The Big Picture

Alien: Romulus
serves as an exciting blend of horror and action, delving deep into the capitalist-driven world of the Alien franchise.
The film finds success in its smart mixture of CGI and practical effects, along with some unique, suspenseful action sequences.
Strong performances from Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson elevate the film, providing a fresh perspective on familiar character dynamics in the Alien universe.

A common refrain in Alien: Romulus, the latest installment in the horror-action franchise from director/co-writer Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe, 2013’s Evil Dead), is to do what’s best for the company. That company in question is Weyland-Yutani, the conglomerate of the future whose greed and curiosity have led to xenomorph murders on all manner of misguided space quests. However, in a larger sense, Alien: Romulus is also doing what’s best for its company, 20th Century Studios, as the first film from the studio since its acquisition by the Walt Disney Company. As the seventh film in this franchise over the course of almost 50 years, it’s understandable that the company would want this series to continue for years to come, while also reminding audiences what they love about this world. The problem is that Alien: Romulus clearly has larger ambitions in mind, yet it gets stuck in nostalgia for the past that overwhelms the more interesting concepts at hand.

Alien: Romulus In Alien: Romulus, a crew of space explorers lands on a distant, uncharted planet, only to uncover a horrifying secret lurking beneath the surface. As they delve deeper into the alien environment, they encounter deadly creatures and ancient ruins that hint at a terrifying history. The team’s survival becomes a desperate battle against the relentless xenomorphs, forcing them to rely on their wits and technology to escape the nightmarish world.Release Date August 16, 2024 Director Fede Alvarez

What Is ‘Alien: Romulus’ About?
Romulus takes us to a star mining colony owned by Weyland-Yutani, where we meet Rain (Cailee Spaeny), who is struggling to get released from her contract. She thought she was free to go, but her quotas have been upped, and now she’ll be relegated to the mines for 5-6 years – the same mines that her parents died in. All Rain has left is her synthetic android “brother” Andy (Rye Lane’s David Jonsson), who is beginning to malfunction. Feeling trapped and hopeless, Rain meets with a group of friends and fellow young space colonizers who have a plan to get out of their terrible situation. They’ve found an abandoned space station nearby with abandoned hypersleep chambers, so all they need is to capture these units, and they can cryosleep their way to someplace better: the planet Yvaga. On the colony, Rain has never even seen the sun, but on Yvaga, she can finally see the sun that she only dreams about.

Rain and Andy, along with Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Navarro (Aileen Wu) head to the space station for what should be a quick mission. What they don’t realize is that this abandoned ship, known as the Romulus, was the Weyland-Yutani ship that captured the xenomorph between the events of Alien and Aliens. Naturally, things did not go so well for that ship’s crew, and now, it’s teeming with murderous alien life. Rain, Andy, and the rest of the crew must try to survive this death ship that could offer their way to freedom, while also having to deal with interference from the Weyland-Yutani corporation as well.

‘Romulus’ Starts Promising, Then Becomes Too Focused on the Past

Romulus, which Álvarez co-wrote with his Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe collaborator, Rodo Sayagues, has a promising start, focusing on the working class crews that Weyland-Yutani uses for their own means. The mining colony is a stark place, full of discontented workers trapped in space, with no sun, just trying to scrape by. The Alien franchise has often put these workers at the forefront, but getting to see the dregs of their situation and the desperation to get out only heightens what we know about these types of characters in these films. It’s an intriguing side of this futuristic world to show, but unfortunately, Romulus soon loses this exploration of capitalism and how companies thrive on the backs of their workers to move into a more conventional direction for this series.

Once this crew gets onboard the Romulus, the film often falls into playing out like a greatest hits of the Alien franchise. Álvarez and Sayagues do a decent job of mixing the franchise’s horror with action, and this leads to some strong set pieces, like one that involves avoiding xenomorph acid in an anti-gravity. But as the film dives deeper into the explanation of what’s going on and what the larger goals are for those in power, Romulus sometimes becomes a retread into this series’ history. Even the oft-maligned Prometheus gets a quick shout-out and a needle drop that uses the film’s score. While it’s great to see that Álvarez and Sayagues have a deep love of this world and can throw in references to each of these installments, they don’t quite add up to much more than Easter eggs for their audience.

Related Fede Álvarez Reveals His Favorite Thing About ‘Alien: Romulus’ Hint: they’d love to give you a big hug.

Without spoiling where Romulus goes, one of the more egregious uses of nostalgia here comes in a very direct throwback to the original film. This Alien callback features some awkward CGI and heavily borrows from what we already know about this world rather than creating its own antagonistic force outside of the titular aliens. Álvarez and Sayagues are using this film to bridge the events of Alien and Aliens – and that’s fine – but it does so by borrowing from the past instead of allowing this story to create its own self-contained narrative. Beyond the initial surprise of this reveal, it’s a more-than-questionable choice that makes this feel like a footnote to Alien instead of its own story.

But Álvarez, along with cinematographer Galo Olivares (Gretel & Hansel), find a smart look for this film, creating a lived-in vibe that feels both futuristic and outdated. There’s a strange comfort for the viewer as they step onto these ships that look oddly familiar to fans of this series. Except for the aforementioned throwback reference, Romulus finds a nice mixture of CGI and practical effects that fits in with the rest of the series. It results in some smart action sequences that are unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in this world.

‘Alien: Romulus’ Works Best When Director Fede Álvarez Embraces Horror
Image via 20th Century Studios

Especially in this film’s third act, Álvarez’s talents as a horror director start to shine. Romulus starts strong with this exploration of the lower class, drags in the middle with its reference-heavy focus, and then picks itself up a bit in its bonkers finale. Álvarez utilizes his horror background to build the film’s unbearable discomfort, the proximity of characters to the camera, and generally get under your skin. Again, the conclusion is very much an extended homage to Alien in many ways, but finds a way to leave its own impression on this series, instead of leaning on what came before it. Romulus’ best moments allow Álvarez to play within his horror wheelhouse, creating his own horror story within this universe in a way that these movies haven’t embraced fully since the original.

David Jonsson Is a Spectacular Synthetic in ‘Romulus’
Image via 20th Century Studios

Romulus also works because of its cast, particularly Spaeny and Jonsson. Their dynamic shifts and changes as the film goes along, from lifelong friends to questioning each other’s motivations and everywhere in between. Spaeny’s Rain is clever, always aware of the nightmare she’s in, but also of the nightmare she’ll be trapped in when/if she gets back to the colony. Rain is essentially our Ripley surrogate, however, while Sigourney Weaver played this lead role with intense assuredness and strength, Spaeny’s fear and uncertainty of how to act adds an interesting layer to this type of character.

But it’s Jonsson who is the star of this show, playing Andy as an android who has to balance what is best for his closest friend and what is right for the company he was made for. As the humans he’s stuck with make questionable choices, Andy takes emotion out of the equation, counterbalancing the stupid decisions the humans can’t help but lean towards with their “hearts” and “consciences.” Because Andy is balancing between humanity and his android impulses, we get a character who goes from being genuinely uncertain about his place in this world to terrifyingly focused on his quest. Jonsson plays this dynamic beautifully, creating a character that we are immediately drawn to, then find ourselves in Rain’s shoes, having to reckon with what he’s becoming. The synthetic androids in these movies have always made some of the most compelling characters, such as Ian Holm’s Ash and Michael Fassbender’s David, and Jonsson more than makes himself a great continuation of this lineage of actors.

Alien: Romulus has plenty of its own solid ideas on how to build this world in ways we haven’t seen before, but it’s a shame that a strong opening and ending are bookmarking a film that’s stuck in so many decades of callbacks and reminders of this franchise’s past. If anything, the Alien movies are so interesting because of their insular nature, where filmmakers can try their own things – for better or for worse – in an intriguing environment. While trying to reference these other installments isn’t inherently a bad idea, it often undermines the unique concepts that Romulus seemingly wants to explore. Alien: Romulus proves that for the Alien franchise to move forward, it might have to quit looking backward so much.

REVIEW Alien: Romulus Alien Romulus has a promising beginning and end, but the middle gets a bit too muddled in nostalgia for this franchise.ProsThe beginning and end of Alien: Romulus find interesting ways to expand on the Alien franchises in ways we haven’t seen before.David Jonsson’s as Andy is another great android performance in a series full of them.Director Fede Álvarez does a nice job of integrating horror elements back into the Alien franchise. ConsThe middle of the film is too focused on referencing past installments.One particular callback to the original Alien is especially egregious and makes this feel like a footnote to that first film.

Alien: Romulus comes to theaters on August 16. Click below for showtimes.

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