Alien: Romulus Review — A Screaming Thrill Ride Without Much To Say

I don’t know if I’ve ever been as frustrated by a movie as I am by Alien: Romulus. I would say Alien is my favorite film of all time, and Aliens isn’t far behind. This interstitial entry in the long-running action/horror franchise is more of a greatest hits showcase than a new horizon. It’s an impressive accomplishment, but the dawning horror of a Xenomorph attack fits comfortably alongside the terror of watching a franchise self-consciously consume itself.

Director Fede Álvarez is comfortably within his wheelhouse in Alien: Romulus. Splashes of his signature style splatter every corner of the film like acidic blood. His influence is mostly positive, but I kept thinking of his take on Evil Dead during the movie. I broadly enjoy both films, but they lose a lot in their attempt to recapture the greats. Álvarez is undoubtedly an exceptional horror director, but I wonder whether his bow has a second string.

Space Horror for a New Generation

Alien: Romulus isn’t without interesting themes and ideas, but it doesn’t do enough with them. While the original film followed a crew of adult space truckers contending with the perfect killing machine, Romulus subs in a bunch of young folks struggling for a better life. Cailee Spaeny stars as Rain, a miner on a Weyland-Yutani outpost who gradually realizes that the company will never let her go. Rain takes care of her synthetic adoptive brother, David Jonsson’s damaged android named Andy. Desperate and out of options, Rain and Andy join four friends on a scavenging mission that could finally get them away from the company. They try to snag their prize from the scuttled Romulus space station, only to find it choked with familiar alien horrors. It’s a relatively barebones plot, but it fills the gaps with screams.

The characters don’t bring much to the table. Spaeny and Jonsson are solid in their roles, but they have very little to work with. The others each impart their singular character trait in two or three scenes before things go downhill, and they have to switch to non-stop screaming. There are interesting details buried in the character choices, but they all feel cut down to ensure a sub-two-hour runtime. The most worthwhile element of thematic depth comes from these kids. These are the orphans of Weyland-Yutani policy. They work, struggle, and fight for the basic decency their world won’t give them, only to suffer the wrath of the company in a much more direct fashion. Generational trauma and cycles of self-interest seem to pop up as the prominent central themes, but Alien: Romulus isn’t interested in pursuing them beyond the first act.

The Future is Still Used

Despite its issues in the plot department, Alien: Romulus has immaculate presentation. It is an absolute treat from an audio and visual perspective. The sound design, a regularly underrated element of horror cinema, keeps your heart in your throat from the film’s first moments. On the subject of hearts, Alien famously wielded the sound of a human heartbeat to heighten tension. Romulus occasionally uses the same concept but with an average BPM of around 120. That beautiful sound design perfectly suits the excellent visuals. This year’s Xenomorph is a stunning life-size animatronic that will haunt your dreams. The imagery is striking, constantly flooding the screen with realistic facehuggers and painfully real Xenomorphs. It’s a delight from this perspective.

Set design is one of the most notable accomplishments of Alien: Romulus. The flawless recreations and elevations of classic design elements genuinely stunned me. The film preserves the used future aesthetic, delivering everything through CRT monitors and blinking green text. Álvarez commits hard to real sets and practical effects, typically relying on CGI only for touch-ups and subtle things. He breaks this self-imposed rule extremely hard for one notable element, by far the film’s worst, but practically everything else looks incredible. The audio-visual experience guarantees some of the most effective scares in modern memory. Make no mistake, you will feel genuine terror during Alien: Romulus.

Making the Alien Familiar

Did you know that Disney scheduled this movie to drop on Hulu? Just like 2022’s Prey, Disney intended to push this film onto their streaming service. It’s far better on the big screen, but that shift speaks to Disney’s plan for the project. Alien: Romulus is a love letter to the franchise, but not from the perspective of a devoted fan. It feels more like a stellar horror film set in the universe with dozens of shoehorned references and callbacks. For all its ham-fisted attempts to play with the themes of its predecessors, Alien: Romulus is about being an Alien movie. It has nothing to say, but it won’t stop screaming. It’s taking a series that used to be about so many things and letting it feast on itself. It’s the start of the same process that currently has Star Wars, and I hate to see it take Alien too.

All in all, Alien: Romulus is an excellent horror movie that wastes its opportunity to be something more. Every film in this franchise lives in the unenviable position of being compared to two of the best science fiction movies ever made. Romulus tries to be both Alien and Aliens, but it was never going to be either. It has a surprising amount in common with Alien 3 and Resurrection. If you’re looking for a non-stop thrill ride with your favorite nightmarish, phallic, dribbling endoparasite, you’re in the right place. It’s exhilarating, and every artist on the project deserves all the praise in the world. Unfortunately, it’s also a frustrating IP-driven exercise in hugging its own face, as it were.