Alien: Romulus

With this new film, director Fede Alvarez (best known for Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe) injects a welcome dose of life into a franchise that was in decline. It mostly captures the lightning-in-a-bottle success of Ridley Scott’s timeless masterpiece. There can be found elements of other entries in the franchise, including Aliens, Prometheus, and even the disaster that was Alien 3. Consider this a greatest-hits album.

Fear not on the spoiler front: I will not reveal anything beyond the marketing and basic premise. The casting was inspired; Alvarez develops our two main protagonists. Cailee Spaeny (Civil War, Priscilla) stars as Rain Carradine, an orphan who has been an indentured servant of Weyland-Yutani Corporation after her both her parents died. The other primary character is an android named Andy (David Jonsson, Rye Lane), who her parents had programmed to act in her best interest and she considers a brother.

Then one day, Rain, Andy and a small group of workers there come across a potential opportunity. There is a derelict vessel floating in space, and it contains chambers suited for cryosleep. This gives this team a chance to escape to another planet with superior living conditions. Using a mining hauler to reach the spacecraft, they arrive and everything seems fine. But before you can say, “Game over, man!”, these miners soon discover that they are not alone.

If you are at all familiar with the Alien formula, you know that you are in for an abundance of carnage as the humans try to escape these creatures. Inspired by the drawings of H.R. Giger, there is something both savage and sexual about their methods. The infamous “facehugger” attaches itself to its victim’s face forcefully, like a grotesque starfish that strangles its host if anybody else attempts to free. Then it plants an embryo inside the stomach. Eventually, it bursts out of the chest, and even if the humans try to kill the full-grown beasties (known as xenomorphs, for the uninitiated), their acidic blood puts their foes at a disadvantage. If you haven’t gotten the memo yet, this is not for the squeamish, and it may be the goriest entry in the franchise.

It helps that co-writer Rodo Sayagues worked with the director on Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe. Alvarez mixes up the familiar formula: the characters are being hunted in a claustrophobic environment, but he finds new ways to effectively scare us. Although the protagonists’ weapons are largely limited to guns, he gets creative with the action sequences as well, with plenty of palpable intensity. He uses plenty of practical effects as well, which made the earlier films work, even if CGI is also utilized.

Spaeny is perfectly up to the challenge, and the actress is perfectly capable. But what Jonsson is able to do with his role makes him the standout. The cinematography from Galo Olivares is amazing, and the music (or lack of) by Benjamin Wallfisch is very effective. While this is a standalone film, it is set between the original Alien and Aliens. There are callbacks and Easter eggs here that should mostly please die-hard fans, even if a few are eye-rolling. It’s not required, but I strongly recommend watching Scott’s original and Prometheus before seeing this. Finally, while this film draws from the best of the franchise, it pools from some of the absolute worst as well (to say any more would go into spoiler territory).

Nevertheless, I stand by what I said at the start of this review. Alvarez might not exactly reinvent the wheel as far as the Alien franchise is concerned. But he does so much right that I was genuinely invested in our protagonists and their desperate plight. Some might consider his slow-burn approach and worldbuilding a weakness, but as with the original, it’s actually a strength. Romulus might not be quite the perfect organism, but it’s the series’ best since Cameron’s sequel.

119 minutes