A truly terrifying cinematic experience from producer Ridley Scott and director/writer Fede Alvarez, 20th Century Studios’ “Alien: Romulus” opens in theaters nationwide August 16, 2024. The sci-fi/horror-thriller takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: 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.
What We Thought:
To prepare for Alien: Romulus I did a rewatch of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. After seeing Alien: Romulus I can tell you that you don’t have to do that, but honestly I’m glad I did because it gave me a major positive aspect of the film. I’ll explain that in a bit. Going into the movie all you need to know is that it’s a standalone film with no characters you need to remember from previous films and that in terms of its timeline, it fits in between Alien and Aliens.
With its horror elements and pacing you can 100% tell it’s a Fede Alvarez film. That’s the first major positive of the film, Alvarez brings back the gritty and grimy elements of the franchise. He brings more of the horror aspect to the series that the prequels seemed to lack. The franchise has always been horror and science fiction, but Alvarez’s film leans heavily into the gore and thrill ride angle. With the film taking place on a mining colony with expendable workers and people, it’s dirty and looks old. Everyone seems to be gritty looking and equipment is worn down. The fancy look of Prometheus and Alien: Romulus is toned down for a believable work environment type planet and run down space station. It’s the perfect backdrop for the story and the story works for the timeline he chooses.
Going into the movie after rewatching the franchise my major concern was if this story takes place between Alien and Aliens, would it have the analog look of those films and not the clean lines and updated tech we shouldn’t have seen in the prequels? The original two films were shot in the 1970s and 1980s and despite being futuristic stories, they had analog technology, microphones, buttons and computers that look old compared to what we have even today never mind a hundred plus years from now. Alvarez brings back the original aesthetics of the first two films despite having today’s technology to use. I give him major props for giving his film the proper feel of the two fantastic original movies.
I loved the look and feel a lot, my only real issue was the characters. Sure that seems like a big deal, but overall it isn’t. Since this is a standalone film set between two sacred timeline films, you go into it not expecting many characters to survive or mean anything to the franchise by the end. Everything Alvarez gets right with the story and aesthetics he gets wrong with the characters. The look and plot of the movie are perfect for a story set between Alien and Aliens, but the characters feel too much like today’s world. Every film in the franchise has had a diverse cast of ethnicities and gender with a woman as the main protagonist each time (Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in four originals, Noomi Rapace and Katherine Waterston in the two prequels). But this film’s characters feel very much like current day. They seemed hand picked to check off a box instead of just being a group of individuals put in a terrifying situation. The only character that seems to have substance is Cailee Spaeny’s lead character, the rest are all stereotypical, dime a dozen type with accents you have a hard time understanding. Knowing most won’t mean anything by the end you at least get to cheer when ones you don’t like get ripped apart by Xenomorphs.
I think fans of the franchise will enjoy Alien: Romulus. I did. Alvarez brings in great gore with one scene that will have people talking about it for a long time. He makes a film that looks like the originals and less like the prequels and in my book that’s a great thing. Is the movie necessary? No, it doesn’t really add to the lore and you can make another movie not connected to this one immediately, but I’m cool with that. Spaeny makes for a great lead despite the rest of the cast not doing much to help her. If you are an Alien/Xenomorph fan you should definitely check it out.
RECOMMENDED!
The film stars Cailee Spaeny (“Priscilla”), David Jonsson (“Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“The Last of Us”), Spike Fearn (“Aftersun”), Aileen Wu. Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead,” “Don’t Breathe”) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (“Don’t Breathe 2”) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. “Alien: Romulus” is produced by Ridley Scott (“Napoleon”), who directed the original “Alien” and produced and directed the series’ entries “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” Michael Pruss (“Boston Strangler”), and Walter Hill (“Alien”), with Fede 2 Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (“Charlie’s Angels”), Brent O’Connor (“Bullet Train”), and Tom Moran (“Unstoppable”) serving as executive producers.
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