When I first heard about another addition to the Alien franchise, I was skeptical to say the least. We live in the era of reboots and sequels, none of which are substantial. But with a lead as impressive as Cailee Spaeny, a crew dedicated to avoiding CGI nonsense and a trailer this good, my cynicism turned to optimism—that is, until I watched it. On so many levels, Fede Álvarez has given us one of the better films in the canon; but that just makes its flaws all the more frustrating. Set directly after the events in Alien (1979), we now follow Rain and her friends as they try to steal cryo-sleep equipment from an abandoned ship only to make a horrific discovery. Sadly, what could have been a really fun expansion of the Aliens universe turned out to be the typical nostalgia fare viewers have come to expect from most legacy IP. We wanted thrills, and instead got a bumpy ride down memory lane.
What’s most annoying is how strong Álvarez’s script started. He managed to capture the atmospheric dystopia of the first film while expanding our understanding of the world in which the characters inhabit. We open on a mining planet Rain and her friends are desperate to escape, but changes to their contracts keep them shackled to a life in the mines. I wish this section lasted a bit longer to really flesh out the relationships between characters and show audiences an aspect of the Aliens universe that is often under-explored in the films. But instead of drawing out this connective tissue, Álvarez whisks the crew away into space in less than fifteen minutes. In space, the strong premise gets completely obscured among so many references to past films, none of which feel integral to character or plot. Clumsily tossing so many homages together leaves little time to really delve into the psychological and emotional landscapes of Rain or her friends, resulting in us not being able to connect with them as strongly as possible. While the characters are underdeveloped, the social commentary on capitalism is so ham-fisted and shallow it borders on parody. To make matters worse, around halfway in there’s a posthumous, CGI created Ian Holm cameo that’s so tasteless it’s hard to get past. Along with all the ethical questions this creative decision brings to the fore, it’s also just really badly done. Fans of the Twilight saga will be reminded of Renesmee. The difference is Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 was (somehow) well over a decade ago. For a film with this big a budget, at a time when technology is so advanced, to have such a huge misstep in its CGI after emphasizing the extreme lengths they went to avoid using such technology feels like a very amateur mistake.
I also think the music could have been a lot better than it was. In the first Alien film, I found myself being surprised at some of the directions the composer made, whereas here I felt as if the movie was telling me how to feel, with some scenes relying a bit too much on sound and score to build tone due to the flimsy writing. This isn’t to say I didn’t have fun watching this new addition to a classic franchise, and I think a big part of that fun was thanks to the acting.
Cailee Spaney’s been on my radar since her phenomenal performance in Priscilla (2023), and here she continues to show great emotional range along with an ability to jump between genres. That being said, the standout in this film is David Jonsson’s role as Andy, an artificial android who Rain treats as a brother. Andy is the latest iteration in a long line of androids in the Alien universe, and I think he's the most underutilized. This is perhaps because of the aforementioned Ian Holm cameo taking screen time away from his character, preventing more interesting questions of humanity and existence to instead info-dump exposition on an audience that largely knows more or less what’s going on. Despite all this working against him, Jonsson infuses Andy with a warm humanity through his subtle physical movements, perfectly embodying the role of someone who wants to be human but doesn’t know how. The rest of the supporting cast is just as good, really selling the chemistry between these characters so it feels organic enough for us to buy that these people would risk their lives for one another (though there are some decisions made by certain characters that felt a bit sudden, if not completely unearned). These actors did the best with what they were given, but it doesn’t matter how great the chestburster scene is if we don’t know enough about the characters to feel the gravity of the moment.
Overall, I think this film is definitely one of the more enjoyable Alien movies, and found its pacing to be a bit sharper than Scott’s original. It may be flawed, but this type of movie definitely lends itself to the biggest screen possible. Alien: Romulus is in theaters today. I honestly don't think it's the best film in theaters this weekend, but it is a good bit of popcorn fun that should definitely be put on your watch list!
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