Alien: Romulus – Film Review
While the franchise as a whole is quite a mixed bag, I am always excited for a new Alien release so Alien: Romulus was one of my most-anticipated films of the year.
Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, the film follows a group of young space colonists who illegally escape from their permanently dark planet and head to a new system with daylight. There’s Rain (Cailee Spaeny), her ‘brother’ Andy (David Jonsson), her ex Tyler (Archie Renaux), his sister Kay (Isabela Merced), their cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and his girlfriend Navarro (Aileen Wu). They plan to scavenge cryo pods from an abandoned ship in space to complete their journey – but they soon discover why there are no humans left on the craft.
There is a fine line between paying homage to a franchise and leaning too heavily on nostalgia and this film doesn’t get the balance right. Each Alien film was distinct and felt like its own thing while this borrows a lot from the others (but mostly the first). It’s not a total copy and there are some surprises but it doesn’t stray far from the typical structure and feels very familiar until the wild, shocking final act, where writer-director Fede Alvarez really gets to make his mark.
It’s clear Alvarez has respect and reverence for the franchise. The visuals are in keeping with the first two films, with the grainy ’80s text and retro technology, and he used practical effects (Xenomorph puppets!) instead of CGI as much as possible. I appreciated the overall look but I don’t think it was necessary to recreate certain visuals or repeat classic catchphrases. The inclusion of those feels like a Disney thing, as the Marvel and Lucasfilm movies love a healthy amount of fan service.
There is one element that I wholeheartedly disagreed with but I can’t talk about it because it’s a spoiler. I could have glossed over the other issues because it’s a very scary and entertaining film (the final act really levels up) but I cannot forgive that decision. Also, because there are so many practical effects, the CGI for this particular idea sticks out like a sore thumb.
While it has its problems, Alien: Romulus is an exciting, intense and sometimes stressful film with repulsive body horror moments and disgusting imagery. It definitely takes the sequel approach of giving us more – there are a lot of facehuggers and Xenomorphs and it is not for the faint-hearted! Spaeny will never replace Sigourney Weaver but she does a solid job leading the chaos alongside the excellent Jonsson.
Alvarez successfully rebooted the Evil Dead franchise in 2013 so I knew we would be in capable hands with Alien: Romulus. He knows how to deliver scares and ramp up the intensity. It’s just a shame about the fan service.
In cinemas from Friday 16th August