Alien: Romulus

by Mike McGranaghan

To explain why I like Alien: Romulus so much, I need to tell you about the first time I saw Ridley Scott’s original Alien. It was 1980, and the film was running on HBO. When the now famous “chestburster” scene arrived, I nearly puked. That was the first time a movie ever made me feel genuine fear and repulsion. The impact has stayed with me all these years and partially explains my love for the horror genre. Being repulsed was an adrenaline rush. Apparently, director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe) must understand that feeling because Alien: Romulus is chock full of such scenes.

Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) lives and works on a planet with no sunlight. She dreams of making her way to Yvaga, a brighter, more hospitable planet. A chance arrives when ex-boyfriend Tyler (Archie Renaux) invites her and her synthetic android “brother” Andy (Rye Lane’s David Jonsson) to be part of his group. They intend to fly up to an abandoned space station and steal its hypersleep chambers so they can all make the years-long journey to Yvaga. Things go badly.

The first section of Alien: Romulus replicates the slow-burn vibe of the original picture, where you know something awful is going to happen, you just don’t know what or when. Alvarez understands how important that hang time is. He then marries it to his own gift for staging breakneck action. Once the initial “facehugger” strike occurs, the intensity builds exponentially. The film utilizes those creatures, as well as the Xenomorphs, in creative, wonderfully disgusting ways that further show off their deadly abilities. Among the best scenes is one that finds Rain and cohorts being chased through the corridors by a swarm of leaping facehuggers.

At the same time that the movie delivers the visceral thrills that are at the core of the franchise, Romulus also does something ambitious plotwise: it bridges the gap between Alien and its prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. That gives us a fuller picture of what the nefarious Weyland-Yutani Corporation is up to and brings additional context to certain elements I won’t spoil by specifying. The series gains extra unity as a result. Conversely, there are one or two callbacks that falter. Seeing a familiar character resurrected via CGI is weird, and the mood of a tense scene is broken by the played-for-laughs inclusion of a well-known quote.

Most of the supporting players are thinly developed. Rain and Andy, however, are terrific newcomers to this world. Cailee Spaeny (Civil War) palpably conveys the fear-turning-into-determination that gives Rain a powerful arc. The actress turns in a phenomenal performance. So does David Jonsson. Andy changes personality partway through, and he makes the transition credible. There are big shoes to fill, as Ian Holm and Michael Fassbender previously played androids in the franchise. Jonsson matches them.

Alvarez takes his visual cues from the first Alien, crafting shots that bring back the cold, isolated vibe Ridley Scott established. Of the entries in the series, this one is closest in tone to the original. Alien: Romulus fundamentally feels right. Just as importantly, it provides a handful of those shock-repulsion moments that leave you feeling grossed out and adrenalized. When the film was over, I wanted to stay and watch it again.

---