Anthony's Film Review - Alien: Romulus (2024)

Another movie in the Alien franchise, and it's still a scary one...

Alien: Romulus is the latest movie of the Alien sci-fi/horror franchise. Given that there is the original series of Alien movies plus the prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, you might ask where exactly does this one fall. Well, believe it or not, it takes place between Alien from 1979 and Aliens from 1986. Naturally, this movie kind of feels like those two originals in terms of the plot structure. Yet, it doesn't feel too rehashed.

For one thing, we have a different kind of main cast of characters. Instead of members of a spaceship crew going out to explore a place and then facing horrors as a result, we have young members of a mining colony looking to escape. Right above the planet they're on is a derelict spaceship, which supposedly contains functioning escape pods that they can ride to freedom while in cryogenic suspension. Getting up there isn't difficult. The hard part is escaping after facing the horrors in that ship.

Yes, that hideous black alien known as the Xenomorph is on board. Actually, it's many of them, in various stages of their life cycle. And as you can expect, there are hideous ways to die from these incredibly deadly creatures. One by one, the mining colony members looking to achieve freedom only end up killed one way or another. If this sounds like the plot of certain Alien movies from the past, you're right. Some of the story here is not significantly new.

Of the main characters in this movie, there are really just two who stand out. One is Cailee Spaeny as Rain, a young woman who, based on her appearance as well as physical toughness, is reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley. The other is David Jonsson playing the role of an android named Andy. I like this character because it is easy for him to be emotionless and make decisions based entirely on logic. That includes some tough ones that are far from ideal. Andy is quite fascinating, whether he is in his familiar persona or a reprogrammed one.

Really, there's only one thing in this movie that is notably original: a specific alien creature that we have not seen before. If you don't mind reliving a certain sequence in the very first Alien movie, then you won't get bored. This goes for the movie as a whole. While this Alien movie doesn't really feel so different from the others, it still has the trademark gory horror that you come to expect. If that still keeps you entertained, then you can't go wrong here either.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Alien: Romulus, visit the Internet Movie Database.