Alien: Romulus

Directed by Fede Alvarez, Alien: Romulus follows a group of characters, including Cailee Spaeny’s Rain and David Jonsson’s Andy, as they find themselves hunted by the series’ fearsome otherworldly creatures. It’s a spare, back-to-basics premise that is, for the most part, employed to woefully (and depressingly) underwhelming effect by Alvarez, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the movie’s lackluster atmosphere is established right from the get-go – with the picture kicking off with a dimly-lit and hopelessly uninvolving first act that does little to capture the viewer’s interest. The arms-length vibe is perpetuated by a fairly astonishing lack of compelling, interesting protagonists, as Alvarez, armed with his and Rodo Sayagues’ screenplay, offers up a series of one-dimensional figures that are, predominantly speaking, lacking in distinctive, sympathetic qualities (ie we have absolutely nothing invested in their continuing survival, which makes it progressively difficult to work up any real enthusiasm for their perilous exploits). And while the picture admittedly does boast a small handful of effective, exciting set-pieces, including (and especially) a thrilling sequence wherein dozens of facehuggers pursue their prey, Alien: Romulus‘ proliferation of ill-conceived attributes (eg the eye-rollingly terrible resurrection of a prior figure) paves the way for an absolutely endless third act that contains one of the silliest (and misguided) elements within the entire franchise – with the end result as disappointing a followup as one could possibly have envisioned.

*1/2 out of ****