'Alien: Romulus' Review

Fede Álvarez breathes new life into a tired franchise

The Alien franchise has had a long and complex journey in its over 40 year span. The first two installments still stand to this day as masterpieces of horror and sci-fi action, and are among personal favorites of mine. After Alien and Aliens, it is no secret that the franchise took a turn for the worse. Following the long string of disappointments, to see a return to the horror origins of the series had me excited. After viewing it, Alien: Romulus was an overall satisfying but somewhat flawed return to form, but definitely the best installment in the franchise since Aliens.

Alien: Romulus does what Rogue One did for Star Wars: in making its own original story still with reverence towards the original. It efficiently establishes itself as a smaller horror film more concentrated on the original magic of the first installment rather than the bizarre epic odysseys of Prometheus and Covenant. As Denis Villeneuve breathed new life into Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, so does director Fede Álvarez breathe new life into this decades-old franchise.

Just as Rogue One nailed the tiny little details and created decent characters to engage with, so does this film with the introduction of Cailee Spaeny’s Rain Carradine. While I was invested in the story and on edge for most of the film, similar issues occurred just as in Rogue One: without giving too much away, there is a significant character from the earlier films that gets a "Grand Moff Tarkin treatment" and it is very jarring. Never mind the ethics of it, but the effect itself looks quite poor. There are also a few major plot conveniences that made me roll my eyes but for the most part, these weren't enough to ruin the experience. 

Then there is the actual horror element of this, which was nothing short of unnerving: Romulus finds new and creative ways to display the horror of this universe, and it is nothing short of terrifying to watch. The violence in this is appropriate but still disturbing, and I applaud the use of practical effects throughout the film. It quickly establishes both the stakes and rules of the universe in an effective and engaging way.

The characters engage with the creatures of this universe on a space station that does gravity purges when its power is out, to prevent itself from exploding. This simple rule once established is used creatively and effectively and sets a healthy dosage of tension as soon as our characters enter. The tension within the film is a gradual escalation that reaches its climax in one of the more disturbing final acts of a film in recent memory. Without spoiling too much, the ending of this is quite disturbing and may be too much for some viewers. If you are not into more Cronenberg-esque” horror and are of weak constitution, this film is not for you. 

Alien: Romulus is a refreshing and entertaining throwback to the original Alien that we needed at this point: serving as a tense and genuinely unsettling horror film in an era where actual scares are few and far between. While it is by no means perfect or necessarily a horror masterpiece, it goes to show that sometimes, less truly is more. I hope more inspiration comes from this to encourage studios to make quality, old-fashioned horrors, as opposed to the safe PG-13 jump-scares that have over-saturated the market for far too long.