Alien: Romulus review – is Fede Álvarez film the franchise's best since Aliens?

So, with a new film arriving in cinemas this week courtesy of Don't Breathe director Fede Álvarez – no stranger to reimagining iconic horror properties after his previous stab at an Evil Dead reboot – has that curse finally been broken?

Well, Alien: Romulus certainly has a claim to being the most consistently impressive new entry in the franchise since the aforementioned Aliens in 1986. It's a well directed, crowd-pleasing, appropriately gnarly film anchored by some terrific performances from its young cast. Cailee Spaeny's wonderful central turn in the Sigourney Weaver role is the standout, while Industry's David Jonsson is great as her adopted brother, the customary synthetic human named Andy.

We first meet our central characters on Jackson’s Star, a gritty, smoggy and well-populated mining colony where they are each employed in labour-intensive jobs. When we join them – between the events of the two original films – Rain (Spaeny) is preparing to celebrate the end of her mandated stint on the colony, but just as she is applying for her exit, she's callously informed that her time has been significantly extended.

And so, suddenly, a plan proposed by her more rebellious colleagues – to steal cryo-chambers from an abandoned space station so they can mount an escape to a distant planet – feels like an irresistible proposition.

Of course, such a mission is hardly likely to be plain-sailing, and the problems pile up almost instantly. An early cause of conflict is the tension between Andy and one of the group, Bjorn (Spike Fearn), due to the latter's vocal distaste for synthetics. Then we learn that another of the crew, Kay (Isabela Merced), is pregnant (you don’t need to be a scholar of Chekhov to work out that that will come into play later on). And then, of course, there are the xenomorphs – facehuggers, chestbursters and all the rest of it – who don't take long to make their presence known.

Feeding into the classic iconography of the franchise and blending many of the best bits from previous films, Álvarez has crafted a film that sometimes feels like a lovingly made tribute act to the series. Iconic deaths are repeated, famous lines are wheeled out with comic twists and previous mythology is referred back to and and built upon, while the film's retro-futurist aesthetic – brought to life with great tactility – is clearly indebted to those first two films.

Álvarez's obvious reverence for what has come before is both a strength and yet perhaps also Alien: Romulus' biggest flaw – ensuring there's never any real prospect of it actually equalling those first two films while it's so concerned with honouring them.

And the fondness for harking back to the past is also the source of arguably the film's worst choice: the somewhat ghoulish re-animation of a sadly departed actor from one of the previous films, whose likeness is used for a new character with a major part to play in proceedings. Debates as to the ethics of this choice are sure to emerge, and it's hard to deny that it leaves a slightly bad taste in the mouth.

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But while Alien: Romulus is no doubt heavily influenced by previous instalments, it would be unfair to say that it doesn't also have ideas of its own on its mind – even if those aren't quite as lofty as the ones Ridley Scott wrestled with in his divisive prequels Prometheus and Covenant.

For example, the relationship between the humans and synthetics is given an interesting twist by adding a fraternal element, while the film also touches on issues about "upgrading" humanity through biohacking. Meanwhile, the focus on a younger group of central characters gives a fresh perspective, although fans needn't worry about this being a watered down, Young Adult-orientated take on the franchise.

There are also several very well-executed action sequences using largely practical effects – with a bravura set piece involving a zero-gravity switch among the highlights – and for those who find that face-hugging and chest-bursting have become a bit passé, Álvarez has an astonishing, nightmarish twist up his sleeve for the final act, the scariest moment in an Alien film for quite some time.

For the most part it all amounts to a relatively back-to-basics approach that, despite a few missteps, delivers a tense and engaging spectacle that should satisfy both existing fans and newcomers to the franchise. At this point, it seems unlikely that any new entry can ever hope to reach the groundbreaking level of Alien and Aliens – but this is a more-than-decent effort.

Alien: Romulus is releases in UK cinemas on Friday 16th August 2024.

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