It is not surprising that Fede Álvarez, the director of the suffocating Don't Breathe, directed the even more suffocating Alien: Romulus. Led by Priscilla reakout star Cailee Spaeny, the latest installment in the Alien franchise takes big swings but still lacks the magic of the first movie.
This more slow-burn, meditative approach taken by Álvarez falls in line with recent Alien entries like Prometheus and Covenant. Luckily, Romulus is not a snore-fest.
But it takes too long to hit the ground running. There are clear ambitions to expand the franchise beyond its cosmic setting, but too many ideas and too little time hinder what could be a great Alien movie. That and the overreliance on jump scares throughout the two-hour runtime.
Romulus begins with Rain (Cailee Spaeny) in an unexpected location. She is watching a sunset in a beautiful field. Reality soon sets in as the dream ends, and we get a look at her surroundings.
Rain lives with her brother Andy (David Jonsson), who's AI programmed to “do what's best for Rain.” She has spent years of her life doing manual labor. Despite having enough hours logged to leave, the goalpost moves, and she is left in a perpetual state of hell.
The depressing planet looks straight out of Blade Runner — this is not the only connection to the fellow Ridley Scott project — with the dark color grading and dystopian feel.
A desperate Rain is offered a chance to scavenge an abandoned ship with cryo chambers. This would allow them to sleep for the nine-year journey to a new and free planet (with sunsets).
The mission quickly turns sideways as the group — also featuring Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Navarro (Aileen Wu), and Bjorn (Spike Fearn) encounter a terrifying life form.
Alien: Romulus review
If nothing else, Fede Álvarez should get credit for being a great horror director. Under the right circumstances, he would have a perfect horror movie. He understands how to execute an effective slow burn.
Summarizing the plot of Romulus almost means describing the first hour. On one hand, it works. The first 20 minutes of Romulus show Rain's world — something far more interesting than her jump-scare-filled encounters with the Xenomorphs.
But Álvarez and Rodo Sayageus — who have co-written almost all of the former's movies — are not interested, or at least don't have the time, to further explore it.
Maybe there is more room for exploration of Rain's past in a future Alien: Romulus sequel, provided it gets one. But once Romulus hits outer space, Álvarez almost runs until he can executive the first jump scare.
Once the first jump scare happens, the rest of Romulus devolves into an endless mess of them. (Seeing Romulus in IMAX did not help.) It feels cheap when you have some legitimately creepy imagery coming later in the movie.
Paying homage to the old movies
Aesthetically, Alien: Romulus may be the best-looking movie since the original. The ships feature old software that harkens back to the OG Star Wars days. There is something charming about the old technology with giant buttons and minimal features.
The abandoned ship the crew finds is where most of the movie takes place after the first act. Its tight crawl spaces and endless corridors make for a terrifying setting that Álvarez uses to its fullest potential.
There is also a notable amount of animatronics and practical effects in Romulus (not that CGI is not used). The use of practical effects makes the movie far scarier than it would be without.
It also helps that Cailee Spaeny is the best leading face in an Alien movie since Sigourney Weaver. She may not be Ellen Ripley, but by the end of Romulus, she is pretty close. While she mostly finds the balance, her performance almost teeters on cosplay by the end.
The rest of the ensemble is hit or miss. David Jonsson plays Andy very well and makes the most of his limitations. Romulus somewhat juggles with the mortality of an AI like Andy à la Blade Runner and the replicants.
For one reason or another, the writers introduce a complication for Andy, only to ignore it for the next 20 minutes. This happens a couple of times and results in a puzzling character arc.
As for Renaux, Merced, Feam, and Wu, their performances are largely tolerable. Merced delivers a blood-curdling scream that should be used as an audition for Scream 7. Fearn follows up his small role in Aftersun with another memorable one. This time, he plays a bratty member of the crew who picks on Andy.
The third act miss
While Álvarez is a great horror director, his third-act woes continue in Romulus. It should not be surprising that the same writing duo behind Don't Breathe fumbled their third act again.
Sometimes, the best horror is left to the imagination. Something like Saint Maud played the long game before ramping up to something sinister. While Romulus follows a similar path, it takes a gigantic swing in the third act that misses.
Not that they do not try to up the ante. Alien: Romulus features an action-packed third act that has moments of fun. But it is also prolonged to death — even before the false ending — and eventually becomes monotonous.
The swing feels like something out of the third act of Beau is Afraid and Smile — two movies of varying quality in their own right. Alien fans go to the movies to see Xenomorphs, not whatever this is.
Plus, it is in the third act that Romulus ditches the practical effects for a heavier dose of CGI. Some of the visuals are fine, but others pale in comparison to the rest of the relatively grounded movie.
To give it some credit, Alien: Romulus pulls off an effective false ending. To quote the great Michael Corleone, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
It is too bad the false finish was wasted on such a stupid twist.
Should you watch Alien: Romulus?
Even if Romulus is the next great Alien movie, it is not a great horror movie. It does take the franchise back to its roots, but it is not engaging enough to propel it forward — even with Cailee Spaeny's leading presence.
Maybe it is just an Alien franchise problem. While it does not have as many entries as mega-franchises like the MCU or Star Wars, there appears to be little areas of growth left for it. That is unless the franchise is willing to expand beyond its space setting.
Make no mistake, Fede Álvarez is a talented director. And far be it from me to tell him how to make an Alien movie — he did a great job playing the greatest hits — but the franchise may need a total reinvention.
Just look at what Dan Trachtenberg did with the Predator franchise when he directed Prey. It served as a prequel to the main movies but put the Predators in a new setting. Perhaps seeing Xenomorphs in a new context is the refresh that the franchise needs instead of having Cailee Spaeny cosplay as Sigourney Weaver by the end of Romulus.
Grade: C
Alien: Romulus will be released on August 16.
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