Alien: Romulus Review - A Vicious New Take On The Xenomorph

Fede Álvarez makes his movies at full-tilt. The director of modern horror shredders like "Evil Dead" and "Don't Breathe" does nothing halfway, dials it all to 11, and commits to a vision that's often as blisteringly fast-paced as it is cringe-inducing. This absolute commitment, coupled with his ferocious visual style, means that his films are often love-them-or-hate-them affairs.

The same could be said of "Alien: Romulus," the director's new take on the classic sci-fi-horror franchise first launched 45 years ago by Ridley Scott (who returns to produce this film). Set between 1979's "Alien" and 1986's "Aliens," "Romulus" offers Álvarez the chance to play in the classic dirty space aesthetic set up by Scott's original film — and because it's a Fede Álvarez film, you know he's going to expand and intensify those aesthetics. But he isn't just interested in remaking "Alien" with new characters. No, he's out to rope the entire franchise into his non-stop thrill ride, and that means that while "Romulus" is a bit overstuffed, it's also never boring, and at its best it's one of the scariest rides you can take at the movies this summer.

Like "Alien," "Alien: Romulus" begins as the story of a group of company workers who are trying to look out for themselves in a world where the Weyland-Yutani corporation has basically taken over their futures. Rain (Cailee Spaeny), her synthetic brother Andy (David Jonsson), and their friends Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Navarro (Aileen Wu) are all workers on the same depressing mining colony out in space, a place where the sun never shines and workers regularly die from lung disease.

They're all desperate to get away from the company and to a distant, independent world where they can choose their own destinies, but company quotas and contracts keep them tethered, at least until Tyler finds a potential way out. A craft is drifting through space right over their heads, one with cryo-pods that will allow them to drop into stasis and sleep while an autopilot takes them to their new home. All they have to do is fly up there, take what they need, and fly out.

If you're an "Alien" fan, you can already guess where this is going. The abandoned vessel is actually a secret research facility where scientists were attempting to harness the power of alien creatures, only to fail miserably and leave their lab drifting like a haunted house in space. Suddenly, Rain, Andy, Tyler, and the crew find themselves at the mercy of the ultimate otherworldly killing machine, and racing a ticking clock to get off the ship before it crashes into the planet below.

It's a setup familiar to any fan of the franchise, and Fede Álvarez makes no secret of his eagerness to play in that particular horror sandbox. The film leans heavily into the pacing of "Alien" in the opening minutes, slowly unfurling its particular terrors as we get to know the characters and their respective conflicts, and Álvarez immerses us in the production design. On that front, cinematographer Galo Olivarez, production designer Naaman Marshall, costume designer Carlos Rosario, composer Benjamin Wallfisch, and the rest of the team rise to the occasion. It's a world that feels like "Alien" while never feeling like a simple repeat, and when the world of the film expands, it becomes clear that Álvarez is building a tonal, thematic, and visual bridge between "Alien" and "Aliens," a film set five decades later in the series' continuity. It's a remarkable line to walk, but the film does it quite well, particularly when the real horror kicks in.

Because Fede Álvarez is playing in that strange in-between space between "Alien" and "Aliens," and because we've now gotten two "Alien" prequels which further expanded the mythology, there are a lot of different variations on the franchise's themes worth playing with here. For better and for worse, he chooses to play with just about all of them, and that begins with unleashing the Xenomorph in ways we've never before seen onscreen.

When "Alien: Romulus" is operating on a pure horror level, it's one of the most entertaining and viscerally effective rides you'll find at the movies this year. The various iterations of the monster, from swarms of Facehuggers all the way up to the main event and a few very strange variations in between, are all enough to make you hide behind your fingers for a few moments, and the director is smart enough to not just use them all effectively and frequently, but find new ways for them to interact with his humans. The setpieces in this film emerge as stunning moments of staging and tension, building on the franchise's inherent dangers in ways we've never seen before, and that alone makes "Romulus" worth the trip.

The cast, led by Cailee Spaeny in a performance that further cements her as one of the best in her generation, is marvelously game to take this ride with Álvarez. They know exactly how to match the particular tone of this film while also fitting seamlessly into the wider franchise. They are, as so many "Alien" characters are, desperate people willing to go through hell to survive, and each of the younger players in the ensemble is therefore given a moment to shine, and a moment to make us scream.

But with Álvarez's all-out approach comes certain pitfalls. The film's third act seems to be wrapping up neatly, only to add one last big twist that's as jarring as it is unsettling, while the overstuffed nature of the plot is enough to leave you gasping for breath and longing for a moment to let the characters simply exist. Then there are the visual effects, which lean practical and mostly work ... up until one particular choice in character design and direction very nearly derails the movie and leans too hard into franchise fan service. It's a blemish on an otherwise great ride, but it's not enough to spoil the fun.

And blemishes aside, "Romulus" is absolutely great fun. It's the most purely frightening "Alien" movie in nearly 40 years, a vision of what the franchise can achieve when in the right hands, and hopefully a stepping stone to even more stories in the universe. In space, no one can hear you scream, but "Alien: Romulus" proves once again that won't stop us from screaming anyway.

"Alien: Romulus" arrives in theaters on August 16.