CINEXPERIENCE

Alien: Romulus follows a familiar, and sometimes wearisome, trend of Hollywood reboots. As the seventh film in the Alien franchise, it also represents the series third attempt at a reboot after 2012 and 2017’s Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant. On the page, Alien: Romulus may appear to be yet another attempt to mine nostalgia out of a series past its prime, however Alien: Romulus avoids the pitfalls of other reboots, and instead manages to break new ground and energize the franchise, bringing a fresh and thrilling spin on the franchise that is able to stand on its own.

Alien: Romulus takes place between the original Alien (1979) and its sequel Aliens (1986). The plot sees 2 siblings Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and Synthetic Andy (David Jonsonn) join a group of young space colonists (Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu) set on scavenging the mysterious Romulus spacecraft, in hopes of finding a way off of their tyrannical home planet. As you can probably guess given that this is an Alien movie, the group finds much more than they were looking for on the station.

Across the board the cast does a solid job. The characters broadly align into common tropes, but are perfectly functional to carry the true star of the movie, the aliens themselves. Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson are the clear standouts. Their performances elevate the characters beyond their archetypes. Jonsson in particular shines as the soft-hearted Android, Andy. Both actors bring a sense of tangible humanity, and the dynamic between the siblings keeps the film emotionally centered as the stakes continue to rise. 

The story takes a moment to find its footing. The first act in particular is slowed by wading through a great deal of exposition. But once blood begins to spill, the movie takes off and never loses momentum culminating in a thrilling third act. Although elements of the premise are familiar, Fede Alvarez breathes new life into the genre through crafting inventive sequences that take full advantage of setting and finds the ideal mix of freight and fun that made the original Alien and Aliens so iconic. There are new concepts introduced, and expansions to existing mythology developed within the film. The story often swings big, but never reaches the point of absurdity.

Technically the movie is similarly stellar. The cinematography is both able to capture the stifling claustrophobia within the craft, and the looming vastness of space surrounding them. The score and sound design are strong. Composer Benjamin Wallfisch understands how to build suspense, while the team as a whole knows when silence is more effective in heightening dread. The lighting team deserves heavy praise as well. Despite scenes often taking place in the dark, the movie is consistently dynamically lit, proving that dark doesn’t need to equate to flat or hard to see. It’s hard to believe the film was ever considered for Hulu given how well suited for the big screen it is. 

Final Opinion

Overall Alien: Romulus is sharp, thrilling, and one of the best films of the summer, proving that this franchise still has a lot of life underneath the surface, it just takes the right filmmaker to bring it bursting out.