Film Review: ‘Alien: Romulus’ is a strong addition to the franchise, but not without its pitfalls

Ridley Scott’s “Alien” is so formative and so influential to all the science fiction/horror that came after it, it’s hard to not compare any movie of its ilk – within the “Alien” franchise or not – to its greatness. “Alien: Romulus,” director Fede Álvarez’s newest addition to the canon, is no exception.

It’s a better addition than most, using the blueprint that “Alien” put forth to deliver a strong, character-driven thrill ride that thrives on practical effects and exhilarating filmmaking, and features a superb performance paired with one of the franchise’s most thought-provoking arcs. But, as solid a starting point as the “Alien” blueprint is, franchise entertainment will always have its pitfalls – and “Alien: Romulus,” for all its strengths, can’t help but fall into one of those in particular.

Set between the events of “Alien” and “Aliens,” the film follows a group of young people desperate to escape a sunless mining colony at whatever cost. We first meet Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her synthetic Andy (David Jonsson), a robot who Rain’s late father programmed with the sole directive of taking care of her. When Rain’s friend Tyler (Archie Renaux) discovers an abandoned space station that has enough cryosleep fuel to get them to a better, far away place, they decide to ransack the ship, unaware of what’s waiting aboard.

Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues are very succinct in setting up the characters and the relationship dynamics at play. The first thing that strikes home about this particular group as opposed to other “Alien” movies is just how young they are. “Alien” has a particularly militaristic style to its characters and construction, but “Alien: Romulus” cosplays at that in a way that’s very effective. It helps that Spaeny and so many of the other cast members look younger than they are, but it’s built into the script as well – through so much of the film, Tyler in particular play acts at being a military leader. When he shows Rain how to use a gun, a scene that very much mirrors one in James Cameron’s “Aliens,” she asks how he knows what to do. Games and magazines, he answers – that’s where all his nonexistent experience comes from.

Álvarez doesn’t spell out these dynamics for you, but rather gives bits and pieces to let you surmise for yourself. Rain comes into this group as a bit of an outsider, though it’s clear she has had some sort of relationship with them, particularly Tyler and his sister Kay (Isabela Merced) in the past. But the most important relationship for Rain – and one the movie is most interested in – is the one between her and Andy.

Andy is the meatiest role in “Alien: Romulus,” his arc far more complex than his human counterparts. His programming dictates that he protect Rain, but over the years he has become somewhat of a burden on her, their relationship inverting as she grows older and is able to take care of herself. The dad jokes that he has been programmed to deliver on a regular basis no longer seem comforting or funny, and his innocent demeanor is much more suited to be the companion of a small child rather than that of a young woman.  While Rain has grown up and hardened to the world, Andy has stayed very much the same.

Andy is essential to the movie’s central heist, but he cannot go with Rain and the rest of the crew to their new home. The idea of leaving Andy behind pains Rain – so much so that she can’t bring herself to tell him, leaving him to find out the truth on his own – but not so much that she’s not willing to do it. But when Andy is necessarily rebooted with a different code, and therefore a different directive, his actions and his feelings become much more complicated, veering into territory both sympathetic and suspicious. When he makes what he believes is a necessary sacrifice, both to follow his new orders and to keep Rain and himself safe, she asks him how he could have done it. “What, leave someone behind?” he says to her, referencing her own willingness to do the same to him.  Andy’s new directive has not made him care less about Rain, or about her safety, leading us to conclude it wasn’t simply programming that made him care about her. What the new code has done is given him the freedom to voice his hurt, his anger over her lack of care towards him.

Andy’s arc isn’t wrapped up in a neat way, and I’m still having trouble parsing how I feel about how his character’s relationship with Rain evolves over the course of the film. But Jonsson’s performance as Andy is by far the best in the film. The sacrifices Andy deems necessary for the greater goal can sometimes seem cruel, but Jonsson never comes across as villainous, delivering a performance that’s far more quiet and nuanced than all that, his face lined with sadness in a way that seems world weary and bone tired.

Jonsson’s performance is one of the stronger aspects of “Alien: Romulus,” and Spaeny is also very good as a tiny action star, her resilience and grit paired effectively with her small size to create real moments of terror. The film’s use of practical effects and Álvarez’s penchant for horror filmmaking also really pay off in a number of sequences, particularly in the film’s final 30 or so minutes, which leave you white knuckling and exhausted by their end.

It’s clear Álvarez has the confidence and ability for genre filmmaking, but there are moments where franchise B.S. bites him in the behind. In particular, the digital restoration of Ian Holm (who played Ash in the original “Alien” and passed away in 2020) feels like a corporate-backed nostalgia grab that’s equal parts icky and distractingly poorly done. “Alien: Romulus” also resurrects famous lines from previous films word for word – Jonsson, bless him, tries to make Ripley’s famous, “Get away from her, you bitch,” line from “Aliens” his own, but even he can’t salvage it.

Those aspects of “Alien: Romulus” make an otherwise enjoyable, tautly-made thriller feel dumbed down. It’s easy to forget them when you’re caught in the rest of the film, but when they appear, they can’t help but kill the vibe.

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