Alien: Romulus Review

The following article is a non-spoiler review of Alien: Romulus after a free screening of the film.

I was a toddler when I first saw the Alien films, with some of my earliest memories being very faint images of Ripley tackling a Xenomorph with a power loader suit. Since then I had caught glimpses of some of the movies over the years, catching fleeting moments of Prometheus when flicking through the television, but at a time I was too young to appreciate the meaning and complexity behind some of those elements. ‘Alien’ had always been a franchise I would one-day catch-up on, and with the promotion of the newest instalment, Alien: Romulus, and a newfound appreciation for old cinema, I knew it was at last time to delve into the franchise from start to finish. In the spirit of comprehension, I spent the weeks before the film’s screening watching the franchise from start to finish, with some days being doubled up with movies.

One of my fears with any new franchise movie is a lack of originality, something that heavily affected the AVP universe in its middle years, particularly with Ripley’s last two films as well as the Alien vs. Predator crossover movies being critically maligned. Having watched how 20th Century Studios handled Prey, their first foray into the franchise, with it being a movie that takes the Predator concept and moves it to another time, dealing with completely new characters, I had some of my faith restored.

Like Prey, a spin-off set in the same universe, dealing with entirely new characters, but with the same core concept explored in a different way, Alien: Romulus is made with the same approach. This allows a degree of separation from the franchise that awards director Fede Álvarez an abundance of creative freedom to work with the source material without tarnishing the endings of the original and beloved movies, a mistake several once beloved franchises have made.

Having watched the complete universe, I was awarded with a broader insight into the lore and overall universe, but this instalment is not dependent on that knowledge. Unlike many Marvel releases often requiring viewers to do their homework first by watching X amount of movies and Y seasons of television, Romulus stands independently and on its own two feet. It takes place after the original film, so at most viewers would only have to watch the original 1979 movie, but Romulus still does an excellent job of laying the groundwork for its premise, catching up viewers who have never seen an Alien film or had watched the first years ago. That said, long-term viewers are not thrown aside for the casual audience, as there are a number of easter eggs and tie-ins to all corners of the franchise, tying in lingering plot threads from Ridley Scott’s prequel storyline beginning with Prometheus, to the plots of the original movies, making the universe feel a lot more cohesive than it already did. Fans can enjoy multiple rewatches of this film, identifying easter eggs in a tapestry of references.

Romulus makes a franchise first achievement in humanising a synthetic character, an idea that was inevitable for the franchise and one I was surprised didn’t happen sooner, as I had expected some of the earlier movies to take this step. I’m glad this movie didn’t repeat the same “secret synthetic” storyline done in 3/4 of the Ripley movies, instead making a synth one of the supporting cast, though David Jonsson’s screen time and development easily qualifies his character Andy for a co-lead label.

The opening act introduces each character perfectly – their first scenes immediately tell us who they are as people and how they tend to behave, but the film spends far too much time building up the alien reveal which we all know is coming and is the reason we bought tickets, but when it gets going it really gets going. The amount of time we spend waiting for the meat of the plot to commence means we don’t get to see the very human panic caused by being hunted by terror-inducing aliens, with the few that do, such as Aileen Wu’s Navarro and Spike Fearn’s Bjorn, having the most intense performances that serve to drive the plot forward.

Romulus employs both Sydney Shircliff and Mary Vernieu as casting directors, who opt to invest in new talent by hiring some of Hollywood’s biggest rising stars. With a cast of only six core characters, Alien Romulus had ample opportunity to develop each character and give each performer the limelight to demonstrate their talent. While lead actress Cailee Spaeny (Rain Carradine) sells the fear aspect well, I do feel she could have been given more material to bestow a range of emotions on the audience – in contrast, Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley had several iconic scenes in the original movie where

she displayed intense fear, anger, and misery; I’m sure Cailee had the capabilities to do this, but she never got the chance to blow us away. In contrast, David Jonsson had, by far, the strongest and most human performance of the cast, which is ironic as he is the only non-human character among them, yet he clearly had the best material to work with.

I feel the writers had the idea of humanising a synthetic and entirely focused on fleshing his character out, forgetting to award the other characters the same focus. Isabela Merced is a solid actress and her younger fanbase will certainly help boost ticket sales; her performance was strong but hardly utilised, as she was instead stuck playing the damsel in distress numerous times in the movie, waiting for other characters to save her. Better use of her could have driven the tension of the film as she had the best emotional range in the entire cast, and I feel her fans may be left disappointed by how sparingly she’s used.

I don’t typically get startled by jumpscares, yet the film had me squirming at the gruesome and terrifying body horror that will leave you uncomfortable in your seat – cinemas with good surround sound systems should render the incredible audio design I was subjected to, that make you feel the fearsome creatures are right behind you, breathing down your neck. This film promises to horrify and unsettle you; I could feel the vibrations of several audience members physically jumping in their seats, with some jumpscares looking like they were ripped straight out of a video game, with some first person sequences putting you right into the scene, of course complete with jumpscares. The visceral terror in this film is unlike anything in the Alien franchise – while other instalments tiptoe along the edge of the pool that is horror, Alien: Romulus dives in headfirst.

The star of this film is not the main actress, nor is it any of the cast. That prize goes to the writing team of the film. There are a number of ingenious concepts and sequences throughout the movie which surprised me as I never would have thought of them. These creative talents behind the film come up with a number of threats beyond simply the aliens alone, with characters having to come to terms with the potential repercussions of simply shooting their way out like many audience members would be screaming at them to do, with the characters instead learning lessons from the beginning of the film which do pay off later, in a satisfying manner.

For fans of the franchise, horror fans, as well as general moviegoers, I believe the majority will have a very positive experience watching this film. For more cynical film critics looking for something new and intelligent, the general concept may feel repeated, but I do feel the tone and direction were inventive enough to differentiate this instalment from its previous counterparts. From making the Xenomorph’s acid-blood a crucial limitation and threat to blending an element of body horror into the franchise, Alien: Romulus puts all other franchises to shame, showing Hollywood how sequels and spin-offs should be done. While not perfect, it is a beautiful and intelligent piece of cinema that dares cinemagoers to book a seat for one and a half hours of tension and horror.

Upon seeing the film, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the entire feature had been filmed in an expanded 1:90 aspect ratio, exclusive to IMAX, which means seeing this film in IMAX not only promises a bigger screen and surround sound, but more picture that will be cropped in other formats. With this film taking place on a space station outside a beautiful planet with jupiter-like rings and mesmerising outer space setpieces, I strongly encourage you to make the effort to see this feature in IMAX where possible.

Alien: Romulus releases in cinemas nationwide on August 16th.