- Isabela Merced, Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson
- August 16th 2024
- Fede Alvarez
Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced and David Jonsson come face-to-face with facehuggers and Xenomorphs in this new Alien instalment.
Fede Alvarez proved he could successfully take on a long-running horror franchise with 2013’s Evil Dead and now he’s trying his hand at another with Alien: Romulus.
Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, this sci-fi horror follows a group of young space colonists led by Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her ‘brother’ Andy (David Jonsson) who escape from their oppressive and dark planet to find a new system with light and a hopeful future.
To pull off the feat, the team need to steal cryo pods so they can put themselves into hypersleep for the long journey. They decide to scavenge the pods from a derelict space station – Romulus and Remus – but once they board the craft, they soon realise why it has been abandoned.
When you create a new instalment in a long-running franchise, you have to balance honouring the old and bringing something new. There are some surprises and it’s not a complete copy but it follows Alien’s blueprint too closely and there are a few too many visual references and unnecessary catchphrase repeats.
Each film in the franchise – which have been helmed by the likes of Ridley Scott, James Cameron and David Fincher – respects what has come before but feels like its own distinctive entity. Alvarez was perhaps too faithful to the predecessors and this hampered his vision. Thankfully, he gets to really put his stamp on the film in the shocking final act.
On the plus side, Alvarez is very loyal to the look of the first two films, bringing us a movie that seems as if it was made in the ’80s, with practical effects, Xenomorph and facehugger puppets and retro graphics and technology. The only issue with this is that the use of CGI sticks out like a sore thumb.
While it leans too heavily on nostalgia, there is no denying that Alien: Romulus is a scary, exciting and entertaining horror that isn’t for the faint-hearted. Alvarez ramps up the stressful chaos, repulsive body horror and thrilling intensity throughout to bring us a next-level final showdown.
In cinemas from Friday 16th August.
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