Alien: Romulus (2024) || Movie Review

I love a good and well-made alien movie. They are usually interesting and thrilling to watch. So when I saw the trailer of this movie, I was excited to see it and I had high hopes for it. Honestly, this movie did a lot of things to me and above all it highly annoyed me. I was stressed out and had anxiety watching this movie. It was just bad for my health.

These days, we don't know what Hollywood is up to. There haven't been new fresh movies produced recently. It has all been reboots, clichés, copycats and recycled storylines /plots. It makes me wonder if Hollywood lacks script writers. I don't know what to think anymore. Books are much more interesting these days than Hollywood. There are so many talented young scriptwriters out there that can create good work but Hollywood is not hunting for them.

”Alien: Romulus” is a sci-fi horror film. It was directed by Fede Álvarez and written by Álvarez with Rodo Sayagues. It was distributed by 20th Century Studios and it was inspired by characters from ”Alien franchise”. It starred Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu. Won't say much about the plot to avoid spoilers for those who are yet to watch it.

In 2142, at the Jackson colony we were introduced to Rain and her synthetic half-brother, Andy, who was programmed by her father with the sole aim of protecting her. Rain went to the administrative quarters to check if she had permission to travel to the planet Yvaga III after so many year of labour work. To her disappointment, her permission wasn't given until 6 years later. Sad about this situation, she receives a message from her friend Tyler asking her to come by his station.

On the other hand, while scavenging the deep ends of the space station, Tyler and his group of his space colonists friends discovered an inactive station. So as a group, Tyler invites Rain and Andy to come along because Andy’s matrix is needed. What they are not aware of is that the decommissioned station housed the most terrifying life form they have ever encountered. How does it end for them?

My Review And Rating

This movie was entertaining and great. It checked all the boxes of modern-day film features which easily captured the attention of modern teens and alien fans. There is a strong female protagonist, good action scenes, good CGI of the alien creatures, good visual outlook and excellent tension. BUT!

For me, I feel this movie was made by those who enjoyed the Alien franchise but don't know the true essence of it. When I first saw the trailer of this movie, I expected a fresh look to the storyline of the Alien franchise but instead I was met with a confusing storyline timeline which attempted to answer questions that didn't need answers.

This lacks a lot of things that should have made it a masterpiece. Like, Alien Romulus was not character-driven. In fact 90% of the characters fell flat for me and pissed me off. There was no suspense except for tension that was aggravating. It didn't take time to unravel its storyline properly. It was more like spoon feeding its audience instead of leaving much to the audience imagination, which would have made it all more terrifying and intriguing.

Also, all their characters had one personality/mannerism in common, which is acting shocked or terrified for 10 mins until the danger gets close to them before taking any action. This contributed to my anxiety and annoyance.

The lighting of this movie was terrible for me. I saw red all through the movie and it was messy in a weird way. There are lots of repeated visuals. The graphics were good, and I enjoyed the camera work. Regardless of so much chaos in every scene, there was a strong perspective focus. I loved that. Also, I love how every scene was filled with tension but then I wish it was a mixture of suspense, intrigue and tension.

Rating this movie, I will give it 6 out of 10. It is not that bad. Regardless of its negative flaws, it still has some good stuff. I say the targeted audience for this movie are the teens, but it's still enjoyable. I would recommend this to alien franchise lovers.