Alien, released in 1979, became the spawn point of one of the biggest and most loved franchises in the world. Several movies came out after the original trilogy of Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3 but as it turns out, none of them could stand as tall as these original movies did. However, 45 years after the first movie featuring the bloodthirsty Xenomorphs, Alien Romulus, in my opinion, is the closest movie that has lived up to the original trilogy. Following the formula that made these movies a massive success, Alien Romulus will satisfy all the niches fans of this franchise have been looking for all this time. In our Alien Romulus review, learn more about why I say so.
Spoiler Warning: From this point on, this article contains major spoilers for Alien Romulus.
What Is the Plot of Alien Romulus?
Alien Romulus follows the protagonist Rain (Cailee Spaeny) who lives on a remote mining planet along with her brother Andy (David Jonsson), who is an “Artificial Person” or in simpler terms, an android. Andy was brought home by her deceased father, who found him damaged and then programmed him with one directive: “Do What’s Best For Rain”. Rain and Andy want to escape from this planet that never sees the sun and migrate to a planet named Yvaga. However, even after completing the time Rain owes to the company (Weyland-Yutani Corporation), she is not allowed to migrate.
Not long after this, her friends Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Navarro (Aileen Wu) tell her that there is an abandoned ship just floating in the atmosphere of their planet containing Cryo chambers. They can steal the chambers and make their journey to Yvaga. However, what they don’t know is that Weyland-Yutani does not just abandon a spaceship without a solid reason, and if you are a fan of this franchise, you might be very well aware of what these reasons are.
Alien Romulus was confirmed to be taking place somewhere between Alien and Aliens, which is made evident in the opening sequence of the movie. The abandoned ship in Alien Romulus was a research and development facility that went looking for the Xenomorph Ripley, who was ejected from Nostromo in the very first Alien movie while the ship was destroyed. They did find the Alien frozen and floating in space and presumed them to be dead. However, as it turns out, the Xenomorph was far from being dead and wreaked havoc on the crew of the ship, killing everyone on board or using them to make more Xenomorphs.
The Story Sounds Basic but Holds Pretty Strong
If you think of giving Alien Romulus a pass because the plot sounds pretty basic, trust me when I say that the plot summary is really deceiving you. The plot of the movie might sound unappealing but it certainly grows on you. While watching the movie, it might feel like you can predict what is going to happen, but the very next moment, either the exact opposite happens or you’re hit with a jumpscare that actually works.
The basic plotline of Alien Romulus looks very similar to the original Alien movie and to some extent, it is. The cat and mouse chase, the claustrophobia, the same uncomfortable setting, and of course, a female protagonist who turns out to be an absolute badass are everything we saw in Alien, but the execution is entirely different.
The movie starts as a slow burner, allowing the characters to build an arc for themselves and give us a general idea of who we like and who we want to be hugged by a face hugger or decapitated by a Xenomorph first. Other than that, the story has a structure that does not look or feel forced like movies featuring Aliens released after the original trilogy, like Alien vs Predator, for instance (one of the worst movies in the Alien franchise).
Sound and Visual Effects Team Ate and Left No Crumbs
Alien Romulus not only deserves appreciation for doing what this franchise has been struggling to deliver for years but also for the insane use of sound in the most creative of ways. You must remember the tagline of Alien (1979), “In space, no one can hear you scream”. For the longest time, it was just something you saw and read on the posters of Alien movies, but Alien Romulus brought this to life with its sound design. The way the crew has used the silence of space as a factor to inhibit a feeling of uneasiness is insanely good and well thought out.
Other than that, you will notice that in some scenes, where the face huggers are attacking Rain, Andy, and Tyler, there is no BGM and all you can hear is the clicking sound of their claws, which gets more and more intense as the Face Huggers close in on them. Similarly, in a lot of intense scenes, there is just silence, no BGM just silence and natural sound. The movie does not operate on being scary; it makes you uncomfortable, which is way more horrifying.
Coming to the visual effects, a majority of effects you see in Alien Romulus are practically created using animatronics, which is a tribute to the original Alien films. There are some places where the effects are created using VFX, which at some point are a bit below par, but the practical effects in this movie will blow you away and probably traumatize you a bit by the end of the movie.
The Acting Part Could Have Been a Bit Better
This is probably the first time in the history of Alien movies that the lead cast consists entirely of young adults. Even though the performances delivered by the lead protagonist, Rain, played by Cailee Spaeny, and her android brother Andy (David Jonsson) were well done, the acting carried out by the side characters could have been a lot better.
You can see that they are acting, but it does not feel natural, which is probably the only complaint I have with Alien Romulus. If the acting part was done as well as the other aspects of the movie, Alien Romulus could have easily been the best flick from this franchise after the original Alien movie.
Overall, Alien Romulus Lived up and Beyond the Expectations
Now that we have talked about everything I saw and observed in Alien Romulus, the question is, if the movie is worth watching in the theaters. The answer to that is a big fat YES! Alien Romulus is an experience in itself that deserves your time and money. I know that the recent movies from this franchise have been rather disappointing, but Alien Romulus is an apology to all the fans telling them that if carried out right, the Alien franchise can still make its mark just like it did back in the day. So, with that, I hope you got everything you wanted to know with this review and I will see you again with the next big release with another review. Till then, Stay Tuned!
