Alien: Romulus by first-time franchise director Fede Alvarez, is a throwback to the classic Alien formula. However, some creative decisions did not sit well with fans of the franchise. I personally didn’t mind it, but there’s been a huge uproar over bringing back characters from previous movies. Characters previously played by dead actors.

The story.

Without going into too much detail, Alien: Romulus is a prequel/sequel. Takes place after Alien but before Aliens (movies 1 and 2). Rain (Cailee Spaeny) has finished her mining contract for Weiland Yutani and is requesting clearance to travel to Yvaga III. Rather than grant her request, the Weiland Yutani clerk doubles her time, dooming her to life at the colony.

Rain takes her “brother” a synthetic named Andy (David Jonsson) to meet her ex-boyfriend Tyler (Archie Renaux) about a scheme to get off planet. Andy is a Weyland Yutani synthetic, as such, he may have clearance to access restricted areas aboard the Romulus.

Rain and four other miners take a spacecraft to the Romulus space station, thus beginning our harrowing adventure.

Joining our crew is: Navarro (Aileen Wu), Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Kay (Isabela Merced). We don’t get too many details as to why they want to go off world but it’s pretty self explanatory. The mining colony is a complete shit hole. It’s a gritty industrial environment full of dust and steel where the sun never shines. A dystopian nightmare of vagrants inkling out a pathetic form of existence. To put it in terms we could all relate to, it would be like living at our jobs with no chance of ever going home.

The cinematography and practical effects used in Alien: Romulus does an excellent job of making you feel like you never want to go there.

You wouldn’t even want to go there out of curiosity. It is such a barren and desolate planet that there’s absolutely nothing to encourage you to be there. There’s nothing to see, nothing to do, just work.

Also, the audio design is mind blowing. For all of the space scenes, they create pockets of audio at the source which gradually fall to silence. The rumble and creaking of the space station and ships do an excellent job of immersing you in the world of Alien.

Obviously the real terror in Alien: Romulus is when things start to go wrong.

As soon as I saw the room the crew gained access to, I pointed at the screen and said aloud to my wife, “Oh no, no no no no.” I personally think that face huggers are one of the most disgusting and disturbing creatures ever created. The way they emerge from the egg, attach to your face, and fill your body with eggs is utterly revolting. You can imagine how utterly terrified I was when they revealed a whole nest of them.

My only question after that point was, “Who will be the victim?”

From that point forward Alien: Romulus becomes a stealth/action movie where the crew tries to salvage what they can and escape.

It is a thrilling roller coaster with plenty of action and story content to keep you engaged from start to finish.

The not-so-good of Alien: Romulus.

Are these deal breakers? No, but you should be aware of them.

I have a pet peeve when stories turn pregnant characters into utterly useless baggage. Why does the pregnant woman always have to make stupid decisions? It would be refreshing to experience a story where the pregnant woman picks up a gun and heroically fights back. Very annoying to see this trope over and over! She didn’t have to pick up a gun, she could also be the one to outsmart the alien in someway. As a result, Kay is a frustrating character to watch because she constantly makes the situation more difficult than it already is.

The other problem I had with Alien: Romulus was the volume of the dialogue. Most of the characters spoke in a thick accent and it was difficult to hear what they were saying over the ambience of the setting. Yes, the audio was super immersive, but it was difficult to follow along with the motivations because of how hard it was to understand.

Rain was not a bad ass like Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley.

There’s something about the actress that doesn’t sell you on her heroics. It also doesn’t help that her previous roles in Mare of Easttown and Civil War had her as a damsel in distress. The acting, with the exception of Andy who was phenomenal, was not great. It wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t good.

Lastly, the creative decision that put the fans in an uproar was the revival of Rook. A synthetic from the original Alien movie. The original actor who played him, Ian Holm, (also Bilbo Baggins from the original Lord of the Rings Trilogy) passed away in 2020. The movie used AI tools to “deep fake” his face and voice onto a reference actor (Daniel Betts). Although the voice was fine, his face looked strange and the movie didn’t really need that specific character.

They could have created a new synthetic character and no one would have been the wiser.

Should you watch Alien: Romulus?

My answer is a resounding, Yes!

Obviously the movie would be better in a theater because streaming might not have the same impact. I guess people aren’t as picky about it nowadays but the spectacle of massive structures and outer space is truly astounding in the cinema. Also, it’s a fun time to be hand!

I give Alien: Romulus a solid five out of five stars.