One of the best sci-fi movies of 2024 finally available to watch this week

Stephen Porzio

We have a feeling this will be a real crowdpleaser.

Alien: Romulus arrives at an interesting crossroads point in the legendary horror sci-fi franchise.

By the time of its release, we’ve had the first two undisputed masterpieces, as well as a bunch of odd curios – nearly all of which have their ardent defenders.

There’s the extremely nihilistic Alien 3, the more gonzo Alien Resurrection, the trashier Alien and Predator crossover movies and the more esoteric Prometheus (which we go to the bat for) and Alien: Covenant.

So the question for any person stepping up to make an Alien film now is what approach they should take. Do they want to make a loving homage to the first two movies? Or an entry that acknowledges some of those other sequels and prequels with cult fanbases? Or something that takes the franchise in a new direction?

Rather ambitiously, Alien: Romulus’ director Fede Álvarez decided on doing a bit of all of the above. All the more impressively, he pulled it off.

The ninth entry in the franchise, Romulus takes place between the events of Ridley Scott’s original Alien and James Cameron’s sequel Aliens.

The sci-fi horror centres around Rain (Cailee Spaeny, the recent hit Civil War), a young woman living light years from Earth on a mining planet run by the evil Weyand-Yutani Corporation.

Following her parents’ deaths from lung cancer – which was caused by the mines – Rain finds herself in debt to the shady corporation. As such, Weyland-Yutani force her – along with many other young orphans on the colony – into indentured servitude.

During this early section, a line from Sigourney Weaver’s hero Ripley in Aliens comparing the titular creatures and humanity resonates: “I don’t know which species is worse. You don’t see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.”

Rain’s only companion is Andy (acting standout David Jonsson, Industry), a former Weyland-Yutani android (get it, Andy the android). He was found in a scrapyard by the young woman’s parents and was re-programmed by them to protect her at all costs.

As Andy starts glitching more frequently, all seems hopeless for Rain. This is until she is approached by fellow colony orphan Tyler (Archie Renaux, The Jetty), his sister Kay (Isabela Merced, Sicario 2), their cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn, Aftersun – very much filling out the Bill Paxton in Aliens role) and their hacker pal Navarro (newcomer Aileen Wu).

They have a plan to rob a Weyland-Yutani spaceship left parked just off-planet and escape to a more idyllic planet far away. To do this, however, they need Andy to enter the spacecraft (being a Weyland-Yutani android, he has all the codes).

Rain and Andy agree to the mission and the group sets off on their quest. Arriving on the ship – which is an R&D space for Weyland-Yutani split into two sections: Romulus and Remus (yes, this movie is about familial bonds) – the youngsters soon realise they are in way over their heads, particularly when they accidentally defrost rows and rows of killer facehuggers left in cryosleep.

The first element that strikes you while watching Alien: Romulus is how gorgeously retro it looks. It has been stressed in the run-up to the film how much Álvarez wanted to utilise practical effects and it shows in the end product in two main ways.

For one, the movie feels staggeringly tactile, making you believe more in the fantastical, nightmarish events playing out onscreen. But also, its sets – with their emphasis on big bulky machines with smoke-emitting pipes and fuzzy screens and blinking lights that pierce through the fog – are a genuinely stunning recreation of the aesthetic Scott accomplished in the original: a ’70s idea of a dystopian future.

That’s not to say, however, that Álvarez – co-writing (alongside long-time collaborator Rodo Sayagues), as well as directing – doesn’t put his own spin on the material. A slow-burn but gripping first act introducing viewers to the characters and the harsh world they inhabit eventually gives way to many, many scenes of carnage – most of which are inventively tense and scary and worth the price of admission.

With his Evil Dead reboot and Don’t Breathe, Álvarez showed he was a master at crafting these elaborate, suspenseful, almost Rube Goldberg-esque set-pieces in which a whole host of terrors are unleashed on his characters.

He stays true to form in Romulus, except this time it’s even better because he’s got all the elements of the Alien franchise – including maybe cinema’s most iconic monster – as part of his arsenal.

Everything from the Xenomoroph’s acid blood to Andy the android’s frequent malfunctions to the central ship’s zero gravity settings winds up playing a role in the action – but excitedly often not quite in the way you’d expect.

Romulus has been advertised as a standalone sequel unconnected to the rest of the sci-fi horror series. And it basically is in that viewers who have never seen another Alien movie won’t be lost.

That said, it is absolutely loaded with homages to the entire franchise, most of which are successful (only one verbal call-back to an iconic Aliens line plays like a bum note). Plus, there are at least two direct references to what has come before that should get die-hard fans of the series very excited.

It’s not all perfect. Outside of Jonsson’s excellently robotic turn and Spaeny, who sells her character’s baptism by fire from ordinary person to gun-toting space ass-kicker, the supporting cast don’t leave a huge impression – particularly when compared to the franchise’s previous ensembles.

In some cases, it’s not the actors fault – Kay, the character played by Isabela Merced (so great in Sicario 2), is given particularly short shrift narratively.

Also, while Álvarez is terrific at staging set-pieces, a little too much of the film consists of characters running from one side of the spaceship to another.

Even with these criticisms though, Alien: Romulus ends with a climax that, while harkening back to the past, does also feel like a step-forward for the series. Turns out there is still fresh acidic alien blood in this franchise yet.