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“In space, no one can hear you scream.” The tagline given to 1979’s Alien, the film that started it all, still rings true 45 years later. The silence that blankets the vastness of space is how Alien: Romulus begins. Even as a ship nears, you can’t hear it. You can’t hear anything until the ship comes to life with familiar beeping sounds. Then, an image of a cocooned xenomorph covers the screen before the film’s title card. For many, Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus will be an introduction to the franchise. It works wonderfully as that, subtly playing the greatest hits to familiarize audiences with its mythos. For others, the film’s opening minutes will feel like a gorgeously bleak return, fueling the anticipated fire of anxiety-inducing horror. But how can you compete with the genre-defining classics that came before?
More akin to Alien, Álvarez’s interquel begins slowly and full of dread. Focusing on a gloomy mining colony, we are introduced to the young cast of characters tasked with anchoring this latest entry in the franchise. Rain (Cailee Spaeny) lives and works on this planet, but she wants to find a way out. Accompanied by her adopted brother Andy (David Jonsson), an artificial human programmed by her deceased parents to look after her, Rain is hoping to get off this sunless rock and travel to a new, warmer system. This dream suddenly seems lost for good, however, when she is told she’s being transferred to work in the mines on an extended contract. That is until her friend Tyler (Archie Renaux) delivers some exciting news: He’s spotted a decommissioned spaceship floating above their planet that they could use as their ticket to paradise.
Alien Romulus review
In classic Alien franchise fashion, the trio, along with Tyler’s sister Kay (Isabela Merced), their cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and his girlfriend Navarro (Aileen Wu), go exploring somewhere they shouldn’t. As they search this derelict spacecraft for fuel for their cryosleep pods, they find that their time might be running out. Not only because they only have so many hours before the ship crashes into their planet’s rings, but also because in the dead of space, there’s no escape from the creatures they come to encounter. In the style of Aliens, the second hour increases in tension, never letting up in pulse-pounding intensity and grotesque glory.
It’s impossible to make the line “Get away from her, you bitch!” hit the same without Sigourney Weaver, and while Alien: Romulus is full of nods, some of them just don’t work. It’s all in paying homage, of course, but using a bad deep fake to bring back a character or leaning on the tired tension between humans and AI to create unnecessary conflict doesn’t add much to this rebirth of sorts. It doesn’t have anything new to say, either, and while it tries to play with the franchise’s already-established themes of humanity, evolution, and corporate exploitation, it doesn’t have a strong thematic backbone. What carries it is the young cast, with strong work, particularly from Spaeny and Jonsson, and how viscerally frightening the film is – even more so than previous films in the franchise.
The best way to pay homage to an already well-lauded work is by playing with the familiar but with modern tricks. There are so many familiar elements incorporated, like the technology the characters use, the film’s horror elements, and its setting, but each is created and executed in a way that feels like it’s never been done before. Spectacular sound design and stunning visuals carry us through an unsettling environment that isn’t new for this franchise but doesn’t feel exhausted either. Effective jump scares, intense action sequences, sick body horror, and a great mix of practical and CGI effects are just icing on the cake.
Álvarez sets his film in between Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens to play with what has already been established. This doesn’t mean it’s a rehash by any means. No, there are only the obvious connections between this story, these characters, and those of old, but it doesn’t expand beyond the franchise either. Much like Álvarez’s take on Evil Dead, the director takes what we already know and runs wild with it. In some ways, it even improves on what makes Alien and Aliens so terrifying, delivering all you could want out of a play on IP like this: A sick, creepy-crawly creature feature.
Grade: B
Alien: Romulus
While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.
Release Date: August 16, 2024
Director: Fede Álvarez
Cast: Cailee Spaeny , David Jonsson , Isabela Merced
