By 
A THRILLING “BACK TO BASICS”
ENTRY IN THE ALIEN SAGA
Released in 2017, the world of Alien returned to the big screen once again with the release Alien: Covenant, the second prequel series (prior to the 1979’s Alien) and the follow-up feature to 2012’s Prometheus. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film, which starred Katherine Waterson, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demian Bichir, and Michael Fassbender, follows the journey of a crew of a colonization ship (Covenant) that lands on an uncharted planet and makes a terrifying discovery. Released on May 19th of the year, Alien: Covenant did receive praise from critics, which did some positive feedback from the movie’s “return to form” of what made the franchise work so well and discarded some of the new material that was added in from the previous installment. Although, while critical reception was welcomed, the movie did somewhat underperform at the box office, garnishing only $240 million worldwide at the box office against a production budget of roughly $110 million…. not including marketing promotional costs. As such, the idea of possible continuation in a third Alien prequel entry sort of fizzled out over the years, especially when Scott moved on to other projects and Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, which did indeed see numerous shuffling of movie releases and revaluating the newly purchased properties. Now, seven years after the release of Alien: Covenant, 20th Century Fox (under the banner of Disney Studios) and director Fede Álvarez have geared up for another jaunt into sci-fi horrors of these menacing alien creature encounters with the movie Alien: Romulus, a standalone movie set within this universe. Does the film find merit to its more traditional roots of the franchise or is it forgettable and bloated endeavor that tries too hard to be like the exalted original film?
THE STORY
On the grim and dank mining colony on Jackson’s Star, Rain (Cailee Spaeny) is a recently orphaned youth, trying to make ends meet with shifting employment requirements / obligations within the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, while also trying to keep a close eye on her “synthetic” android brother / companion Andy (David Jonsson). Rain is then offered the chance to get off world and relocate to the sunlit world Yvaga, with close friend Tyler (Archie Renaux) planning to sneak onboard of a recent derelict ship that appear in orbit, hoping to find the necessary cyro fuel and pods to make the long journey to paradise. They are joined by Tyler’s sister, Kay (Isabel Merced), ruffian instigator Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and skilled pilot Navarro (Aileen Wu), requiring Andy to access the ship mainframe and bypass security protocols. With some coaxing, Rain agrees to the mission, with the gang traveling to the decommissioned space station, with a time’s table for the expedition set as the complex is set to crash into the planetary rings in a few hours. Looking to speed up the process, the team accidentally reanimates a lab containing many facehuggers, commencing a race for survival as Rain and the others try to manage their confusion and battle the xenomorph threat. Now, faced with horrific threats on-board the space station that stalks them endlessly and a race against the clock, Rain and company must navigate a way for their own survival, learning of dark secrets nightmarish encounters around every turn.
THE GOOD / THE BAD
I’ll admit to you guys (and this is the truth), despite its heavy criticism, I did like Prometheus. I guess all the haters are going to ask me why I like the movie. Perhaps my interest was the actual narrative of the plot, which saw new ideas thrown into the mix, including the major concept of Engineers and the overall first creation of the Xenomorph that appear at the very end of the feature. Plus, the movie did boast a strong recognizable cast, which I did like and intrigued me to see the movie. Yes, some things were a bit confusing and goofy in the feature, but it was a solid prequel endeavor that took the franchise in a bit of different direction for the better. Alien: Covenant, however, was a return to the status quo of the franchise, which be seeing as a good thing, with director Ridley Scott, who did the original Alien movie as well as Prometheus, getting back to the various horror-like encounters with Facehuggers and Xenomorphs being more prominently featured in the film. However, while the cast of the movie I did like, it sort of convoluted everything that was previously established in Prometheus, discarding a lot of the ideas and themes that the previous movie did as if Scott himself was trying rid of lore and background world building that Prometheus set out to plant for the Alien series, which (to me) was massively disappointing. Plus, it felt like it was too rudimentary of trying Scott harkening back to the rest of the Alien movies, including a final encounter sequence that was ripped out of Aliens. I don’t know all of Covenant felt very mundane and, despite the marketing promotional work for the picture, it ended up being on the weaker entries of the entire Alien saga.
This, of course, brings me back to talking about my Alien: Romulus (2024) review, a sci-fi horror feature film and the seventh installment in the Alien mainline franchise (ninth if you include the Alien vs. Predator movies). After the release of Alien: Covenant, one would assume that there was going to be another Alien movie, which would (presumably) tied up all the events in this prequel narratives and lead into the original film, capping off the story in a sort of trilogy fashion. However, such an idea didn’t really come to cinematic light, with several other ideas being pitched around for another Alien movie, but something different from both stories explored in Prometheus and Covenant. Several directors, including Neil Blomkamp, thrown their hats into the ring for another Alien flick, but they didn’t materialize. Plus, with Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, many of their projects and properties were either delayed several times or to be examined their relevance to today’s market of movie consumption to the masses.
Thankfully, such an announcement was released in 2022, with director Fede Álvarez being slated to helm the seventh Alien movie and it would be mostly “unconnected” to the Alien prequel narrative and acted as a standalone entry that was set between the events of Alien and Aliens. After Covenant, I wasn’t surprised excited to see another Alien picture for quite some time and, while many were excited for new installment to come out in the near future, it wasn’t something that was on my radar as a “must see” as much as other features that I was more interested in seeing. With announcement come and gone, there wasn’t much news about the upcoming endeavor, with only news I heard of that actress Cailee Spaeny was attached to the film and was going to be lead character. Then nothing….until the film’s marketing campaign started to ramp up, including the film’s movie trailers, which did look quite convincing and engaging by playing up the sci-fi horror tropes that the Alien franchise has been known for. Plus, given a new director’s take on the series, I did get a bit more interested in seeing this movie. So, I decided to check it out during its opening weekend on August 16th. I decided to wait a few days after seeing the movie to collect my thoughts before I began writing my review for this film. Now, I am ready to share it. And what did I think of the movie? Well, I actually really liked it. Despite some predictable and formulaic narrative bits and a wonky / unnecessary final obstacle, Alien: Romulus is quite effective in its presentation and what it wants to accomplish, bringing everything back to its fundamental roots and giving fans what they love about this sci-fi franchise. There’s a great sense of familiarity throughout, but Alvarez does a great job in navigating such expectations with gleeful horror fanfare.
Alien: Romulus is directed by Fede Álvarez, whose previous directorial works includes such film as Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Given his profound cinematic treatment of reinventing / reimagining that he did with 2012’s Evil Dead, Álvarez does seem like the most suitable director to helm such a project like this, approaching the film with a great understanding (and respect) for what has come before in the series, yet also utilizes the chance to put his own unique style and flavor on this long-running film franchise. To that end, Álvarez certainly does succeed and gives Romulus a necessary jolt of playing up some of the best moments from the Alien saga as well as bringing a new (yet familiar) story into the mix. This creates a film setting that many longtime fans will love, but also gives the picture its own identity, following a group of characters that are not tied to Ripley’s arc nor to the narrative spun in the prequel entries. There is no denying that Romulus’s story, which does take place between Alien and Aliens, takes cues from Alien fan-favorite Ripley, but the simplistic story is cohesive enough to follow and doesn’t get bogged down with too many superfluous details or spending too much time in setting up events for future installments. Álvarez works into a new narrative that feels right at home within this film universe, which does build upon the mythos / lore of Alien, but gives enough material for the movie to stand on its own merits and almost acts a tad independent to the two already established two main plot / character threads previous laid out. There are moments of heroism, fear, discovery, and unexpected terror that are sprinkled throughout the movie, which Álvarez does incredibly well, staging some truly awe-inspiring moments that work well within the feature’s presentation, keeping viewers engaging in Romulus’s story from start to finish.
I must also mention that the more practical usage of modern-day filmmaking technology that Álvarez has implemented throughout Romulus’s presentation. Such usage of practical vs. computer generated effects has always been a “hot topic” debate amongst directors, with Álvarez favoring more of the former than the latter. This creates a very sense of realism for the actors (and their respective characters) to interact with and help creates a stronger foundation in believability, despite the movie taking place in the future and dealing with hostile alien creatures. The movement for the facehuggers and xenomorphs are fluid and intricately detailed, with a larger emphasis on their physical designs than some of the previous installments, acting more like vile unnatural beings rather than just someone in a rubber suit. While a strong emphasis has been placed on practical effects, the movie does have some solid visual graphics that are utilized properly in a way that doesn’t become overpowering as if I were watching a video game from next-gen console.
Naturally, with his background in thrilling horror features, Álvarez does an impressive job in bringing the feature to a more “terrifying” realization of horrors in the ways and means of recalling back the first Alien movie. True enough, Romulus is perhaps the closest to the original 1979 film than any of the other installments in the series. Yes, they are nods and winks to some of the other features in the Alien saga, but Álvarez keeps the feature grounded within its sci-fi horror roots, projecting the right amount of scares and thrills that help build upon the suspense and genuine nerve-racking moments of alien encounters with the main heroes. Of course, the commonplace “jump scares” are utilized in the movie, but Álvarez is a deft hand in such tactics that they are indeed a welcome one rather than staple crutches to catch viewers by surprise way too much. Yes, there are some horror scenes that play out as one would expect from an Alien flick (more on that below), but it’s all done with such a visceral and great finessing / execution that one can easily overlook and enjoy it. As to be expected, such encounters of these dangerous aliens beings is the series “trademark” and Álvarez gives fans what they want to see…such brutal and bloody chance encounters of facehuggers and xenomorphs to an unexpected and inexperienced crew. So, while the action may be light, the “terror in space” still remains as Romulus delivers on that front….in xenomorph spades.
Of course, Álvarez doesn’t alienate the franchise longtime fans and does display a lot of references and callbacks from Alien series throughout Romulus’s narrative. A few familiar dialogue lines, a recognizable “blast from the past” face returns, several noteworthy sources from the two prequel Alien movies, and a scene that’s an unmistakable illusion to Alien: Resurrection, but handled ten times better than what was presented in the 1997 film. And, of course, there is mentioning of Weyland-Yutani Corporation, mega conglomerate company that has spread across much of the human colonized planets in the known galaxy and who has always been considered to be the “true villain” behind the Alien series, with its “behind the scenes” machinations propelling much of the strife and conflict with the horrifying xenomorphs creatures. Romulus is no different as Álvarez and his team demonstrates that “the company” still has its hand in such dangerous affairs with these disturbing aliens and further continues with the plotting and scheming. Such nuances and callbacks to the series past does help bring a sense of continuity to Romulus’s story that, while doing its own things, still is firmly planted in the already established cinematic universe that began all the way back in 1979. Overall, I felt that Álvarez did a fantastic job in placing his personal stamp mark on the Alien franchise, with Romulus effectively returning everything to its narrative roots (aspects, nuances, presentation, story, etc.) and provides plenty of familiar context in find an engaging feature honors the series past as well as providing several new modern cineamtic flairs and visual style towards the director’s signature.
In the film’s presentation, Romulus looks incredibly detailed within its undertaking, presenting a very grim and sci-fi realism depiction of the future that’s both very much “in-line” with the rest of the Alien movies as well as the genre realm of which this movie’s setting calls upon on. With a production budget of only $80 million, which (in hindsight) is rather low when comparing large tentpole blockbuster endeavors to this film, Álvarez smartly utilizes the budget given to him and gives the feature a necessary push to make the background setting come alive as if it’s a character unto itself. All the set-pieces in the film have that so-called “hauntingly beautiful” feel through their various motifs and depictions. From the grungy and rundown makeshift dwellings on Jackson’s Star to the forebodingly dark and futuristic look upon the abandoned space station, the movie is teeming with a visual style that it provides plenty of context within the feature’s background setting and adds a layer of mystery and atmospheric motifs towards Romulus’s presentation. Thus, the film’s “behind the scenes” main players, including Naaman Marshall (production design), Zsuzanna Sipos, Toppler Zoltan, and Gabor Zsofinyecz (set decorations), Carlos Rosario (costume designs), and the entire art direction department, for their efforts in bringing Álvarez’s Alien film to life in such real and organic way as well as beautifully cinematic rendered.
Speaking of cinematically rendered, the cinematography work by Galo Oliveras does some impressive work throughout the movie, with the usage of slick camera angles and the usage of lighting and shadowing effects to help set up the overall “mood” of the feature’s various scenes. There is also quite an atmospheric nature throughout the entire film, with Oliveras techniques being implanted in many of the scenes in the picture, which helps creates a foreboding sense of uncertainty as well as some chilling moments in what lurks both around the corner and in the dark. Also, I do have to mention that the overall sound design for Romulus is terrific and should be praised. From the vile hissing and screeching of the facehuggers / xenomorphs to the echoing sounds aboard a deserted space station and even to heavy load pulse of various machine guns, these auditory moments that certainly bring the film’s scenes to life in such dramatic way. Lastly, the feature’s score, which was composed by Benjamin Wallfisch, is quite impressive film composition that highlight the unsettling and tense moments throughout. It builds up the momentum and produces some “hair-raising” pieces that worked effective in feature’s more terrifying and scarier sequences of suspense and alien encounters. All in all, good work on Wallfisch’s soundtrack.
While I did greatly enjoy the movie, I did have a few small criticisms that Romulus had within its presentation and overall execution; some of which couldn’t escape from the franchise signature style of storytelling. What do I mean by that? Well, the biggest thing is that the movie is quite predictable in how everything plays out. Of course, this is usually a problem with long running franchise endeavors, with theatrical series like Rocky, Terminator, James Bond, Indiana Jones, and even Fast & Furious, playing up to their strengths and going through the fan-favorite hits of their respective established narrative plot formulas, doing very little to change it up. The Alien series is no different, with many (if not all) of their cinematic entries following a particular narrative path that, while many change their characters and settings, still travels down an all-too familiar trajectory of gruesome deaths of cannon fodder individuals and coming into horrifying contact with facehuggers and xenomorphs. Again, it’s definitely the franchise’s “bread and butter”, with Romulus utilizing those narrative bits to embellish the journey of Rain, Andy, Tyler, and the rest when they are on-board of the derelict space station. Many, including myself, probably already that this was going to be the case with the film, so it may not bother them as much. Still, there is no denying that the movie is predictable in nature. Basically, if you’ve seeing one Alien movie than you know how Romulus will play out, which some viewers out there will probably “cry foul” about Romulus’s conventional plot and familiar narrative tones. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on the viewer. Again, I knew that it was going to be like this, but I sort of wish that a few things played out differently from the same old routines of “explore, hide, and run” scenarios that usually play out. In essence, Romulus, unlike how Prometheus (and maybe a little bit of Covenant) tried to bring new elements of storytelling and ideas into this long-running franchise, keeps everything very much the status-quo of the franchise, playing up the “the greatest hits” that the series that can be seeing as formulaic and unoriginal to a certain degree.
Coinciding with that, my biggest complaint would probably have to be the film’s final twenty minutes, which does (in true Alien fashion) creates a final obstacle for the main characters to confront. Like the predictable main body narrative that I outlined in the above paragraph, this plot tactic is almost a customary thing for many of the Alien movies to showcases. While I won’t spoil what the scene in entails or what it occurs during this part, it does feel a bit superfluous. The film had already given a good climatic scene, which was satisfying to watch and (presumably) going to close out Romulus’s story, but the movie continues forward, creating a rather elongated scene that runs the gambit of both being a little bit too long and too unnecessary. I definitely can see why Álvarez decided to do it (as well as the script handling for the feature) and does certainly fit into Romulus’s plot to a certain degree, but it just feels a tad pointless, bloating out the film’s runtime of which could’ve been better utilized in some world building aspects and characterization moments in other areas of the picture. I don’t know…. it just sort of slightly tarnishes a rather good and effective sci-fi horror film….at least to me.
Lastly, there are a few minor “head scratchers” in the movie that are left dangling and / or unanswered by the time the film reaches its conclusions and the end credits begin to roll. It’s kind of hard to say what those “head scratchers” are without spoiling some of the plot in the movie, but it goes without saying that I walked away from Romulus with some burning questions as to the future / connection it has with the rest of the Alien franchise. Some parts work, some don’t, some seem illogical and befuddling, and some might even retcon a few notions in other installments. I do understand that Álvarez is trying to do his own thing with the series as well as trying to bring everything “back to its cinematic roots”, but some ideas and scenarios that play out in the movie are a bit confusing because of they how they are supposed to fit into the larger Alien narrative.
What definitely helps overlook some of those criticisms is that the fact that the cast of Romulus is surprisingly really good, despite many of them being unknowns or (at least) no really household acting names; something that was quite different from the star-studded power that both Prometheus and Covenant had. However, that may actually be a rather good thing and work in the feature’s favor, with the small (yet quite effective) cast is up to the task and making their mark on the movie, regardless of what capacity they are in the film as well as in their previous acting endeavors. Taking center stage as the principle lead character is actress Cailee Spaeny, who plays the protagonist of Rain, a young pre-adult teenager who is desperate to have her and her brother (Andy) find a safe haven paradise on another planet. Known for her roles in Pacific Rim: Uprising, Priscillia, and Civil War, Spaeny, given the fact that she has been in more prominent films in her career, acts as the more “seasoned” acting talent on this particular project. She certainly holds her own throughout the film (as an actress) and does provide a good solid foundation as a lead character role. Plus, given the Alien franchise history of female protagonist archetypes, she fits right in. To be sure, Spaeny is no Sigourney Weaver and Rain is no Ripley, but definitely comes into the character in a believable that’s better than some of the other female protagonist in the prequel Alien movies. She’s very much so a likeable character (one that a viewer can easily root for) and has good story arc to follow throughout the feature’s plot. Yes, Rain might be a familiar character construct for the franchise, but Spaeny does a great job in filling in the role beautifully, which does make Rain resonate as a solid lead character to follow.
Behind her, actor David Jonsson (Industry and Deep State) gives both a humble and stirring performance as Andy, a synthetic android robot who is Andy’s brother / companion. There is a certain type of humanity to the character, one resonates with plenty of emotion within, as Andy’s simplistic mind is quite enduring throughout Romulus. It’s a sense of innocence within, which is quite perplexing given the nature of a sci-fi horrors that occur in the movie, as Jonsson is solid within this capacity as well as given a few moments of comedic levity in some goofy dad-like jokes / puns here and there. There’s definitely more to Andy that what I am writing, but that would be ruining some of the movie’s plot. Suffice to say that is quite interesting what happens to Andy in the film’s narrative and Jonsson gives dual performance with Andy that’s intriguing. Plus, the relationship between him and Rain acts as the “beating heart” throughout Romulus’s story, with Spaeny and Jonsson display incredibly well within their rapport and screen chemistry presence, feeling a mutual connection understanding that something only siblings have with each other. Overall, I felt that Jonsson demonstrates some emotional depth within his performance as Andy and makes him the one of the more endearing and memorable characters in the entire Alien franchise (behind the likes of Weaver’s Ripley or Fassbender’s David).
Acting as the larger supporting character in Romulus is the character of Tyler, Rain’s ex-boyfriend and the mastermind behind the events that kickstart the movie’s main plot, and who is played by actor Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone and Morbius). While not as fleshed out of a character like Rain or Andy, Tyler does get a lot of screen time in the movie, which is mostly due to his involvement on the main plot (tagging along with Rain and Andy on their journey) and does make for a somewhat compelling secondary character throughout most of the feature, while Renaux makes for a convincing and a capable role within Tyler. All in all, not a bad job and I liked him in the movie.
The rest of the cast, including actress Isabela Merced (Madame Web and Dora and the Lost City of Gold) as Tyler’s pregnant sister Kay, actor Spike Fearn (Back to Black and Tell Me Everything) as Tyler / Kay’s cousin Bjorn, and actress Aileen Wu (Closing Doors and Skin) as Bjorn’s girlfriend Navarro, make up the rest of the remaining players that are part of Tyler’s crew. As to be expected from this particular franchise, these characters are the “cannon fodder” of the feature and I will leave it at that. The acting talent involved in this grouping is up to the task in highlighting their characters respectfully in a way that is befitting the Alien series, despite them characterization being a little bit “one note” from their initial setup. Still, I had no problem with this trios and the movie does give one or two moments for their characters to shine in the spotlight, so it all counterbalances in the end. Perhaps my only problem was with Fearn’s Bjorn, who does get slightly annoying at times and it’s also kind of hear what he’s saying with his thick accent, which is strange because the sound editing / mixing (as I mentioned above) is pretty fantastic in the movie.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Hoping to find a new home off world, Rain and Andy, her android brother / companion, team up with several friends and board a derelict space station in search of cryo-fuel for their potential long journey to a better life, but, while there, the group uncovers horrifying creatures that begin to pick them off one by one in the movie Alien Romulus. Director Fede Álvarez’s latest film brings the franchise back to its more fundamentally roots in a sort of “back to basics” presentation by capturing a more rudimentary sci-fi horror in a surprising way. While the feature does struggle slightly with the movie’s streamlined and formulaic predictableness as well as tacked on ending that didn’t need to be added, the movie gives a memorable and tantalizing cinematic endeavor, especially from Álvarez’s direction, a focused narrative / script, small good world-building nuances, a great and visual presentation, fantastic atmospheric aspects (cinematography, sound design, and score), and a small yet effective cast across the board. Personally, I really liked this movie. Yes, there were some areas that were a bit too familiar for the franchise (a bit redundant here and there), but I was thoroughly impressed by the movie. It was a return to form for the film series, bringing everything back to what made an Alien movie fun and enjoyable and producing some wildly (and gruesome) horrors that will make longtime fans engaged to see. True enough, Álvarez makes his mark on the franchise and does so with one that both speaks to the large overarching narrative facehuggers and xenomorphs as well as standing on its own merits as a standalone installment. So, where does this film following into my personal ranking of the Alien movies. Well, it’s up there as I would consider Romulus to be fourth favorite film in the series (behind Aliens, Alien, and Prometheus). Thus, my recommendation for this movie is a very much praised “high recommended” as I’m sure longtime Alien moviegoers will enjoy it as well as newcomers to the series who are looking to dive headfirst into the science fiction horror fray. The movie’s conclusion leaves the possibility open for another installment in Rain’s journey and I, for one, would love to see what lies in store for such a character. Would Álvarez come back to direct another Alien movie? Who can say at this current moment. In conclusion, Alien: Romulus is a palpable and successfully entertaining return to the sci-fi saga, reimagining what made the franchise so endearing to begin with in new ideas and modern cinematic enhancements as well continuing to reinforcing the classic Alien tagline…. “in space….no one can hear you scream”.
4.3 Out of 5 (Highly Recommended)
Official Alien: Romulus Website Link: HERE
Released On: August 16th, 2024
Reviewed On: August 29th, 2024
Alien: Romulus is 119 minutes long and is rated R for bloody violence content and language
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