ALIEN: ROMULUS (2024) Review

Review

Few franchises last for over four decades with the level of reverence of Alien. What Sir Ridley Scott created back in 1979 haunts the minds of each new generation of horror fans. From its uniquely disturbing atmosphere to the all-out terror of its creature design. Alien resonates with fans as a truly unique and grim experience. So as the franchise approaches its 50th anniversary, can writer/director Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe) create a new story in this world which can recapture the zeitgeist in the same way as the original?

Set between 79’s Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens, Alien: Romulus takes the franchise back to its roots with a film steeped in the darkness of space. Cailee Spaeny (Civil War) stars as Rain, an orphaned employee of Weyland Yutani living in the Jackson’s Star mining community with her “brother” Andy (David Jonsson – Rye Lane). When an opportunity arises to escape from the shadow of the company, Rain and her friends attempt to salvage company equipment from an abandoned station in orbit of Jackson’s Star.

The creative team behind the film, including co-writer Rodo Sayagues (Don’t Breathe), has been coy about Romulus‘ connections to other films. Whilst they were keen to establish Rain, Andy and the others are new characters to this world, the film relies heavily on Alien to setup its story. Álvarez bravely enters nostalgia territory with a level of confidence which elevates Romulus above other legacy sequels. It’s simultaneously able to tread a path which allows for references and connections to the past without sacrificing the need to do anything new and original. Part of the baggage which comes with that near 50-year history is the audience expectation. Fans of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley may anticipate Rain to evolve in to a similar character. Xenomorph fans will expect certain behaviours of the creatures and that can easily inform every beat of the story. But Álvarez and Sayagues are mostly able to successfully transcend that across Romulus’ 119 minute runtime.

Álvarez and production designer Naaman Marshall (Mortal Kombat) have lovingly recreated the world first designed by Scott and Michael Seymour in 79. The homage sequences, such as the company ship booting up, immediately evoke the nostalgia of seeing the Nostromo for the first time. The DOS-like screen readouts. The boxy ship, claustrophobic ship interiors. Everything about Romulus feels organic to the world that was created for the original film. It adds a level of authenticity to the film which is steeped in Álvarez’s reverence for the franchise. That love reaches to the creature design works which is also relatively untouched. H. R. Giger’s design work is unparalleled and looks as great on screen today as it did back then.

Romulus’ practical approach to storytelling and horror is perhaps its strongest selling point outside of its cast. If there’s one lesson which Hollywood needs to learn from films like this and from Godzilla Minus One, it’s the power of using budget wisely and creating a practical world for characters to inhabit. It creates a more visceral experience for the actors and in turn the audience feel the authenticity in the performance. Alien: Romulus benefits from this hugely, particularly in its approach to the terrifying Face Huggers. Where previous films have used the spider-like creature sparingly, Romulus goes all in creating wave after wave of them. They skitter around the frame, launch themselves at the cast with reckless abandon and it leaves the audience feeling in need of a long shower after leaving the cinema.

The same can be said of the Xenomporph, seeing Rain with an animatronic alien breathing down her neck elicits a much stronger response from the audience. That authenticity is a rarity in contemporary Hollywood and is something for which this film deserves to be celebrated. Whilst there are clear moments of VFX scattered throughout, its most impactful moments are created practically with an incredible attention to detail. That said, there are other aspects of the film – which I won’t describe for fear of spoilers – which do take on an uncanny valley appearance. A particular character, who debuts with a great jump scare moment, takes the audience out of the film due to their composite appearance. It becomes a talking point which many long-time fans of the franchise will discuss for years to come due to its place in the wider universe.

Rounding out the cast are Archie Renaux (Morbius) as Tyler, Spike Fearn (Back to Black) as Bjorn, Isabela Merced (Madame Web) as Kay and relative newcomer Aileen Wu as Navarro. Whilst the film absolutely belongs to Spaeny and Jonsson, each of the cast gives a robust performance. The fate of Wu’s Navarro is teased heavily in trailers and provides the film with one of its most guttural moments of horror. That moment is elevated further by an ear-piercing scream from Merced as part of a performance which shows why the young actor is capable of far more than film’s like Madame Web has showcased. Kay’s arc across the film defiantly proves that Merced has the chops for horror. It also goes a long way to proving why James Gunn has cast the 23 year-old as Kendra Saunders aka Hawkgirl in Superman. Fearn, also a relatively unknown face, feels somewhat underused and easily dispatched but makes a solid impression on the audience regardless.

It’s Renaux who has the meatiest role of the supporting cast. Tyler is loosely a love interest for Rain as well as brother to Kay. So his connections to the film’s female characters provides context and motive for his actions throughout the story. Renaux’s strong presence on screen defines Tyler as one of the classic male heroes in the franchise and his final tussle with a Xenomorph cements this claim in the mind of the audience.

But the Alien franchise has always prided itself on the strength of its female protagonists. Weaver’s Ripley, Noomi Rapace’s Shaw in 2012’s divisive prequel Prometheus and now Spaeny’s Rain. Spaeny is already having a great year after a standout performance in Alex Garland’s Civil War. But stepping in to the Alien franchise may just catapult her in to the stratosphere. Álvarez and Sayagues carefully lay out all the key aspects of Rain’s life and her character in the first act. She cares for her brother Andy after their parents both passed away from the illness caused by a life of mining for the company. She longs to escape to a planet outside Weyland Yutani’s reach and is distraught to find that her contact is doubled due to the dwindling numbers of workers. Her strength and her conviction is a clear driving force and Spaeny makes light work of portraying those feelings on screen.

Rain isn’t without fault, a revelation about the colony the group plans to escape to shows a selfish side to her personality which makes her entirely human. Nobody is perfect. Not even our heroes. Another fact of life which the franchise has never shied away from. But as her world begins to crumble, the film circles back to those early convictions to give Rain the strength to face her attackers and Spaeny, once again, overcomes those hurdles with a gutsy and impressive performance.

The third act of Alien: Romulus is likely to prove divisive. There’s a point around 90 minutes in which feels like a natural stopping point. Ending the film at 90 minutes would even have left lingering plot threads which could inform a potential sequel. A sequel which could have further explored the horror of Alien with the philosophy of Prometheus. But instead the film choses to run for almost another 30 minutes, including credits. Those final minutes prove to be the film’s most experimental and leave a lingering question on the audience. Does a film which goes this hard need to go for this long? If you imagine the film as a rapidly accelerating vehicle, then the finale is the crescendo as it hits a wall. Visually it’s impressive. It’s big and loud. But ultimately only provides the film with more extreme horror using a different mechanism to deliver it.

Ultimately the measure of the third act’s success will be its impact on the audience. But I can’t help but wonder whether it’s a path that won’t be walked again give the finality of its conclusion. With no clear sign where the Alien franchise goes next. Alien: Romulus is the perfect vehicle for new fans to join the franchise.

Verdict

Alien: Romulus fires out of the gate as on of 2024’s most ambitious and terrifying movies. Director Fede Álvarez finds a satisfying balance of new and old to satisfy franchise fans whilst capturing a whole new audience. Bolstered by a captivating lead in Cailee Spaeny, the film is undoubtedly an enthralling, visceral experience which is truly a standalone chapter in the long-running story.

⭐⭐⭐⭐