Alien: Romulus

In space, everyone can hear me cheer for a great Alien movie, so praise Wayland-Yutani because this is one of the series’ best entries in recent memory!

Taking place in 2142 during the 57-year-long gap between Alien and Aliens’ story, Alien: Romulus follows a space miner named Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her brotherly android companion, Andy (David Jonsson), as they try to break free from a life of servitude to create something truly their own. Having her mining contract with Weyland-Yutani unfairly extended, Rain soon finds herself looking for a means to escape her and Andy’s predicament and soon joins up with four estranged yet equally as frustrated friends looking to leave local space behind for any planet devoid of Weyland-Yutani’s influence. Needing to secure the proper resources to make the trip, Rain, Andy, Rain’s ex, Tyler (Archie Renaux), his sister, Kay (Isabela Merced), their cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and his adopted sister, Navarro (Aileen Wu), locate a nearby orbiting space station dubbed the Renaissance, and decide to raid its abandoned Romulus and Remus modules for supplies. But once the group touches down onboard, their fortunes take a nosedive, as not only is the purpose for Renaissance‘s existence revealed to be something far more sinister, but thanks to a cruel twist of fate, the station has been taken over by the terrifying Hollywood creation known as the Xenomorph, an ultimate predator that Rain and company are in no position to deal with. Suffice it to say, lots of screaming and chest-bursting ensues.

I love me some Alien content, and before Alien: Romulus’ prologue was even over, I was certain director Fede Álvarez knew how to do right by the series. From an eerie opening scene that had me giddy with anticipation to a slow burn first act that successfully primes audiences for the Xenomorph carnage ahead to a script that rightly focuses on a pair of fully-realized protagonists in Rain and Andy (played to perfection by Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, respectively), Romulus effortlessly immerses us in a sci-fi world filled with cutting-edge practical effects and grungy production design that effectively establishes an unnerving tone, mood, and overall look and feel for the film, immediately making this movie worth the watch from a technical standpoint alone. Telling a story that switches between original ideas unique to this film and seemingly being forced to adhere to the nostalgia of what came before, Romulus is a better movie when it tries to bring something fresh to the series, with the film’s multiple zero gravity sequences, creative and gory kills, new additions to Alien lore, and more horror-esque vibe faring far better than the decisions made simply because of Romulus‘ “legacy” sequel status.

And though I enjoyed nearly all of what I saw here — especially when the film’s first Xenomorph is “birthed” in an unsettling display of movie magic — the things I didn’t like I really didn’t care for. For one, and based on the way the first act set things up, I expected way more out of characters other than Rain and Andy, with nearly all of the film’s secondary heroes falling short of being real fleshed-out people, with the plot device that is the pregnant Kay being one such glaring example. Furthermore, (and I won’t spoil the other character who shows up at one point), but for as logically sound as their arrival was, I didn’t like the way the filmmakers went about introducing and utilizing them, a decision that lessened my enjoyment of a script that had impressed me up until that point. Lastly, and I realize this may be a nitpick for some, but I would have liked the filmmakers to have gone in a different direction for the third act as I — spoiler alert — don’t care for the alien/human hybrid angle the franchise constantly flirts with, with Álvarez’ strong direction and terrifying visuals saving the final fifteen minutes from a story decision I wouldn’t have personally run with.

Yes, Alien: Romulus made a few missteps along the way, specifically the bits that kept it unnecessarily tethered to already established Alien moments, but with a fantastic opening act, immersive production design, appropriately creepy cinematography, satisfyingly bloody kills, and a solid but not-my-cup-of-tea finale, this one gets far more right than it does wrong, making it an of-quality sequel that’s been a long time coming. Alien has a bright future in Álvarez’s hands, and with Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth television series and the rumor of the one and only Ridley Scott possibly returning to wrap up his aborted Prometheus trilogy, Alien: Romulus is a respectable, if not somewhat safe return to form for the universe’s perfect killing machine.