Alien: Romulus is a science fiction horror film directed and co-wrote by Fede Alvarez, the film is set between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986).
This film follows a group of young space colonists who are living on a planet with no sunlight and horrible mining conditions, most of their parents are missing or dead due to mining accidents and diseases that are spreading through their planet. The group of young adults find a seemingly abandoned ship that is hovering above their planet and decide to pilot it to travel to a new planet with better conditions, and one with daylight as they have never seen the sun. The cast includes Rain (Cailee Spaeny) an orphan who wants a better future, Andy her brother (David Jonsson) who is a synthetic there to protect Rain, and supporting cast Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and Navarro (Aileen Wu).
Cailee Spaeny who has been in Priscilla (2023) and Civil War (2024) is very impressive in this film and gives an excellent performance as the lead. Rain starts off as a reluctant escapee and transforms into a brave fighter towards the end, risking her life for others. David Jonsson plays Rain's brother Andy who is a synthetic, he is incredible at playing a sweet robot who tries to use humour to lighten situations. During the film his performance switches completely, and he gives a brilliant performance which makes the audience feel uneasy.
This is a thrilling and gruesome new instalment to the franchise, which pays tribute to the early Alien films. However, at moments it does feel like the film channels the original films too much, and many of the scenes are the same just with a different cast. But it does go back to the basics of the original Alien film which I enjoyed, it being set in a spaceship with the aliens picking people off one by one. The set design is amazing, the imagery of the spaceship tunnels being covered in gooey alien tissue makes for an unsettling backdrop. This accompanied by jump scares and the intense suspense as the supporting cast are slowly slaughtered is gripping. Overall, this addition to the Alien franchise is a thrilling and exciting horror film, which even though is very similar to the original Alien films, is an enjoyable standalone film.
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