A group of young space colonists come into contact with the most terrifying life form in the universe in Fede Alavarez’ Alien: Romulus.

The Alien franchise is a curious entity as there is a widely held view that there are more bad entries. This website has explored the entries in our “Alien Day” podcast coverage; collectively concluding that Alien and Aliens are unquestionably classics and the rest of the franchise doesn’t come close to measuring up. Each new instalment promises to return to the fundamentals and restore the property to its former glory. Alien: Romulus is no exception with a marketing campaign focused on claustrophobic terror and faithful visuals. Fede Alvarez would seem the ideal choice given his pedigree in films like Don’t Breathe.

Unfortunately, Alien: Romulus is another misfire. It fails to create the tension or terror that the marketing and the early part of the film promise and overstuffs its running time with a series of baffling decisions each more ludicrous than the last. Even the lesser entries in the canon could be applauded for adding something unique to the overall mythos and expanding it in some way whether those additions are welcome or not but Romulus has nothing new to add and very little to say.

The plot centres on a group of young colonists frustrated with constantly shifting goalposts preventing them from escaping the dangerous life of labouring in mines. An early scene depicts the number of required hours to transfer to another colony being arbitrarily doubled therefore rendering the goal unreachable. An early lingering shot of a bird in a cage illustrates the plight of the central characters very obviously. The characters decide to take control of their own destiny and escape to a decommissioned space station that has conveniently drifted into the orbit of their colony seeking to plunder the supplies necessary to make the trip to a better life. The space station ends up being far more than expected when they find themselves hunted by fearsome creatures resulting from experiments and research carried out on the station.

Alien: Romulus is fairly strong in its first act. The characters are inhabited by talented performers and a clear goal is established for them. The Romulus space station is a mysterious and eerie setting that provides the perfect backdrop for the group to be stalked by the Xenomorph. It’s visually in line with the original Alien movie with CRT monitors, keyboards and tactile elements to be manipulated. It’s a detailed and believable location that stands out among its peers for being a practical set the actors can interact with. The film’s production design is among the best seen in recent times and is complimented by the right mix of CGI and practical effects to create an authentic visual landscape.

Sadly, the excellent production design isn’t indicative of the quality of the overall experience. One issue is with the handling of the characters. A strong introduction to a group of young characters with a clear objective quickly gives way to an imbalance in focus which all but gives away who is more likely to survive the events. Cailee Spaeny’s Rain receives the most attention along with an android she calls her brother named Andy (David Jonsson). Despite having the bulk of the screentime, Spaeny and Jonsson’s roles are spectacularly underwritten with very little beneath the surface. Cailee Spaeny carries the film well and David Jonsson’s performance is impressively varied but each of them do little more than move the plot forward. Rain is hypercompetent so never struggles to handle any situation she is presented with which makes it difficult to invest in her being in any real danger. David Jonsson is always believable as the android following its programming and his utilitarian calculations are responsible for some of the rare tension to be found in the film.

The other characters generally fail to make much of an impression. There’s very little sense of a connection despite early dialogue establishing them as friends so they come across as a group of people in a bad situation. The script does nothing to flesh out the characters and fails to do anything meaningful with their pre-existing relationships so the losses suffered fail to achieve any emotional impact due to how forgettable the characters are.

Another problem is that Romulus fails to expand on any of the ideas or themes that it sets up. The film’s title hints at a thematic underpinning around the story of Romulus and Remus that is glanced at but never developed. Other ideas such as corporations being fueled by greed and devaluing workers and the working class being forced to stay in a societal position that is designed to keep them trapped are set up bit never explored. The ingredients for something thoughtful and compelling were present but never used.

A lack of tension and fear is perhaps the biggest issue. The once terrifying Xenomorph is rendered toothless and ineffective to the point that lines of dialogue have to remind the audience that it is a presence at all. A dark and claustrophobic setting that could function perfectly as a hunting ground is completely wasted by not utilising the creature as a constant threat to the small group.

That isn’t to say there aren’t memorable sequences that have merit by themselves. The Facehuggers are deployed in a couple of sequences in ways that haven’t been seen in the franchise before. Other factors drain the horror from those set pieces but they are certainly something new. A zero-gravity sequence also stands out as being effective but these are minor examples of greatness in an otherwise derivative slog that utterly fails at being horror.

This might be forgivable if it made up for the failure to terrify with compelling storytelling but Romulus has nothing worthwhile to offer. The narrative is fanservice at its worst with constant increasingly obnoxious references to every corner of the Alien canon. Every major beat is taken from a prior entry in the franchise and slightly remixed to masquerade as an original spin on a familiar idea. This film does nothing more than play the hits so has nothing new to add to the series it belongs to. The fanservice continually escalates until reaching a ludicrous zenith that does little more than baffle. The film’s climax is particularly offensive as it traverses territory that isn’t required. Overall this is an entry contributing to the idea that Alien as a franchise belongs on the scrap heap. Romulus is just content. It doesn’t meaningfully add to the series, it contains nothing that hasn’t been seen before and even fails to be a tense or scary experience in its own right. Alien: Romulus does not earn its right to exist.

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Verdict

The marionette corpse of a loved one made to mimic the things you loved about them while being empty, lifeless and decaying.

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