After seven years, a new “Alien” movie hits the theaters.
“Alien: Romulus” is the seventh film in the “Alien” franchise. It’s a spin-off set between the events of the first and second films, with a brand new cast and setting.
Directed by Fede Álvarez, the film follows two siblings and their friends on their mission to explore a space station.
Being familiar with some of Álvarez’s other work, including “Evil Dead” and “Don’t Breathe,” I was skeptical of him directing the film. I enjoy his work, but he’s never worked on a horror sci-fi film before and that raised some concerns with me.
I deeply love the “Alien” franchise. Which is why I was a little nervous going into the movie. The last two films weren’t the best movies ever but they weren’t bad. The one before those two, “Alien Resurrection,” is one of my least favorite movies ever. The movie forgot it was supposed to be a horror film and went all into the action. The plot was poor and lacked any substance and direction. Additionally, the cast wasn’t memorable, there was nothing about any of the characters that stuck out to me. It was because of this that I feared going into the theater.
“Alien: Romulus” starts on a colony mining planet under the jurisdiction of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. The protagonist Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) and her artificial human “brother” Andy (David Jonsson) attempt to get a travel passport to leave the planet as they have met their work quota only to find out it’s being doubled.
Frustrated with The Company, their crew of friends hatch a plan to explore an abandoned spaceship floating just outside of the atmosphere in order to find enough supplies to make the trip themselves.
As they near their destination, they realize it’s an abandoned research station and head inside in search of their goal.
While inside, they come into contact with extraterrestrial horrors and are slowly picked off one by one.
In the scene where they first encounter danger, the score was a perfect use of synth instrumentals and a staccato rhythm. It provided that sci-fi feel to the movie while seamlessly creating tension for the scene.
Throughout the whole film the music is something I think was done very well. Overall it sounded very great. It’s very reminiscent of the original “Alien” movies while also sounding new and refreshing. It adds to the uniqueness of “Alien: Romulus,” a twist on a classic film franchise.
Rain, Andy and their friend Kay (Isabela Merced) manage to find a way out of the station through an elevator but once they reach their ship and settle in, they encounter a new horror.
I heard a lot of opinions about the ending. Some people believed the filmmakers wanted to find a way to make the movie longer but ran out of ideas. Others, like me, enjoyed the ending. It was a slight nod to another film in the franchise and just like the soundtrack, gave the movie its own unique feeling.
Spaeny did a phenomenal job playing Rain. She’s an up-and-coming actress and I definitely understand why. She immersed herself so well into her role and she flawlessly portrayed her character in each scene.
Like Spaeny, Jonsson did a great job as a supporting actor. I don’t expect playing the role of an artificial human to be easy, but Jonsson killed it. His facial expressions accurately portrayed my assumption of what an old, decrepit robotic person should look like and his delivery of his corny lines are just a few things to name that he did well.
“Alien: Romulus” was a nice addition to the franchise. It wasn’t my favorite film in the series, but it held up its own really well. And as a long time fan of “Alien,” I thoroughly enjoyed the movie from start to finish, all four times I watched it.
