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Alien: Romulus is the ultimate piece of fan art inspired by the Alien franchise. If you think of each Alien film as a color of paint, and director Fede Alvarez as the artist, Romulus is all of them mixed together to create an entirely new picture. Each of the sequels and prequels is in there somehow. Often they’re recognizable. Other times they’re just a splatter on the side. But when viewed as a whole, the result is a unique, standout—and standalone—work that’s oddly familiar but still exciting and fresh. Fans will love it, but you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy it.
Set between the events of Ridley Scott’s 1979 original and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel (with some direct links to the former), Alien: Romulus centers on a young woman named Rain (Cailee Spaeny). Rain is an orphan working on a sunless planet whose only remaining family is her brother Andy (David Jonsson). Andy, however, isn’t her biological brother. In fact he’s not biological at all. He’s a synthetic and programmed by her parents to keep her safe.
When Rain realizes there’s a chance she may never get off this dead-end planet, she, Andy, and a group of friends (played by Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu) plan something big. They’ve found a seemingly undiscovered ship right above the planet which, they think, holds the keys to their escape. Unfortunately for them, what it actually holds is a bunch of killer aliens and everything that comes with it, but they don’t know that yet.
Rain and Andy in maybe the film’s best scene. Photo: Murray Close/20th Century Studio This setup gives Alien: Romulus some interesting and ripe blocks to build from. The friends talk about changing their fates. Doing better than their parents who lived and died on their planet. Seizing a chance to do something better with their lives. From this, you expect Romulus to continue to explore the characters spreading their wings. Instead, the only thing they spread is their brains over various parts of the mystery ship. Which, of course, is exactly what you want from an Alien film. You want the action, the gore, and the scares. But Alien: Romulus so wholly pivots from its early ideas that it’s a bit disappointing. The change also contributes to the film dragging a bit in its first half as the characters go from people with hopes and dreams to people without a heartbeat.
That’s the only thing that’s disappointing though. Once Alien: Romulus gets cooking, it’s built for pure Alien enjoyment. Alvarez is clearly a fan of this world and manifests that by taking everything you know about the franchise and pushing it a little further. You get new wrinkles with the Face Huggers. The Chest Burster scene has a twist, and the alien’s acid blood becomes an especially important and terrifying part of the film. It takes everything you love and makes it better. If anything, the actual aliens themselves may be the least scary component.
As this is all happening, those sprinkles of the other Alien films are always present. Maybe it’s a piece of set decoration. Maybe it’s a turn of phrase. But it’s all there in a way that’s rarely overwhelming or obvious. It’s only obvious if you’re the kind of person who knows what the doors looked like on the Nostromo or all about sentry guns on LV-426. Otherwise, everything goes by unnoticed as you get wrapped up watching the characters fight, and mostly fail, for their lives.
Gun training. Image: 20th Century Studios There is, however, one more egregious nod to the franchise which sort of works and sort of doesn’t. It works in that it’s completely logical for this particular story, and doesn’t because it’s entirely dependent on visual effects. Still, the film is so filled with surprises and excitement that even something so blatant and out of place is forgivable. Especially if it elevates the story which, in this case, it does.
Pacing in Alien: Romulus is also noteworthy because the whole thing continually snowballs. After the exposition-heavy set-up, a mostly slower second act leads to a final 30 minutes or so that are like a rocketship with fireworks on top. After one or two of the best scenes in the entire Alien franchise (no hyperbole), Alvarez gives the film one last glorious reveal. It’s a huge swing that feels more than a little inspired by a specific sequel where it didn’t work—but here, it fits better, giving the film a fresh finish that is rousing and memorable.
In the end, Alien: Romulus has its hiccups. It’s missing a few dashes of cohesion, doesn’t have the thematic resonance it teases at the beginning, and it’s a little backloaded. But it’s an incredibly fun sci-fi action horror movie that sets a new standard for what a legacy sequel can be. In space, no one can hear you scream, but in a movie theater, they can. And they will when you watch Alien: Romulus. It’s in theaters on Friday.
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