Although the movie slate for 2024 got us ‘partly’ excited, this is one of the few exceptions where we, sci-fi fanboys, were getting really hyped. The Alien franchise is back, with a brand-new filmmaker behind the helm of the ship! Directed by highly capable horror director Fede Álvarez, the mind behind Don’t Breathe (2016) and Evil Dead (2013), the iconic Xenomorphs are back and in great form here. Directly connected to the original franchise, mostly the two first movies, Romulus is a great hommage to the horrific nature of Alien. More a horror movie than a sci-fi mystery, contrary to the franchise prequels Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017), this movie gives us chills in all the right ways.

Interestingly, this movie can ALMOST be named Alien 2 for the convenient reason that it is taking place between the two original movies: Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). The set design and the overall look of the movie do a great job of integrating this movie into this universe first created by Ridley Scott. This futuristic universe is dirty, dark and ultra-industrialist. We are introduced to mining colonists living on a remote planetary colony named Jackson’s Star, which is managed by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation (the main corporate entity portrayed throughout the Alien franchise). This is a brutal industrial planet where daylight is non-existent, where Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her Android ‘brother’ Andy (David Jonsson, excellent in this) are hired by a group of young rebels to find a way to escape the colony and leave for a better world. The solution? Access a deserted space station floating in space near the planet’s atmosphere and steal their cryo pods before engaging in a long journey in space. A thirty-minute mission, in and out, no problem….well sort of. It turns out that the space station is in fact a scientific facility experimenting on (you guess it) face-huggers and Xenomorphs.

Thematically, following the codes of the horror genre, Alien: Romulus is not a very “deep” movie, it might actually be one of the simplest movies in the whole franchise. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as I found this movie to be quite pure about how it handled the threat of the Xenomorphs. In other words, if you wanted a follow-up to Alien: Covenant and more answers about the origin of the Xenomorphs, you won’t get this here. This is pure horror and jump-scares, replicating the formula of the very first movie in order to be successful. In short, it succeeds! It was expected when the first trailers went live, but fans of the Alien: Isolation survival video game will notice obvious winks to the game in the deserted space station.

The first obvious thing that jumps out at us is the astonishing cinematography and visual effects. This movie is a beautiful nightmare to look at and surpasses the most recent efforts in the genre. As soon as the young pirates enter the station, you enter that eerie ‘haunted mansion’ ambiance that is so iconic to Alien. The lighting and the different sets are perfect and could even sell me that this movie was made in 1979 like the original.

It is common in the horror genre to have forgettable performances (a few exceptions aside of course), we have exceptional characters and performances in Alien: Romulus. The standout is undeniably David Jonsson as Andy the Android. He is introduced to us as an older android model (pre-dating Ash’s model from Alien) who was found in the dumpster and rebooted by Rain’s family. There are evident signs of his obsolescence as he needs to be frequently rebooted, he stutters and he tells childish jokes. That is until he connects with the station’s more recent AI system and the Android science officer, that is when he becomes a serious, stoic and logical being. Superb transformation!

As for Cailee Spaeny as Rain, she is doing something a little different from Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, but still in full hero mode here (as expected from lead female characters in this franchise), and she pulled it off quite nicely! The same can’t be said of all the other secondary characters, some you won’t even remember their name that was mumbled only once early in the film.

Now, for all its strengths, the movie is not perfect and misses the gold or silver medal by a few meters only. What Fede Álvarez clumsily did too much is insert references from the previous movies and easter eggs to make fans happy. In doing so, it seemed a bit much and unnecessary, even by our standards as hardcore fans. Without going into details, let’s say Alien and Aliens possess iconic lines that made cinema history, the creators of Romulus knew that and made sure to let us know as well. It doesn’t tarnish anything of course, but it does take you out of the experience a bit. Same for the use of AI technology to recreate a character from a previous film, which looks a bit cheap, however good the intentions were. In some ways, Romulus can be perceived by some as a ‘re-run’ of the best moments of the franchise or mash-up rather than its own original thing. In its defence, nothing too serious to worry about!

The last fifteen to twenty minutes were also a bit ‘hit or miss’ for me. I can’t say much, unfortunately, but it took similar liberties that Prometheus once took with the Alien DNA, and it almost became laughable rather than scary.

Long story short, this movie is fantastic to watch on the big screen for its glorious visual effects, especially in IMAX. If you are a fan of the Alien franchise or horror movies in general, this is an experience for you. It remains unclear where the Alien franchise will go from here, even though we are still expecting an FX series named Alien: Earth later in 2025 from Noah Hawley, it now rests in capable hands. The creators who grew up on these movies do have enough respect for their heritage to make it great and not simply a rip-off.

Good stuff! There will be some green acidic goo dripping on my 2024 top ten movie ranking in December, that’s for sure.

FINAL GRADE: 8/10

Compared to the other movies in the franchise, here’s where Alien: Romulus ranks.

ALIEN MOVIES RANKED

1. Alien (1979)
2. Aliens (1986)
3. Prometheus (2012)
4. Alien : Romulus (2024)
5. Alien : Covenant (2017)
6. Alien vs. Predator (2004)
7. Alien 3 (1992)
8. Alien : Resurrection (1997)
9. Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)