Imagine space as a huge Roman amphitheatre, the light of the sun as the glare of spotlights, and the stars as the blazing eyes of the audience. It is here, amidst the scenery of an abandoned space ark, that a chilling spectacle of primordial horror is played out in the flesh.
Alien: Romulus is the seventh act of the legendary xenomorph saga, returning us to the dark and ruthless world of a dystopian future, where survival is an act of balancing on the edge of life and death, and fear is an eternal companion. Director Fede Álvarez, known for his mastery of suspense and horror (Evil Dead: Black Book, Don’t Breathe), took on the challenge of continuing the story started by Ridley Scott back in 1979. Did he manage to preserve the spirit of the original and surprise the viewer with something new in the familiar and seemingly flawless xenomorph universe? Discover from our Alien Romulus review.
What Is The Plot Of Alien: Romulus?
Alien: Romulus takes place in 2142, between the events of Alien and Aliens. A group of young space colonists encounter hostile life forms while exploring an abandoned Weyland Yutani Corporation space station.
It all starts with the main character, Rain Carradine, joining the crew of her ex-boyfriend Tyler, together with her android adoptive brother Andy. Their goal is to reach the abandoned space station Renaissance, pulled into orbit by the gravitational field of their planet, to pick up cryo capsules, in which they can overcome the 9-year flight to the planet Yvaga. Yvaga is a completely terraformed planet, and the living conditions there are much better than in the dystopian mining colony. The plan can only be realised with Andy’s help because he is a Weyland Yutani android and can connect to the Renaissance onboard computer to control the station. However, Rain and the others do not suspect the mortal danger that awaits them ahead.
What is Alien: Romulus be about next? The characters face a desperate struggle for survival, which not everyone will win… Fede Álvarez is in no hurry to reveal all his cards; he masterfully builds up an atmosphere of tension and anticipation, gradually immersing us in a world of nightmares where every rustle can mean death.
How Did The Aliens Get To The “Renaissance” Station?
It is not by chance that the Xenomorphs end up at the abandoned station. Remember the Alien that terrorised the Nostromo crew in the first film? Ripley threw it into outer space, but it survived. The Weyland-Yutani Corporation managed to find its body and deliver it to the Renaissance station. We learn about this at the very beginning of the film.
The WY leadership, realising that they have come across an incredibly tenacious and aggressive biological species, intends to use it as a biological weapon. Scientists at the Renaissance station conduct experiments on the organism in an attempt to breed new individuals. Using the creature’s DNA, they manage to grow face-huggers, the second stage of the xenomorph life cycle, in the lab. This Alien: Romulus plot twist, in particular, explains why the film does not feature the Queen, who carries the cocoon eggs for the face-huggers.
Later, the experiment predictably gets out of control. Facehuggers attack the staff, and new xenomorphs hatch from the implanted embryos. By the time the colonists arrive, the Renaissance has turned into a lair of Aliens who need new victims.
What’s Romulus Got To Do With It?
In the film, Romulus is one of the two sections of the Renaissance station. The second section is called Remus, which is a clear reference to Roman mythology and the twin brothers who founded Rome. However, after founding the city, the brothers could not agree on who would rule it, and during a heated argument, Romulus killed Remus.
The station, divided into two parts, Romulus and Remus, can symbolise the dual nature of man, the ability to create and destroy. Romulus founded a great empire, but Rome eventually fell. The same idea can be traced in the film. The Renaissance station was once a symbol of scientific progress, but now it is abandoned and dangerous. The name seems to hint that the world is cyclic, and even humanity’s most grandiose creations can be destroyed by man.
Is Alien: Romulus A Sequel To Covenant?
This movie is not a sequel to Alien: Covenant. It is a standalone story that chronologically takes place between the first and second films in the franchise. Think of it this way: Covenant is the prequel to the events of Alien, and Romulus is like an interlude between Alien and Aliens, not directly connected to Covenant.
However, the new film makes multiple references to other instalments. You’ll see the Nostromo ship and the android Ash from Alien, the pulse rifle from Aliens, a human-Alien hybrid that has features of monsters from Alien: Resurrection and Prometheus, and a sign with the Weyland Yutani logo and their “Building Better Worlds” slogan, which appears in every instalment of the franchise except the first.
How Gory Is Alien: Romulus?
Romulus is definitely gory and, perhaps, the most violent film in the entire franchise. It does not shy away from showing the horrific aftermath of encounters with the xenomorphs. Violence, blood, and death are in abundance. You will see the famous chest-burster scene, people being impaled by the Alien’s jaw, acid burns, bodies being torn apart, hopelessness, and death throes.
What Is The Disgusting Scene In Alien: Romulus?
The film has many gruesome scenes, all of which involve xenomorphs killing colonists. But we won’t go into detail in our Alien: Romulus review. Let’s just say that the Aliens kill in a sophisticated way, and each scene is shown in great realistic detail. You can see blood, bones, entrails, flesh melted by acid. And it looks shocking.
If you are squeamish or sensitive to graphic violence, this film may be too much for you. Take this into account.
Is Alien: Romulus Any good?
Overall, the film received high ratings from both critics and viewers. On IMDB, the new alien movie rating reached 7.3 points, and on Rotten Tomatoes — up to 80%. The film is praised for its high pace, abundance of action scenes, a lot of suspense and horror. If you are a fan of Aliens, you will not get bored in these two hours.
The main character, played by Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), Bad Times at the El Royale (2018), Civil War (2024), deserves special attention. She looks very harmonious and, as it seems to us, has every chance to take over the laurels of Sigourney Weaver if, of course, Fede Álvarez gets the go-ahead to shoot the sequel.
However, the new instalment is not without its flaws. The other characters are poorly thought out and act as extras. Except, perhaps, the android Andy, played by David Jonsson, known for the action movie The Suicide Squad 2. However, he’s not perfectly fine, either. In particular, it is not entirely clear why he behaves like an autist for the first half of the film, and after upgrading the firmware from the onboard android chip, which improved his cognitive and motor functions, he still continues to faint from any touch. Ash’s double himself did not please much, either. His face, created by AI, looks over digital.
But the main drawback of Romulus is its predictability. Of course, it is difficult to expect any original plot twists from the seventh part of Aliens, but at least they could have tried not to copy-paste the previous parts so blatantly.
However, the verdict of our review of Alien: Romulus is that the film is definitely worth watching, both for fans of the Universe and lovers of sci-fi body horror. And even if you don’t like it the first time, we bet you’ll watch it again.
References And Additional Information:
- Alien Romulus https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alien_romulus
- Alien Romulus https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18412256/
- How Alien: Romulus Fits Into the Alien Universe https://time.com/7010555/alien-romulus-franchise-timeline/
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