Alien: Romulus
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: August 16, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 57 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
19
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Little White LiesDavid JenkinsAug 15, 2024
It’s superior to the stuffy, lore-obsessed recent Scott films, yet doesn’t hold an atmospherically flickering candle to the original or its sequel. It also doesn’t have the rough-and-ready, overreaching character of Fincher’s famous folly. Yet it makes for a decent time at the pictures, and the grinding first half is worth enduring for a pleasantly rip-snorting finale. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisAug 15, 2024
Alien: Romulus is a nuts-and-bolts action-adventure horror story with boos and splatter. It doesn’t have much on its mind but it has some good jump scares along with a disappointingly bland heroine, a sympathetic android and the usual collection of disposable characters who are unduly killed by slavering, rampaging extraterrestrials. Read full review
60
Vanity FairRichard LawsonAug 14, 2024
If it hadn’t had someone of Álvarez’s care and attention at the helm, Romulus could certainly have been a lot worse. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonAug 14, 2024
Romulus achieves its goal of being nothing more than a well-executed monster movie, but that modest ambition leaves this sequel feeling a little hollow and mechanical — a sufficient thrill ride that largely reminds the viewer how masterful the first two instalments were. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeAug 14, 2024
Alien: Romulus remains a shapeless beast that never so much as hints at the disciplined elegance of Scott’s founding text. The action progresses rather than builds. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyAug 14, 2024
What’s frustrating about Romulus is to see that the reaction to unpopular ideas wasn’t to come up with more, but to simply recycle the old ones as nostalgia. Read full review
60
Paste MagazineElijah GonzalezAug 14, 2024
Alien: Romulus isn’t outright awful; its dystopian intro is compelling and there are quite a few devilishly constructed scares. But in its attempts to emulate every shifting form the series has taken over the years, it ends up less a perfect organism, and more a flawed creation that doesn’t meet company standards. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerAug 14, 2024
What’s here isn’t necessarily boring or bad, but it represents a back-to-basics approach for Alien that feels like a betrayal of something central to the Xenomorph’s toxic DNA, which is forever mutating into another deadly creature. Read full review
59
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 14, 2024
Álvarez eventually gets there, with the third act of Romulus impressively nauseating. But otherwise, the filmmaker isn’t developing this cinematic universe so much as he is stunting its growth. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNatalia KeoganAug 19, 2024
While incredible practical gore effects and stunning set pieces make Álvarez’s installment well worth watching, it’s as void of meaning as space itself. There are no answers, not even questions, merely what we manage to project onto vast emptiness. Read full review
58
The Film StageConor O'DonnellAug 14, 2024
Lacking thematic subtlety or dimensionality outside of Rain and Andy, Alien: Romulus compensates with a killer instinct deployed with squirming glee. Read full review
55
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaAug 14, 2024
Those craving a well-put-together monster movie with creepy creature effects and sturdy set-pieces will probably find plenty to like here. But it shouldn't be controversial to want better results. As I said at the start of this review, there are no bad "Alien" movies. But with Alien: Romulus, there's definitely a disappointing one. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 16, 2024
Alien: Romulus is diverting enough, but it’s also instantly forgettable — something I don’t think I’ve ever said about any other Alien film, good or bad. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithAug 15, 2024
Alien: Romulus occupies a strange position: It’s lovingly aimed at fans who have seen its Carter-era predecessor 15 times, yet it’s unlikely to scare anyone except those who are new to the “Alien” shtick. In space, it turns out, no one can hear you yawn, either. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAug 15, 2024
Originality is what made Alvarez famous. If only he showed more of it here when it comes to storytelling, not just innovative jump scares. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckAug 14, 2024
This is a very big, very (very!) loud, very jumpy horror flick, and the screams will come, and they’ll be audible. Which is precisely what “Alien” fans are surely waiting for. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearAug 14, 2024
Does it tick off the boxes of what we’ve come to expect from this series? Yes. Does it add up to more than The Chris Farley Show of Alien movies? Well … let’s just say no one may be able to hear you scream in space, but they will assuredly hear your resigned sighs in a theater. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichAug 14, 2024
It’s certainly hard to imagine a cruder way of connecting the dots between the series’ fractured mythology. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawAug 14, 2024
The resulting movie is a technically competent piece of work; but no matter how ingenious its references to the first film (let down, however, by borrowings from the A Quiet Place franchise) it has to be said that there’s a fundamental lack of originality here which makes it frustrating. Read full review
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