‘Alien: Romulus’ Blu-ray Review
Stars: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, Rosie Ede, Robert Bobroczkyi, Trevor Newlin | Written by Fede Alverez, Rodo Sayagues | Directed by Fede Alverez
The 7th instalment of the Alien franchise brings some new faces, some new ideas, and some old ones too.
Cailee Spaeny has had a breakout 12 months, from her brilliant performance in Priscilla last year, to one of the year’s best films in Civil War. Now Spaeny stars in Alien: Romulus as Rain, a young girl trapped on a run-down planet, trying to find a way off for her and her adopted synthetic brother. After her efforts of working her way off the planet are halted, her chance of escape comes when a group of seemingly old friends find an abandoned Weyland ship floating just out of the planet’s atmosphere. The group realises the ship has enough supplies to take them away to a far-off planet, and the chance for a better life. But, while scavenging the deep ends of the space station, the young group come face to face with one of the most terrifying creatures we’ve ever seen on the big screen.
The first thing to note is the young group fleeing their home planet. The group is filled with an array of young talented actors, who are all terrific here. Cailee Spaeny channels her inner Sigourney Weaver and shines as the lead throughout. She manages to deliver on both the classic scared final girl, think Alien, or the classic action final girl, more of your Aliens. Her performance and character is only elevated by the film’s stand-out performance and star of the show, David Jonsson as Andy. Andy plays a vital role as the synthetic (Android) that Rain’s father recommissioned to help serve Rain and serve as a brotherly figure throughout her life. We’ve seen a number of synthetics through the Alien universe; some of them good, some of them bad, some of them downright scary. From Ash and Bishop, to David and Walter, they have always been there, and always have been at the heart of the key films in the franchise. In many instances, most notably in 2017s Alien: Covenant, the synthetic characters have been some of the most interesting and engaging characters and plot lines of their movies. In 2017, Michael Fassbender stole the show playing both Walter and David, now in 2024 David Jonsson shines, getting the opportunity to play two roles, after his character gets an upgrade, and like 2017, his character is the most interesting and engaging part of every scene he’s in.
The characters help get you settled in nice and early, but what everyone has come to see is the thrills and kills offered up at the hands of the infamous Xenomorph. In that department Alien: Romulus has you covered. The film offers up kills that rival some of the bloodiest and goriest we have seen yet, all of which are drenched in oozing slime and goo. This helps every inch of the film feel tangible and real, the very world that has been created feels as real as ever, and it’s no surprise the film has been promoting the practical effects on display. The best of those do feel like some of the nastier moments, some of the horror and blood feel too real and no doubt many viewers will turn their heads at a number of scenes. With the thrills, there are two keys scenes that offer new and unique takes to some classic Alien lore. One moment is a great use of the film director’s previous film concept in Don’t Breathe, with a brilliant Alien twist.
Some of those scenes offer fresh and interesting ideas, the likes we have yet to see from the Alien world but ones we have probably always thought about. Alien: Romulus plays with some of those ideas and creates some new ones, each moment it does the film operates at a better level than before. But, unfortunately, it’s not all good. For all the impressive practical effects one CGI creation creates more horror and monstrosity than any other moment in the film (and not in a good way). When you think it will only last a scene or two, the monster keeps showing its face and before long not only does the CGI look like the world’s worst deep fake, but the story elements just don’t work either.
There are many more moments through the film that throw a nod, a reference, or even a straight-up copy of something earlier in the franchise. It’s these moments that really hold the film back, it gets too tied up in trying to please fans with references that offer nothing new or even offer anything to the plot that moves things forward. The Alien franchise has always worked best when the films offer something new and unique from what has come before. With Alien we were given the classic haunted house movie. Aliens gave us a classic 80s action flick. Alien 3 was the prison escape movie. Alien Resurrection is a crazy sci-fi adventure movie. And Alien: Covenant is the classic Frankenstein tale. Alien: Romulus does try some new and interesting ideas, but too often finds itself as just the same story we’ve seen before in a new font. That doesn’t mean there is no fun to be had, and I enjoyed every moment I was watching, but there was something that was just missing.
In the end, the film operates at its best when it’s dealing with new, fresh and original ideas, with new interesting characters. But too often it gets stuck playing the franchise’s greatest hits. It’s fun and you’ll never be bored through the runtime, but there isn’t enough to make it as interesting as any of the work Ridley Scott or James Cameron did in the 70s and 80s, or even in 2017.
Special Features:
- Return to Horror: Crafting Alien: Romulus
- 4-Part Look: The Director’s Vision/Creating The Story/Casting The Faces/Constructing The World
- Featurettes: Inside The Xenomorph Showdown/Alien: A Conversation
- Extended and Alternate Scenes
*** 3/5
Alien: Romulus is out now on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
