Alien: Romulus

In cinemas now

Disney’s acquisition of Fox appears to have sounded the death knell for Ridley Scott’s plans to expand the Alien universe, as Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus is an unashamedly retrograde affair that attempts to satiate the bloodthirsty desires of long-term fans of the franchise.

As one of few people who actually enjoyed Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, I found myself a little uninspired by that creative direction, although the relatively mediocre box-office returns of those films make it a no-brainer from a business perspective. In fairness, Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues do ensure there is plenty of narrative continuity between Alien: Romulus and many of its predecessors, even going as far to use AI and CGI to tastelessly resurrect the late Ian Holm to play a variation of his iconic character from the original Alien. 

The issue with Alien: Romulus is that its propensity for such misguided fan servicing makes it a rather hollow and unoriginal experience, one that foregoes world-building in favour of lazily playing the hits of other, more superior films. This is unfortunate as you can see from the film’s undeniably claustrophobic atmosphere that Alvarez definitely understands the franchise and what makes it special, as do co-stars Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson, who do their best to imbue life into their listless characters. 

Alas, Alien: Romulus never shakes off the notion that it is nothing more than a lame tribute act before veering wildly off course in its final act, which introduces a laughable, Slender Man-esque variation of the Xenomorph that ranks as one of the least frightening things I have ever seen in a horror film.