages to steal just about every scene and despite the circumstances of his character, is very much the heart of the film. These two have great things ahead of them.
Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most about the overall story in Romulus, is how effectively it manages to weave in bits of lore from the ENTIRE Alien franchise. It incorporates the retro-future tech of the original films, while still infusing it with enough other Sci-Fi elements to still feel up to modern standards. Plus it doesn’t shy away from the bigger action and set pieces that made Aliens such a big hit.
When I say Romulus utilizes lore from the whole franchise, this includes Prometheus and Covenant. As someone who enjoyed those films more than the average bear, I was over the moon to see how bits of them were incorporated into the central concept of things; especially considering how the filmmakers have referred to them on the press circuit.
Even better, Romulus balances those aspects while still feeling in line with the rest of the films. As much as it’s an excellent bridge between the original films, it somehow does more to connect Prometheus to the originals than the prequels did! It’s kinda wild and impressive.
Don’t worry, however, it’s cleverly handled in a way that brings in those lore elements without necessarily feeling beholden to them either. It feels like a neat connection for fans of those films (like me), while still leaving things wide open for the franchise to move on. \
SPOILER ALERT
Okay, if you’re looking to avoid spoilers, this is your chance to back away. In fact, the only reason I’m bringing it up, is because it is about the only thing I didn’t like in the film…though it has nothing to do with the overall story.
Ready?
Last chance……
The film uses a digital version of Ian Holm (who played the villainous android Ash in the original Alien), throughout most of the story; much like how Rogue One brought back Peter Cushing’s Tarkin. This time around, he’s Science Officer Rook, though his general mentality is exactly the same as Ash’s. He’s there to ensure “the company’s” interest are protected at all times. On top of that, he gives the main characters in the film much needed information about what they’re dealing with, while filling in some lore gaps about what happened to the station.
In a lot of ways it’s pretty neat, and feels like a logical connection to all the events that take place, while bridging the films together. I can’t deny the initial gasp, and thrill I felt when he was revealed…but at the same time, it just feels wrong.
Digitizing deceased actors to bring them back for franchise roles feels a little icky. Believe me, I really enjoyed seeing Tarkin back in Star Wars and how he was used. In the years since, however, the landscape for such things has drastically changed. The threat of AI replacing living and breathing workers is all too real, and in terms of continuing a story, I’d much rather see roles recast than de-aged (looking at you Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian).
Beyond that, the visual effects used here for Rook are kind of uneven. For the most part, it’s pretty solid, but in some scenes you’ll swear he’s back from the dead, while in others you can tell it’s an obvious digital replica and the uncanny valley takes you out of it.
I’m not here to hash out the ethics of all it (especially if it’s something his family were on board with and approved). But as neat is seeing that character return, it definitely stood out like a sore thumb.
Other than that, Alien: Romulus is such an incredible thrill ride. It balances honoring all of the films that have come before, while expertly showing a path forward for the franchise. I’m already eager to check it out a second time.
