Alien: Romulus (2024)

The Alien series, which had swelled into a vast mythology, returns in Fede Alvarez’s hands to its simplest, most primal form again. Young people dreaming of a better life on the fringes of space set foot in an abandoned space station, and there come face to face with humanity’s worst predator. Focusing on faithfully reviving the sense of horror the first and second films gave rather than writing a new mythology, it is a work that fully bears the weight of its three and a half stars.

What it’s about — A predator awakened on an abandoned station

Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her companions, bound to labor on a mining planet where not a ray of sunlight reaches, sneak aboard an abandoned space station drifting in orbit in order to escape toward freedom. Their plan to obtain cryo-sleep pods turns into a nightmare as it is revealed what the station was researching. A swarm of facehuggers awakened in the dark, and the xenomorphs they hatch, drive the young people one by one through the narrow corridors. In a sealed space with nowhere to flee and no one to help, survival becomes the only goal.

Direction — Analog horror revived through practical effects

Fede Alvarez, well versed in the horror genre, makes his horror with real models and sets as much as possible rather than leaving everything to computer graphics. The dark, narrow station interior, the acidic fluid dripping like water droplets, and the texture of the xenomorph slowly revealing itself from the shadows recall the handmade feel of the old series. His pacing, rationing the shocks and then unleashing them at the decisive moment, is skilled, and one scene in the back half using zero gravity is an impressive moment this film shows anew. That said, because it frequently quotes the iconic images of the first and second films directly, it leaves the impression of stirring nostalgia while yielding a step on originality.

Performance — Cailee Spaeny, who built the face of a survivor

Cailee Spaeny convincingly draws Rain transforming from an ordinary young woman into a survivor who lasts to the end. She is not a grand hero, but a figure who, trembling with fear, moves forward one step at a time to protect an android she treats like a younger sibling. Her anxiety and resolve hold the film’s emotional center firmly. David Jonsson, playing the android Andy, impressively moves between the two faces of a character who shifts from a naive companion to a cold being. Young actors including Archie Renaux also fill each of their places with desperation, making the audience anxious for these characters’ survival.

What the film says — The escape desire of the exploited

Romulus looks like a simple monster movie, but beneath it flows a theme the series has always held. The mega-corporation treats humans as consumables and uses life as an experimental tool to build more powerful weapons. The young people’s desperate escape toward freedom overlaps with the desire of people trapped in labor with no exit. In the end, what threatens them is not only the alien creature but also the greed of the humans who made that monster and left it untended. The film lays that cold truth quietly within the struggle for survival rather than declaring it flashily.

Ratings & reception

Its IMDb score is 7.1 and its Rotten Tomatoes freshness is 80%. Its Metacritic score is 64. It was evaluated as a work that revived the slumping Alien franchise at both the box office and in critical regard, with the practical-effects-centered direction and the nostalgia for the old series winning praise in particular. That said, criticism that its references to the originals are excessive also tags along, and many feel it is a work weighted toward faithful restoration over novelty.

Verdict

Alien: Romulus is a film that chooses to carefully revive the sense of the series’ most brilliant moments rather than ambitiously carving a new path. Thanks to that choice, the nostalgia is amply filled, but originality yields somewhat. Even so, the skill in handling the tension of narrow spaces, the texture of the practical effects, and Cailee Spaeny’s solid performance clearly prove their worth. It is a welcome return for longtime fans and can also serve as a fine entry point for those encountering the series for the first time. It may be no new mythology, but as a well-made survival horror it is more than enough. 3.5 stars.

Recommended for

• Those who miss the atmosphere of Alien parts one and two
• Those who like the horror of practical effects over computer graphics
• Those who enjoy survival thrillers in confined spaces