Cailee Spaeny, left, as Rain and David Jonsson as Andy in “Alien: Romulus.” Credit: Murray Close/20th Century Studios via TNS
In 1979, the world was introduced to Ridley Scott’s chest-bursting franchise, “Alien.”
The original film has become a horror classic, and its sequel — aptly titled “Aliens” and directed by James Cameron — has become a sci-fi action classic.
Every new entry in the franchise attempts to live up to these two beloved films, with some coming close and some falling entirely flat.
Luckily, for long-time fans, “Alien: Romulus” provides some of the best scares and action sequences the franchise has seen in years.
The film follows space colonist Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) and her synthetic humanoid brother Andy (David Jonsson) as they join a crew of colonists scavenging an abandoned space station, where they discover much more than initially anticipated.
The “Alien” films are known for their powerful female leads, most notably actress Sigourney Weaver’s iconic performance(s) as Ellen Louise Ripley, and Spaeny does an exceptional job of recreating Weaver’s fearless energy from the original films.
Jonsson also delivers a standout performance. In prior films, synthetic characters — artificially intelligent beings that speak and act similarly to humans — have been cold individuals that follow orders from the mysterious Weyland-Yutani Corporation, a company that oversees all synthetic technology.
Synthetic characters have historically occupied antagonistic roles; however, Jonsson is a protagonist who has been discarded by the company due to malfunctions, which is quite refreshing to see.
Though the performances are commendable, the film’s standout aspects are its production design and music.
The film’s director, Fede Álvarez, made it very clear in the marketing for the film that he did not want to overload the screen with CGI aliens and instead created animatronics which resulted in some of the creative property’s most spine-chilling creatures to date.
Álvarez also made it a mission to combine the horror of “Alien” with the action of “Aliens.” On this front, he definitely succeeded. The beginning’s slow burn echoes the original film, and the high-powered third act is reminiscent of the action-packed gunplay among the colonial marines first seen in “Aliens.”
The claustrophobic space station and the smog-infested colony of Jackson’s Star, located on the planet Jackson, both add to the film’s eeriness. The atmosphere is so dark and suffocating that it barely gives the audience a chance to breathe.
The score, composed by Benjamin Wallfisch, also adds to the movie’s haunting mood. The combination of original pieces and homages to previous scores from “Alien” films will satisfy fans while simultaneously providing new blood-curdling tracks.
In fact, the score isn’t the only thing that honors past “Alien” projects. Álvarez makes sure that every film in the franchise is referenced in a certain capacity, with numerous callbacks throughout the film.
This, however, reveals many of the film’s weaknesses. At a certain point, the callbacks go from fun little easter eggs to quoting iconic lines from the franchise in cheesy, over-the-top moments.
There is also a seemingly major plot hole in the film’s beginning. In the first few minutes, it is explained that most of the space colonists must work hard hours in the planet’s mines to gain the ability to leave.
Though it isn’t directly stated whether or not the film’s main characters can afford any sort of space transportation, it doesn’t feel realistic that they should have such access to a spacecraft.
Additionally, the space station floats directly over the planet, and yet nobody seems to care about it except for the film’s main characters. Whether this is purposeful or not is unclear, but it seems as though it would be a prominent concern for the planet’s other inhabitants.
Even with these issues, the film is still a standout entry that will satisfy fans looking for a nostalgic trip to the “Alien” films of old.
Rating: 3.5/5
