Directed by Fede Alvarez, Alien: Romulus is the terrifying new addition to the Alien universe. Loaded with suspense at every turn, the film does good by its predecessors with a storyline sprinkled with elements from past films.
The edge-of-your-seat thrills are put on hold far past the first 30 minutes, and consequently, means the aliens won’t appear for even longer. Once the two meet (aliens and suspense), it’s an adrenaline rush that you don’t want to end. But just as you’re forgiving the movie for taking too long to get to the action, it hits a hard left. You go along with it in hopes of another plot twist that can explain, “What the hell just happened?” but that second “twist” never comes.
Romulus is the first film in the Alien franchise to feature young adult characters. Rain (Cailee Spaeny) is a 25-year-old girl who wants to find a better life for herself after her parent’s death. She desires to go far beyond Jackson’s Star (the mining colony she resides in) to a place where she can not only relax but a place where the sun is visible. She leaves her brother Andy (David Jonsson), a synthetic created by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, in the street while she attempts to get paperwork for a transfer. Although she’s met her work hours for transfer, she gets denied by saying there’s a shortage of workers and she could try again after a few years.
Shadow and Bone star Archie Renaux plays the role of Tyler, Rain’s ex-boyfriend. Along with his sister Kay (Isabela Merced) and friends Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and Navarro (Aileen Wu), Tyler devises a plan to intercept a wading ship that could be their ticket to leaving Jackson’s Star.
The film is full of easter eggs and has a few nods to past films, but there are a handful of parts that create questions. There was an attempt to recreate the area (like a web) where humans would be trapped after the alien was injected inside of them, but it looked fake. What also looked monstrous (and fake) was the load of bologna that took up the final 20 minutes of the film. Did that need to happen? “Need” is a strong word here. It’s fine that “it” happened but the production team could’ve gone about this in a much different manner. It was so bad, it felt like they just gave up in a very “Game of Thrones Season Eight” manner.
Alien: Romulus gets a 7.5 out of 10. There were lots of good scares to go around and Cailee Spaeny did a phenomenal job as Rain. David Jonsson also deserves props for his performance. Their onscreen chemistry made you feel like they were siblings. Sadly, it took far too long to see any aliens and the ending did nothing but raise my eyebrow higher than it should biologically be able to. With all that said, is it still worth a watch? Absolutely. This bad boy is an IMAX must-see!
Alien: Romulus opens in theaters nationwide on August 16.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of 20th Century Studios