Movie reviews of Alien: Romulus, It Ends With Us and Borderlands
The latest Alien film is not a sequel-ish reboot. It really is a terrifying addition to the franchise, writes Leigh Paatsch.
Leigh Paatsch
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At the movies this week there’s a top return to the Alien universe, an absolute Cate Blanchett stinker, and you can make your own mind up about the domestic violence controversy surrounding Blake Lively’s new romantic drama.
ALIEN: ROMULUS (MA15+)
Director: Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe)
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced
Rating: ★★★★
A new bout in an old fight to beat the bite
This truly terrifying new addition to the Alien canon is more of a next-gen offshoot than a sequel-ish reboot.
This is definitely intel worth knowing going into Alien: Romulus, as it’s all about where we find ourselves on a timeline spanning one of sci-fi cinema’s most enduring mythologies.
So set your calendar co-ordinates for somewhere between the unforgettable initial assault of 1979’s Alien and its all-time classic 1986 successor Aliens, and leave the rest to an accomplished cast and crew.
For this movie has clearly been made by people who both fundamentally understand their Alien lore, and truly respect the long-running franchise’s massive fanbase.
Though slow to get going, once Alien: Romulus finds its intended rhythm, the dread-inducing momentum of the experience builds exponentially into a claustrophobically intimidating final act.
Initially at least, the plotting is sketchy on definitive detail. On what appears to be a drab and perpetually dark mining planet, a group of rebellious young workers are scheming an escape towards a brighter, better place elsewhere in their solar system.
To get there, they need to first get aboard and then jump-start a space station drifting aimlessly in their home planet’s orbit.
Little do this group know that the craft they are about to commandeer has a recent history that does not augur well for any future passengers.
Character development is next to non-existent here, not that it really matters.
For once the rebels find themselves trapped within the confines of a sputtering spacecraft that is housing a gruesome alien breeding pod, all that any viewer will be able to focus on are expanding tension levels and a rising body count.
Compared to other Alien instalments, the creature-design work on display in Romulus ranks among the fearfully finest ever unleashed by the franchise.
Director Fede Alvarez fuses selective glimpses and longer, lingering shots of these toothy, speedy slitherers with sound and lighting flourishes that only serve to increase the discomfort of the experience.
While performances from the entire cast are solid enough given that the macabre monsters are the real stars of the show, mention must be made of two standout acting contributions.
David Jonsson is captivating as Andy, a human-like android whose programming doesn’t always stay in sync with the survival instincts of his fellow rebel crew members.
As for Cailee Spaeny in the heroine role of Rain, she proves herself a worthy successor to the feminine force and fury first channelled by Sigourney Weaver at the dawn of all things Alien.
Alien: Romulus is in cinemas now
IT ENDS WITH US (M)
Rating: ★★★
General release
It might be a soap opera, but there is substance to the suds churned up by It Ends With Us, a quality adaptation of the Colleen Hoover bestseller.
A well-cast Blake Lively stars as Lily, a Boston flower-shop proprietor who has her reasons for failing to notice that her supposed Mr Right – a hunky neurosurgeon named Ryle (Justin Baldoni) – is really her Mr Wrong. To its credit, the movie goes to great lengths to delve into Lily’s past to identify why she missed all the warning signs about Ryle, a classically controlling dude with anger management issues that only worsen over time. While there will be a white knight capable of guiding Lily to a way out of her domestic hell, the screenplay doesn’t shy away from the dark impulses that drew its heroine to a creep like Ryle in the first place.
A very polished production design and the occasional lapse into fluffy-bunny rom-com territory sometimes works against the movie’s best intentions. Nevertheless, both its heart and head remain in the right place throughout. Worth a look, particularly if the book means something to you. Co-stars Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar.
BORDERLANDS (PG)
Rating: ★
General release
This isn’t just one of the worst movies of 2024. It is also one of the worst movies ever adapted from a video game. That is such a low bar for any production to slide under that you begin to suspect Borderlands might have been made in the hope some kind of weird, so-bad-it’s-good magic could happen at the box-office. No chance of that in this or any other lifetime.
It all starts with some spectacularly bung casting choices, and there’s none bunger than Cate Blanchett in the lead role of Lilith, a red-wigged, acid-tongued bounty hunter. It is baffling to watch one of the finest actors alive die such a definitive creative death on-screen.
An equally baffling plot – in which a planet-jumping Lilith must find, rescue and return the obnoxious Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) to her villainous dad (Edgar Ramirez) – does not aid Blanchett’s listless effort whatsoever. There’s also Kevin Hart as an irritating interplanetary mercenary, Jamie Lee Curtis as a seen-it-all scientist and Jack Black as a wacky, wisecracking robot (aptly named Claptrap). Awful, awful stuff.
Originally published as Movie reviews of Alien: Romulus, It Ends With Us and Borderlands
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