I grew up loving the Alien series, Aliens will always be my favorite, but the first four movies are all movies I enjoy a great deal, yes even Alien Resurrection. The Aliens vs Predator toys by Kenner in the early 90s are probably the last toys I “played” with before I became too old and cool to play with toys. I have played and loved many of the Alien video games and the point I am trying to make here is that I am a huge fan of this franchise and have been for decades.
How to Download Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus was released on August 16, 2024. Most probably you will be able to download or stream it from Hulu or Disney in 45 days or so from this date. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
Alien: Romulus Movie Review
When I heard that Ridley Scott was doing Prometheus, I was very excited. I will admit, on first watch, Prometheus did not exactly grab or wow me, but I have watched it a few times and I have come to like it more each time. Alien: Covenant on the other hand is a movie that I have liked less and less, each time I have tried to watch it and tried to force myself to like it.
Alien Franchise Direction Post-Covenant
The rumblings started pretty soon after Alien: Covenant that the planned trilogy was going to be scrapped and instead they would do something new. Turns out that “something new” was going to be 2013 Evil Dead director Fede Alverez taking over and making a more horror focused Alien movie. After being so disappointed with Alien: Covenant, I was a little burned out, to be honest, and did not follow the production closely, but then the trailer came!
The Impact of the Alien: Romulus Trailer
Holy crap did the trailer for Alien: Romulus get me pumped all the way up. It was creepy, it looked fun and it looked like the middle ground between Alien and Aliens and I was all about that! I also have to say that the Alien: Romulus trailer is one of the best modern trailers I have seen, it gets you hyped for the movie, but it does not spoil a ton of stuff! There were many surprising and shocking moments in the movie that I am sure many other studios would have given away in the trailer! I applaud the hell out of the team here for not giving into temptation and letting the audience experience the cool stuff, spoiler-free.
Characters and Plot Overview
I am going to be kind of vague here as I do not want to spoil anything about the movie for you. Basically, we have a crew of characters with our main ones being adopted brother and sister, Rain and Andy. I have to say that Rain is a fantastic protagonist and you truly do like and care about her and her brother.
They live on a very oppressive world and they are kind of like slaves, working for a large corporation with no sign of a better life in sight! Well, Rain’s ex has put together a crew and they are going to break into an old space station to loot these cryostasis chambers that they can then sell and get the hell out of the dead end life they are all in. It is the kind of heist that sounds so easy, but you know right from the start it is not going to go well.
The Tension and Horror in Alien: Romulus
Saying that things do not go well is an understatement! Turns out this “abandoned” space station is owned by a corporation that Alien fans will know all too well. Once aboard, they realize that something is wrong with this place and it does not take long for them to be in a fight for survival!
Alien: Romulus was just an absolute ton of fun. It has more of a thriller/horror movie vibe than an action movie and there are some really tense scenes. The use of Face Huggers in this movie is arguably the best in the franchise! The way that they make the Face Huggers the main threat for the first part of the movie is very well done.
Xenomorph: The Less-Is-More Approach
When it comes to the Xenomorph, this is handled so well! Alien: Romulus for most of the movie, goes for the less is more approach and it works so well, it is almost like we are seeing this all go down from the actual point of view of the characters. Speaking of which, our core group of characters is great, Andy and Rain are very likable and there are a few other likable characters too, but there are also some that you cannot wait to come to the other end of the Xenomorph’s little mouth!
Final Thoughts: Alien Romulus is a Thrilling Ride
I had so much fun watching Alien: Romulus, it was the kind of movie that I just got more and more into as it went on. Now, my wife said that she felt it lasted a bit long and that it had two fake out endings, but I never felt that way. I highly recommend you make the effort to go and see this while it is on at your theatre, it is the kind of movie that is even more fun on the big screen!
