How to talk about a film like Alien Romulus without going too over the top…? I’m not sure if it’s possible… Let me start by saying that Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien movie is one of my favourite movies ever made. I also love James Cameron’s Aliens, but since then, the franchise has given us some pretty dreadful films.
The franchise has been in a relatively poor state for a while now. We’ve seen some movies that showed promise, such as Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise in 2012’s Prometheus, which I would argue was one of the best movies to have been released in the Alien canon since Aliens.
As far as the Alien franchise is concerned, the best thing to have come out of it, up until this point, was Creative Assembly’s incredible video game Alien: Isolation, which was bloody brilliant and something that all Alien fans should play. I’m pretty sure most of you have, though.
Fede Álvarez has rejuvenated the Alien franchise
Credit: 20th Century Studios
READ MORE: Ridley Scott’s Reaction To The New Alien Movie Is Very Positive
Anyway, this is where Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus comes into the picture. I’m going to spoil what I thought of the movie pretty much straight away here. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that it’s the best thing to have come out of the Alien franchise since Aliens. That’s pretty clear, in my opinion.
There have been some rather divisive reactions to it from the Alien fanbase, which has surprised me. I understand having issues with the movie, which I will go into a bit later on in this review, but as far as I’m concerned, I genuinely felt that Alien: Romulus is the best movie to have been released in cinemas since Cameron’s Aliens. I will stand by that statement.
First off, I have to mention that I got to watch Alien: Romulus in IMAX at the BFI IMAX in London, and it looked amazing. I was completely immersed from beginning to end, and part of that was thanks to how well the film was shot, but the rest was really down to how well presented it was.
You have to watch it in IMAX
Credit: 20th Century Studios
I’m a real stickler for a good projection, and you do not get much better than the BFI IMAX in Waterloo! It’s like you’re going on a rollercoaster ride, and I had a wonderful time watching Alien: Romulus there. Sitting in my seat, I felt that cinema was back, and more specifically, sci-fi horror cinema!
It’s been a while since I got to watch a genuinely good sci-fi horror movie. I feel like the genre that Ridley Scott created all those years ago with 1979’s Alien has been put on the back burner for quite some time.
Turns out, I was just waiting for Fede Álvarez to have a crack at it. I’d actually like to take the time to talk about Álvarez here. He’s a really interesting director. He’s someone who’s made a name for himself in the horror genre. Álvarez has given us movies such as Don’t Breathe and his Evil Dead remake.
I liked both of those movies. I was more a fan of Don’t Breathe than his Evil Dead remake, but they’re both solid films. That said, I think Alien: Romulus is his best-ever picture. It’s certainly his most accomplished movie.
What’s it all about…?
Credit: 20th Century Studios
I’ve just realised that I’ve been banging on about Alien: Romulus for quite some time now, and I haven’t even told you what the movie is about. So here’s the film’s plot:
The film starts off with a Weyland-Yutani space probe investigating the wreckage of the USCSS Nostromo and collecting an organic object containing a Xenomorph. OK, so I do know that a lot of people had an issue with the way this started. There is a bit of a plot hole here because there was only one Xenomorph on the Nostromo, and that one was ejected into space by Ripley, so why would there be another Xenomorph in that wreckage?
What I was thinking is that the writers see the Xenomorph in the first Alien film and the one they pick up in Alien: Romulus as being one and the same. That is the Xenomorph that Ripley and Co. went up against. But, honestly, I do get the issue here. It’s a bit of a stretch. That said, I think it’s a good place to start, and it sets the scene really nicely.
This is a straight sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien
Credit: 20th Century Studios
It also lets you know from the very beginning that this is a continuation of Scott’s Alien movie. It’s basically a direct sequel, and I like that fact a lot. It got me on board from the very beginning. It wasn’t until afterwards that I found myself questioning how that could be the same Xenomorph from the first-ever Alien film.
So, we then cut to Rain Carradine (played brilliantly by Cailee Spaeny). She’s an orphan who lives in a colony called Jackson’s Star with her adopted brother Andy (a reprogrammed synthetic human, wonderfully portrayed by David Jonsson). They are trying to get out of the colony and go to another colony where they can see the sun.
However, the company rejects her request for a transfer, and she then agrees to join her ex-boyfriend Tyler in travelling to a derelict spacecraft floating above their planet to retrieve cryostasis chambers.
These chambers will allow Rain and Co. to escape to a new planet and, hopefully, a better life. However, once they get on the ship, things go very wrong—enter facehuggers… You can imagine the rest… or can you…?
This is a film made for Alien fans by Alien fans
Credit: 20th Century Studios
READ MORE: Alien: Romulus’s First Reactions Call It “The Best Movie Of The Year”
Honestly, I had so much fun with this film. It was everything I wanted it to be. As a huge Alien fan myself, I really felt as though there was a lot to like. The movie is a bit of a mix of all the best bits from previous Alien films. There’s a lot of Alien in there, some callbacks to Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien: Resurrection.
The other thing I kept on thinking whilst watching Álvarez’s new Alien film was that the people involved in this project had played Alien: Isolation. I felt that there was a lot of that brilliant video game in there, and that made me very happy to see because it’s brilliant, and I’ve often said that it’s the best thing to have come out of the Alien franchise since Aliens.
There were even some callbacks to Prometheus, which I actually liked because I felt that Álvarez and Co. were able to take the best ideas from that movie and bring them into Alien: Romulus.
I was one of those people who didn’t think that Prometheus was as bad as everyone said it was. I felt that it wasn’t the movie I wanted it to be, but there were some interesting ideas in there, and some very freaky moments, which I feel Alien: Romulus took note of and enhanced those ideas and made something genuinely terrifying! If you’ve seen the movie, then I’m pretty sure you’ll know what I’m referring to here.
Alien: Romulus brings sci-fi horror back!
Credit: 20th Century Studios
However, the thing I actually liked the most here was that this is the first Alien movie since Alien, in my opinion, to actually focus on delivering a sci-fi horror movie. I’ve always argued that even though I love James Cameron’s Aliens, it made the franchise worse in the long run because it took it away from its roots. It turned the franchise into a sci-fi action movie, and really, it dispensed with the horror and the tension. I think that one of Álvarez’s best qualities is his ability to create tension and also surprise his audiences.
There were some incredibly tense set pieces in this movie, and I think Álvarez nailed the atmosphere from the very beginning of the picture. From the moment the film began, I could feel that we were in very safe hands as far as the Alien franchise is concerned.
People have referred to this movie as Don’t Breathe in space, and I certainly see where they’re coming from. This film certainly shares some DNA with Don’t Breathe, which isn’t a bad thing either. It’s a bunch of young people thinking they can break into a place and steal stuff, and it should be “super easy, barely an inconvenience”. Well, it turns out to be an incredible inconvenience when they find out what’s really going on inside that place.
There are many similarities between Alien: Romulus and Don’t Breathe’s plots. But again, I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.
However, it’s not a perfect film…
Credit: 20th Century Studios
READ MORE: James Cameron Has Seen Alien: Romulus And He’s A Big Fan
That said, Alien: Romulus is not a perfect film. I’ve already mentioned the movie’s biggest plot hole, which takes place right at the beginning. However, my biggest issue with the movie, and the reason why I couldn’t give it a perfect score, was a certain surprise cameo that I won’t spoil for you guys.
What I will say is that the cameo was done incredibly poorly and almost took me out of the movie entirely. It was all going so well, and then they did a thing, and that thing was not a good thing. That’s a terrible sentence, I know, but I think you’ll understand what I mean when you watch the movie.
What I will say is that they could have done something much more interesting had they gone down the more practical route rather than leaning on CGI. The technology is still not ready for what they wanted to do, and they probably would have been able to do it properly had they had more time and money, but if that was going to be the case, then they should have thought of doing something different.
That’s why I said that they should have gone down the more practical route. You can do incredible things with puppets and animatronics. I do wonder whether it was a bit of an afterthought and maybe something added in reshoots. I don’t know whether that was the case, but it certainly looked like it might have been.
Stars are born in Alien: Romulus!
Credit: 20th Century Studios
Finally, I need to talk about the performances. Again, I do apologise for the length of this review. I know it’s long, but I have a lot to say about Alien! Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are incredible. I already knew that Spaeny was a very talented actress. She’s been in the likes of Mare Of Easttown, Civil War, and Priscilla. She’s always brilliant, and she’s the perfect lead for Alien: Romulus. The character she plays is tough, resourceful, cool, persistent and incredibly loyal.
She’s the perfect new Ripley for what I’m sure will be a slew of new Alien movies. Then there’s Jonsson, who I hadn’t seen in anything prior to this film. But he basically plays two characters, and I would argue that he’s better at it than Michael Fassbender was, and Fassbender carried the last two Alien films. I loved Jonsson in the role of Andy, and I really liked Rain and Andy’s on-screen dynamic and their strong bond was brilliant to watch.
Alien is back in a big way!
Credit: 20th Century Studios
READ MORE: Alien: Romulus Projected To Make $38M In Its Opening Weekend In The US
All in all, Alien: Romulus is the Alien movie I’ve been waiting for. It’s an incredible ride. It’s tense, scary, gory, yucky, action-packed and features characters that I actually cared about. It brings us back to a creepy spaceship setting and gives us facehuggers, Xenomorphs and plenty of screams and moments you’ll want to look away from but just can’t. Alien: Romulus is captivating, terrifying, engrossing, gross, and so much fun! I can’t wait to watch it again.
