“Alien: Romulus,” directed by Federico Álvarez and written by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, in equal parts kept me in suspense, horrified me, made me avert my eyes from the screen and entertained me. Álvarez offered an immersive and unsettling experience — you will be scared of what’s lurking in the dark of space.
If you love the “Alien” franchise, or the horror genre itself, go watch “Alien: Romulus” on the biggest screen possible. I had my most memorable movie-going experience of the summer while watching terrified.
Back of the DVD Summary:
The film follows Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her brother Andy (David Jonsson) as they struggle to make ends meet on a run-down Weyland-Yutani mining colony. After being denied a visa to leave the planet, Rain and her brother meet up with other colonists to conspire to escape.
But, before they can make their escape, they need to obtain cryosleep chambers in order to make a nine-year voyage. Rain, Andy and their crew break into the abandoned research facility, Romulus, that, as it turns out, was not abandoned as much as it was taken over by the perfect organism: Xenomorph. The rest of the film sees the cast attempting to make a desperate getaway from the nightmares dwelling in Romulus.
“Alien: Romulus” can be viewed on its own without the context of the other six films in the franchise. However, having seen them, your viewing experience will be enriched. The film put in its chronological place would be the fourth film, falling between the original “Alien” and “Aliens” making it both a sequel and a prequel.
The Xenomorph this time around, while scary and viscous, did not end up being the most intimidating creature of the film. The use of the face huggers made for two separate scenes where I was stunned silent and the tension made my stomach churn. The face huggers and their gross legs could be felt through the screen as they attempted to impregnate the cast members.
The setup was good, especially in its connection to the original “Alien” film, but the script felt a tad thin. Besides the main character and her brother the rest of the cast didn’t feel like they had a lot to do except die.
Given the film’s placement in the timeline, the story was constrained in a way while exciting and new developments could be made, nothing could be permanent because as the audience we know what comes next. A benefit of its placement, however, was further exploring the biology and the lore of the Xenomorphs.
Jonsson as Andy was by far the stand-out character and performance of the film. Jonsson had to essentially play two different characters and effectively communicate the transition of his personality before and after getting an upgrade. Another stand out was the visual effects and the set design. At no point when watching the film did I feel pulled out by any lack of realism or attention to detail.
Not since “Alien: Resurrection” has this franchise felt so lived-in and dirty. The third act monster, as well, will leave audiences’ jaws on the floor as it did mine. Every death felt uncomfortable and gruesome, the only issue being I did not care about the characters enough to miss them. If they were to make a sequel, it would be fun to see these characters again.
On the whole, “Alien: Romulus” had me gripping my chair from the moment they entered the space station until the credits rolled. With inventive set pieces, visceral cosmic horror and a love for the franchise as a whole this film takes its place as one of the best in the franchise, in addition to my favorite of the summer.
While the script and the characters leave something to be desired the rest of the aspects more than make up for any shortcomings.
