Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Alien: Romulus Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 26, 2024

The world seems to be hunting "easter eggs" like crazy recently, evidently unaware it may be the wrong season for such activity. Perhaps nonetheless understandably, though, those very quests are revolving around a little film called Wicked , which has become something of a phenomenon as this review is being written. Variety in fact just published a supposedly exhaustive list of all the "hidden" references to The Wizard of Oz scattered throughout part one of the film version of the musical, offering 65 examples, though their article was admittedly more widely based and also discussed things like changes between the source novel, stage adaptation and film. As a short but perhaps teasing supplement on this disc mentions in passing, there might be grounds for discovery at least as fertile as the above comparison(s) when watching Alien: Romulus, and in this case alert viewers don't have just one "extracurricular" film to keep track of, but instead Alien, Aliens, Alien³, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Perhaps hilariously, then, at least given that glut of opportunities, while Variety came up with 65 (more or less) examples for Wicked, a cursory internet search divulged quite a few lists either online media or just good old fashioned fans have aggregated, though the highest number found in any given accounting was a paltry thirteen. That relative dearth might be explained in part not necessarily due to fans' inability to spot things, but the fact that the film is placed squarely between the events of the first two outings in the franchise, which may inherently limit references, though that said, there are certainly allusions to later films in the series, including a memorable "FaceTime" event between a Xenomorph and our heroine which is obviously modeled on a similar moment in Alien³.

Perhaps the biggest "reference" to the Alien franchise, or at least the opening salvo of Alien, Aliens and Alien³, is not exactly subliminal and is in fact the overt use of a scrappy if perhaps initially unprepared female who ends up having to battle various terrors in an isolated spaceship. In this case it's a younger take on what might be called a "Ripley-esque" character, an orphan named Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), who works as a miner for the nefarious Weyland-Yutani group, though "works" is probably an inadequate euphemism for "slaves", with both meanings of that term being salient. Rain thinks she's worked enough hours to more or less "purchase" her freedom from servitude, but in true Catch-22 style, Weyland-Yutani just keeps upping the requirement of worktime for such an escape, leaving Rain desperate.

Suffice it to say that desperation extends to Rain's cohort, which includes her android companion Andy (David Jonsson); her erstwhile boyrfriend Tyler (Archie Renaux); Kay (Isabela Merced), the pregnant sister of Tyler; Bjorn (Spike Fearn), Tyler and Kay's cousin; and Navarro (Aileen Wu), a pilot and adopted sister of Bjorn. This motley crew does manage to abscond with a ship that gets them to an abandoned space station split into twin halves dubbed Romulus and Remus. The crew hopes to get some cryostasis equipment that they'll need for a long voyage to a planet where they can live in peace (and see sunlight), but of course various things that maybe go more than merely bump in the night are awaiting them in the dank confines of the space station.

Those things, or at least their genesis, is presented somewhat opaquely in the imagery underlying the opening credits, but the "how" is probably ultimately not that relevant, especially since Weyland-Yutani has never been the model of corporate conscience. But vis a vis the very term "how", and with regard to co-writer and director Fede Álvarez self confessed desire to get "back to horror" with this entry, it's the who rather than the how the ends up giving this film so much emotional heft. In other words, so many cut and paste horror films, especially those with a series of deaths, tend to concentrate on the how of the killing, making that the focus, so that the victims are almost interchangeable, and, frankly, ultimately almost inconsequential. Álvarez very smartly spends a good deal of time in the first act introducing characters and giving the audience salient reasons to be rooting for many, maybe even most, of them, which only gives the later, yes, horror all the more power.

Alien: Romulus Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Alien: Romulus is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Studios and Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Captured with the Arri Alexa 35 and finished with a 4K DI, this is another fantastic looking high definition presentation from 20th Century and Disney, though I'll once again cut to the chase and recommend those with 4K setups to opt for that release, as it offers some increased fine detail levels and especially a more nuanced accounting of the palette. Otherwise, as I mentioned in the 4K UHD review, this 1080 presentation is practically perfect in every way on its own merits, and detail levels are often quite remarkable due to the intentional emphasis on practical effects rather than a glut of CGI. Detail levels on all the costumes and props tend to be excellent throughout, even in some less than fulsome lighting conditions (a lot of this film plays in near darkness). Kind of interestingly, as I also mentioned in the 4K UHD review, if HDR / Dolby Vision gives the overall palette some new luster, improvements in shadow definition are a bit harder to come by, and within that context, shadow detail in this 1080 presentation can often be on the murky side. The many rather interesting grading choices are presented here with quite a bit of energy, with the reds that start showing up at around the twenty minute mark especially impressive. While shadow detail may be questionable at times, general detail levels throughout some of the aggressive grading choices tends to be excellent.

Alien: Romulus Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again the good (?) folks at Disney have decided to offer different audio codecs on the 1080 and 4K discs in this package, with the 4K release being granted a Dolby Atmos track in place of this 1080 disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track. This is another case where those without Atmos setups may really not have that much to "worry" about, as I'd personally argue the differences between the Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 tracks are intermittent and perhaps even less than noticeable unless you're really paying attention. The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track on this disc is often a whirlwind of surround activity pretty much from the get go, with some of the huge whooshing sound effects that ultimately blend with Benjamin Wallfisch's Ligeti-esque vocals panning around the soundstage. Discrete channelization of effects is noticeable throughout, especially in some of the kind of fun retro computer sounds the beep and pulse at various moments. The cavernous confines of the space station also offer great opportunities for echo laden effects bouncing around the soundstage. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Alien: Romulus Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Alternate / Extended Scenes (HD; 11:27)


• Return to Horror: Crafting Alien: Romulus (HD; 25:34) is a nice making of set of featurettes which include some good interviews and quite a bit of behind the scenes footage.


• Inside the Xenomorph Showdown (HD; 11:07) is a really interesting behind the scenes look at the climactic elevator shaft sequence.


• Alien: A Conversation (HD; 9:23) is a fun sit down with Ridley Scott and Fede Álvarez, two, um, Alien-ists.

Disney sent the 4K UHD release for purposes of this review, but it looks like this standalone 1080 release includes a digital copy and packaging featuring a slipcover.

Alien: Romulus Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Alien: Romulus is perhaps a bit too eager to give fans those aforementioned "easter eggs" while still trying to carve out something a bit different for what is obviously designed to be a new series of Alien films. If things are a bit too long and overamped in the third act, it's remarkable how much emotion Fede Álvarez is able to wrest from the proceedings. The film boasts a really impressive, intentionally retro, production design and offers some generally very involving performances. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements enjoyable. Recommended.