Time: 119 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – Violence, offensive language & horror
Cast:
Cailee Spaeny as Rain
David Jonsson as Andy
Archie Renaux as Tyler
Isabela Merced as Kay
Spike Fearn as Bjorn
Aileen Wu as Navarro
Director: Fede Álvarez

Alien: Romulus was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. I’m a big fan of the Alien franchise and I really like almost every instalment. Plus, it would be helmed by Fede Álvarez who previously made the Evil Dead remake and Don’t Breathe, and I was interested in what he could bring to an Alien movie. That being said, I wasn’t sure about the movie based on the trailers and hearing certain reactions has me unsure about it. I ended up liking it, but I have some massive problems with it. 

The first act takes things steady as it introduces the main characters and has them arrive at the main setting of the space station. I certainly respect this slower approach, it’s not dissimilar to how the first Alien movie began. The problem is that I just didn’t find the first 20-30 minutes to be all that interesting, in fact I found it to be dull. I wasn’t that invested in the characters and their stories, and even the initial scenes of characters gradually progressing through the station didn’t build up tension like they were intending to. When it gets to the first alien attack scene however, it definitely picks up. Something clear right from the beginning is that Alien: Romulus is intending to harken back to the vibe of the first two Alien films. While I wished that we got something more ambitious along the lines of Ridley Scott’s prequels in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, I understand that those films were divisive, and they wanted to go back to familiar territory. So, you do get a story about people finding a ship/station and being attacked by aliens. However, there are many different ways to execute a premise like this, and Romulus could’ve been so much more than it was. Regrettably, I’m not prepared to say that it stretches far beyond being a best of Alien showreel. It plays things far too safely (for the most part), to the point where it doesn’t have much of an identity outside of being a lot like Alien. Considering Álvarez’s past movies, I was expecting one of the most brutal, gory and grimy Alien movies yet, but Romulus is weirdly safe, tame and restrained. Not that it needed to be Evil Dead (2013) with xenomorphs, but ideally at least unique enough that it actually leaves a mark on the series. It does have some semi-interesting concepts, but the film doesn’t follow through with them, and its a shame because there is still some potential here. The movie is 2 hours long and I think they could’ve done a lot more with the ideas if they had a longer runtime. 

Romulus unfortunately doesn’t just harken back to Alien in terms of structure and story ambitions. I’m not going to say that its close to being the worst instance of a movie leaning into nostalgia, but it leans into it nonetheless. It’s disappointing especially since one of the appealing aspects of the movie was that it would essentially be a standalone story. There are moments where it tries to call back to earlier entries of the series, just to remind audiences of those previous movies, and it grinds the pacing to a halt every time. It’s even desperate enough to reuse iconic lines from the first two movies. There’s a particular aspect which I must talk about, and it’s difficult to do so without going into vague mild spoiler territory; Romulus joins Rogue One and The Flash in indulging in digital necromancy, using the likeness of a now dead actor for a particular story aspect/character. It’s morally dubious, but even if you were to argue that the ethics weren’t bad, this aspect has no reason to even be in this movie. It feels included purely because it’s something that audiences might recognise, but I don’t know if anyone would be actually excited to see it. It’s genuinely one of the most baffling plays for nostalgia that I’ve seen. Any time it brings that aspect back on screen, it sinks the movie to painful degrees. For all my issues with the nostalgia and overall safeness of the narrative, it wouldn’t matter as much if I was actually invested in the story or the characters, I wasn’t. The characters are so thinly written and the mystery and story weren’t that interesting to me. After the first act, things do progress and there are some decent set pieces. However, the pacing still felt off for most of the movie. Thankfully, the third act was where the movie really picked up for me. The set pieces are far more creative and entertaining, and felt distinctly different from the previous couple of acts. But it’s the final 15 minutes that stood out most of all. It takes a departure from what came before, and ironically was the only time where it felt like a Fede Álvarez movie. It goes in a wild and different direction, and I honestly wished that we got more things like that. 

I have criticized the very thinly written characters, but to its credit, the cast are really good, and everyone gives it their all. Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are great in the lead roles. Jonsson was a particular standout, playing an android who had by far the film’s most intriguing element and arc. The supporting cast of Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu are also really good, especially Merced. 

Fede Álvarez’s direction is solid, and I don’t have too many major complaints on that front. Unfortunately. It did feel like he was on autopilot in his directing, outside of the third act and maybe a couple of moments in the prior two acts. For all my criticisms for them sticking too close to the original Alien, to their credit, they definitely nailed the aesthetic of that film. The use of practical effects and practical sets paid off, and helped make this space station feel plausible and real. I will be the rare person to say though that the environment did feel just a little too ‘clean’ for this movie. The cinematography is strong, its very beautifully filmed with good lighting. The practical effects and CGI are blended well together, there were times where it was hard to tell whether it was practical or not. The sound design is also top notch, that’s something that these movies get right. The facehuggers in Romulus are the scariest that they have ever been in an Alien movie, so effectively slimy and gross, and there are sections where they are significant threats. The xenomorphs themselves feel weirdly underutilized. The first appearance of the alien is certainly great, but as time goes on, the xenomorphs feel like a side issue and don’t carry the same level of threat or presence that you’d normally expect from them. Returning back to the instance of digital necromancy, from what I can tell, deepfake and AI were not utilised in this. Regardless of how they pulled it off and the ethics, it looks absolutely horrid. It’s genuinely some of the worst CGI I have seen from a recent blockbuster, which is insane considering how the visual effects of the movie are otherwise near perfect. So you can add ‘visually horrendous’ onto the pile of problems about this particular story aspect, it was plain ugly to look at whenever they bring it back on screen (and they do it a lot). There are some pretty good set pieces throughout, but the third act was where they really shined the most. The atmospheric and intense score from Benjamin Wallfisch is excellent and was one of the best parts of the movie, paying homage to the past Alien scores while being very unique in its own right. 

Alien: Romulus is held back by a largely uninteresting and derivative story that’s overly reliant on nostalgia, and some questionable choices. However, it is decent enough, helped by the great cast, solid direction, and the bold third act. Admittedly, it is one of the more disappointing movies of the year considering it’s an Alien film, and personally ranks below most of the prior released movies in the franchise. But there’s still some good parts to it, and is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the series.