Alien: Romulus

 

“If you don’t stay quiet, we all die.”

Less fresh, less frightening and less formidable, Alien: Romulus struggles to separate itself from its predecessors by replaying the greatest hits of the franchise, but still manages to deliver some claustrophobic horror, extraterrestrial terror and astronomical action that brings enough thrills to entertain easy-to-scare audiences. 

Discussion Points:

I’ll be completely honest. I still really enjoyed Alien: Romulus. But it struggles to feel fresh or frightening. I was led to expect more gore from Fede Álvarez than what was ultimately delivered, and the film remains predictable and thus less compelling. It plays all the franchises major hits, the people you expect to die… die, the people you expect to live… live, the simple set-ups have simple pay-offs. It’s not necessarily bad, but it feels wasted. I understand the comparisons some have made to this being CW’s Alien or Disney’s Alien - it feels slightly neutered, dragged down into YA fanfic and too safe to really rock the spaceship. And yet it’s still a solid Alien film. The claustrophobia is there. The sci-fi world that’s captivated audiences for decades is there. The terrifying Xenomorphs who continue to horrify are there. The powerful score, strong production design and pretty gnarly practical effects which continue to impress are there. Besides that, Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are easily the highlights - even if their character beats are completely predictable. I like how this fits into the Alien universe. I found the final 30 minutes to be some of the most fresh and exciting parts, and honestly wish the final Xenomorph they faced was a threat from far earlier in the film. Takes a compelling set-up and ultimately plays it too safe. But I do hope we still get more Alien films because this is a world that definitely has more and hopefully better stories to tell.