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Gold review – Zac Efron fries in a tough and tense outback thriller

Director-actor Anthony Hayes and his famous co-star deliver strong performances but this dystopian vision becomes gratingly thin

A nthony Hayes is far from the first film-maker to have realised that the Australian outback provides great scaffolding for sparse dystopias, his tough and tense survival thriller Gold emphasising the vast, screen-buckling nothingness. Led by a grubby-looking and banged-up Zac Efron , continuing a long tradition of actors seeking critical acclaim by messing up their photogenic faces, the film is introduced with the text: “SOME TIME. SOME PLACE. NOT FAR FROM NOW…”

This is another way of saying that this South Australia-shot production is set during what the Mad Max director, George Miller, describes as “next Wednesday”: a time in which “all the bad things we read in the news come to pass”. Happy happy joy joy Gold is not, in other words, with its vision of an ecologically ruined world that’s gone to the dogs. Hayes makes it abundantly clear from the unsubtle opening shot – a pair of vultures – that this will be a rather different vision of sand and sun than the 2017 Baywatch remake Efron starred in, torpedo buoy in hand, pectorals glistening.

Although Gold is a new addition to a genre I call the “bugger dead, it’s hot” action thriller (which includes the terrific TV series The Tourist ), Hayes makes the point that the story is not necessarily based in Australia but the aforementioned “SOME PLACE”. This handily saves Efron from impersonating an Aussie and from the potential embarrassment suffered by those (like Bill Nighy , Quentin Tarantino and Kirby Howell-Baptiste ) who have tried to wrap their tongues around a speaking style once described by Winston Churchill as “the most brutal maltreatment that has ever been inflicted on the mother-tongue of the great English-speaking nations”.

Hayes, a veteran character actor himself, co-stars as a bloke billed as Man Two, opposite Efron’s Man One. This reflects an intentional lack of humanity in the film’s outlook, with its tendency to view people through a misanthropic lens. The two men are in the outback because Man One has discovered a huge chunk of gold in them thar desert, which leads to an awkward conversation between them thar men, about who should stay and who should go get the excavator. Efron insists on staying with the gold, despite him being an inexperienced stranger in this land, with nary a solar-powered portable fan or six pack of brewskis to make the impending experience more palatable.

Gold has elements of a chamber piece, but also long stretches in which a hot and bothered Man One becomes increasingly, well, hot and bothered, fending off various hallucinations. It’s clear early on that Efron is in good hands, with Hayes being a talented director of other actors, as he demonstrated in his 2008 hard-hitting directorial debut Ten Empty. Hayes also clearly trusts Efron, who delivers a strong, gloomy and tetchy performance. It’s smart, rather than exceptional, acting: Efron understands he doesn’t need to say and do too much here; he can internalise emotion and let the atmosphere and intensity of the film wash over him.

The cinematographer, Ross Giardina, depicts heat in an interesting way, scaling back the palette to such an extent that many scenes appear virtually colourless. Early on, when Hayes is shown having a cigarette, the smoke he exhales is almost the same colour as the sky: a chalky white more commonly seen in ice and snow. The inference of heat here comes from other places: the barrenness of the land, sweat, the clogging intensity of the drama itself.

Gold is a minimalistic production, story and setting wise, with an interesting kind of contextual ambiguity: we know there is a wider world beyond the frame, though we don’t know what it looks like. Sparseness is intriguing, but this film is so damn sparse. With so little going on, for such a long time, the experience becomes gratingly thin. I admired the craft of Gold but left feeling cold – unlike, of course, Efron, who is cooked like an overripe piece of fruit tossed into an incinerator.

Gold will screen in select cinemas from 13 January and premieres on 26 January on Stan

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Gold Run: A Non-Spoiler Review

• Non-Spoiler Reviews
• Norwegian Films

🇳🇴 GOLD RUN 🇳🇴

Gold Run (2022) is a Norwegian war, historical, thriller feature film available on BBC iPlayer in the U.K. Run time is 1 hour 57 minutes. In Norwegian, German and English with embedded subtitles. No rating was given.

“He’s not the bravest of men, but he’s given a great responsibility and an enormous task – to get the whole Norwegian gold reserve away from the Germans during the invasion of Norway during the outbreak of WW2.” IMDb

Jon Øigarden as Fredrik Haslund Thorbjørn Harr as Oscar Torp Sven Nordin as Odd Henry Anatole Taubman as Major Otto Stoltmann Ida Elise Broch as Nini Haslund Gleditisch Axel Bøyum as Ingvar Berge Gard B. Eidsvold as Andreas Lund Karin Klouman as Irene Haslund Morten Svartveit as Nordahl Grieg

Writers: Thomas Moldestad, Jørgen Storm Rosenberg, Sofia Lersol Lund, Lasse Lindtner, Arne Lindtner Næss Director: Hallvard Bræin Composer: Christian Wibe Cinematographer: Oskar Dahlsbakken Editors: Vidar Flataukan, Thomas Grotmol Special Effects Supervisors: Pål Morten Hverven, Hummer Højmark Visual Effects Producer: Lars Erik Hansen Visual Effects Supervisor: Arne Kaupang Costume Designer: Sofie Rage Larsen

Åndalsnes, Rauma, Møre og Romsdal, Norway

Flight of the Norwegian National Treasury:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Norwegian_National_Treasury

Having watched several films and series set in Norway just prior to and during World War ll this film about how Norway’s gold reserve was moved to safety was appealing. At the very least, I thought, it would add to my wider understanding of how this conflict affected both the country and its people. And it was the characters as much as the task itself that I anticipated being the most appealing, for me. Here’s my take on Gold Run.

The characters are quite well developed in this film, if a little stereotypical at times. It’s hard to know, of course, how much these individuals were as they are portrayed, but some seemed lacking in depth and nuance. I did get the feeling at times that they were “written” as their dialogue didn’t come over as organic and natural. I would also have preferred if the motivations for some were explored more deeply.

The acting is pretty solid in this, with great performances, especially by Jon Øigarden, Ida Elise Broch and Axel Bøyum. There were a couple of instances (I won’t specify which) where I knew someone was acting.

The special and visual effects are very good throughout Gold Run. There are a lot of scenes involving explosives and other effects. The sound design was also good. I loved the costuming, music and locations. The directional decisions were generally good along with the cinematography. There were several scenes which had good tension and a real sense of jeopardy.

Sometimes the direction, combined with everything else, spoke “TV movie” to me; I can’t specify exactly why, but it was there. I did like the way it was edited which kept the storyline on track.

Gold Run is quite uneven in tone, I found. Parts are funny, well, at least amusing and I wouldn’t have minded more of these, or less, or none. Humour with a story like this is tricky and I do think it works best when it is firmly committed to. As it is the humour just didn’t seem to be as effective as it might have been. Certainly, if it had been far funnier until things switched to being much more serious it may well have made it more impactful. Parts of the film just came over as a bit twee and cheesy, although I could appreciate the intention behind them.

There was one part of this film I loved which was where a poem is being read by the poet himself. I found this to be easily the most moving part of the film. I also very much liked the captions and photographs at the end explaining who various people were and what happened to them. This was affecting and effective.

For me, Gold Run is a solid enough war film which tells a story worth telling. It isn’t one that hit me hard emotionally, and it’s probably (at least in part for that exact reason) a film that I won’t remember a great deal about in the future, unlike some of the other films I have seen set during that era.

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Gold Run Reviews

Moves at a fantastic clip and features a torrent of well-staged action sequences, even as it allows for moments that illuminate the characters and encourage the viewer to empathize with ordinary people rising up to meet the challenge. ... a must-see.

Full Review | May 7, 2024

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• "It's an epic trip, fraught with danger, and it's both rousing and a bit scary. 'Gold Run' is fragile and gripping, charged with stirring emotion, and grounded in real-life events. It's a must-see"  Peter Martin : Screen Anarchy

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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Norway  / Sweden

WW2 drama Gold Run set to be Viaplay’s first Norwegian original film

by  Davide Abbatescianni

15/11/2021 - The feature, helmed by award-winning filmmaker Hallvard Bræin, will star Jon Øigarden, Sven Nordin and Axel Bøyum in the leading roles

Last week, Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) announced its first Norwegian original film. The project, a war drama entitled Gold Run , will be directed by Hallvard Bræin . The helmer is best known for his documentary The Giant (2005) and his Burning   [ + see also: trailer film profile ] trilogy (2014-2020).

Gold Run will be based on the extraordinary true story of a group of unlikely resistance fighters who smuggled Norway’s gold reserves out of the country ahead of invading Nazi forces. Jon Øigarden (the TV series Exit ), Sven Nordin (the TV series Wisting ) and Axel Bøyum ( Betrayed   [ + see also: film review trailer film profile ] ) will lead the cast and the production is set to enter filming in early 2022.

The story begins on 9 April 1940, when German soldiers entered Oslo to seize three targets: the country’s king, government and gold. In just a few chaotic hours, parliamentary secretary Fredrik Haslund (played by Øigarden) assembled an improbable team, consisting of his sister Nini, bank staff, truck drivers and the famous poet Nordahl Grieg, to carry out a highly dangerous, top-secret mission – moving 50 tonnes of gold across the country to reach an Allied shipping convoy. 

Commenting on his new role, actor Jon Øigarden said: “I loved my role immediately. This is a man who isn’t a traditional war hero in any way, just a regular politician taking on an enormous task. The film sets itself apart from others in the genre by balancing seriousness with lighter moments, and by telling its story with a glint in the eye.” 

Talking about the project’s appeal for Viaplay audiences, NENT Group’s Chief Content Officer Filippa Wallestam added: “How did a diverse group with zero military experience defy an occupation and help shape a nation’s destiny? Gold Run is based on an incredible story with global appeal and will offer drama, tension and even a touch of humour. Viewers around the world can expect our first Norwegian Viaplay Original film to deliver entertainment gold from start to finish.” 

Gold Run is being produced by Jørgen Storm Rosenberg and Kjetil Omberg for Oslo-based outfit 74 Entertainment , with Tanya Nanette Badendyck serving as the executive producer for Viaplay. The feature will exclusively premiere on Viaplay in 2022.

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Where to watch

Gulltransporten.

Directed by Hallvard Bræin

A true robber story about the time Norway had to steal its own gold.

Fredrik isn’t the bravest of men, but now he is faced with a great responsibility and an enormous task - to get the entire Norwegian gold reserve away from the Nazis during the invasion of Norway.

Jon Øigarden Ida Elise Broch Sven Nordin Eivind Sander Axel Bøyum Morten Svartveit Anatole Taubman Thorbjørn Harr Gard B. Eidsvold Terje Strømdahl Karin Klouman Zeynep Husejin Ava Vatne Lars Berge Anne Marie Ottersen Arne Lindtner Næss Geir Ivar Raknem Porfirio Guiterrez Øystein Janke Ellingsen Nanna Lundevall Pål Anders Nordvi Bjørnar Bruun

Director Director

Hallvard Bræin

Producers Producers

Jørgen Storm Rosenberg Kjetil Omberg

Writers Writers

Thomas Moldestad Jørgen Storm Rosenberg Sofia Lersol Lund

Story Story

Arne Lindtner Næss Lasse Lindtner

Casting Casting

Emrah Ertem

Editors Editors

Vidar Flataukan Thomas Grotmol

Cinematography Cinematography

Oskar Dahlsbakken

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Lina Remeikaite Sebastian Ekeland Meneeley

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Tanya Badendyck Arne Lindtner Næss Lasse Lindtner Camilla Rydbacken Filippa Wallestam

Lighting Lighting

Jørgen Werner

Production Design Production Design

Pål Petersen-Bergvik

Art Direction Art Direction

Ranik Halle

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Arne Kaupang Lars Erik Hansen

Composer Composer

Christian Wibe

Sound Sound

Tomas Naug Erik S. Watland Baard H. Ingebretsen Espen Rønning Bent Holm Tormod Ringnes Svein-Ketil Bjøntegård

Costume Design Costume Design

Sofie Rage Larsen

74 Entertainment Viaplay Group

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

German Norwegian

Releases by Date

15 dec 2022, 27 jan 2024, releases by country.

• Digital Viaplay
• Physical DVD & Blu-Ray
• Digital 12 Viaplay

117 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by SimenAndresen ★★★

venta bare heile filmen på at nordahl grieg sko dø sånn at han konne holda kjeft 😑

Review by TomCap ★★★ 4

Altfor generisk. Musikken, det visuelle, så mye er så jævlig generisk. Norge er ett vakkert land med for en eller annen grunn så liker de ikke å vise det fram og velger istede å ha uskarpe bakgrunner i nesten hver eneste shot. 

Musikken høres ut som det kom ut av en trailer eller fra en royalty free nettside

Hadde litt håp når jeg hørte denne filmen skulle være litt komedisk fordi jeg forventa en film som skulle ta seg selv litt mindre seriøs og være litt unik men nei. Starten var ganske lovende spesielt med den Tyske majoren som var søkkvåt og haiket med 2 tilfeldige innbyggere, ganske artig, men de komiske øyeblikkene er korte å langt imellom hverandre å…

Review by Luke Thorne ★★★

Hallvard Braein’s drama in which resistance fighters smuggle gold reserves out of Norway before the Nazis invade. In Norwegian with English subtitles.

In 1940, the Germans attacked Norway with clear targets in mind: the king, the government, to take charge of the coast, the iron ore and the Norwegian gold reserves. At the same time, a gang of resistance fighters was given a most significant and clandestine operation: rescue Norway’s gold.

Jon Øigarden gives a good performance in his role as Fredrik Haslund, while Thorbjørn Harr is decent as Oscar Torp, and Lars Berge is fine as Haakon Lie.

Elsewhere, Anatole Taubman as Otto Stoltmann, Sven Nordin as Odd Henry, and Ida Elise Broch as Nini Gleditsch are all respectable.…

Review by Elise27 ★

Jeg er ikke sånn «jeg hater norsk film» fordi jeg tror jeg er kul, men fordi jeg genuint lurer på hva som skjer!!! Det kan hende det er koronaen eller vitamin d overdosen som snakker, men hvorfor virker det som ingen i filmen kjenner hverandre?? Det føles som alle menneskene er roboter som prøver å være mennesker. Søkte de opp topp 15 norske skuespillere og sendte alle en mail der de fikk beskjed om å møte opp uten noen annen info??? Alle bare puster tungt og ser forvirret ut. Kunstpause. Norges bank! Æææææ!!!! Det nærmeste bra denne filmen kommer er han gærne tyskeren.

Review by hunter ★★★

grieg du trenger ikke alltid være poetisk du har lov til å ti still

Review by Sandra ★★★½

Om Ingvar hadde hatt tilgang til laserpistol og bjørnekostyme hadde nazistene tapt dag 1. Merk mine ord.

Review by røk ★ 1

“Wait we’re getting invaded? Erm, this wasn’t in my job description? 😂”

Review by Ateide ★★ 1

What are you trying to be???? A comedy??? Do you want to be 2022’s «Kongens Nei» or what do you want??????

Review by Fey 1

Never been big a fan of Norwegian cinema, which is a shame considering it's the country I live in. This one is... fine? Or maybe the right term would be inoffensive. There isn't really anything to chew on here as it is a pretty run-of-the-mill war film about a group of people trying to fulfill X objective while the enemy tries to stop them—a structure which it tries to do nothing with. Obviously a glorification of these people and their operation, but it's rare you'll find a war film that doesn't glorify its subject matter in some way. Totally expected this to be as lackluster as it is, but it's unfortunate that there isn't anything praise here like its emotional beats or cinematography—both of which are boring at best. If you are looking into getting into modern Nordic cinema I suggest you give this one a pass.

Review by Sigurd Stranda

Norsk krigsfilm no. 2 057

For meg beviste Krigsseilerne tidligere i år at disse evindelige krigsfilmene kan ha sjel. Denne føyes derimot inn i rekken av blåkopier som først og fremst skal gi oss et kanonisert utvalg av historier om krigen som skal være nasjonsbyggende, som forteller oss at dette er folkesjelen. Istedenfor å handle om mennesker i krig handler disse om nasjonen  i krig. Forsøket på å gi disse fortellingene menneskelige, psykologiserte dimensjoner er i stor grad mislykket. Her er alle sjablonger, nasjonens arketyper, aldri mennesker, bare nordmenn!

   Er det lov å håpe at Narvik-filmen lykkes der denne mislykkes?

PS. Er en cameo her på ca. 5 sekunder æ som bekrefter at alle disse filmene befinner seg i samme fiksjonaliserte univers og det var helt klart høydepunktet med filmen. NKCU (Norsk Krigsfilm Cinematic Universe)

Review by Erfugl ★★

Jeg var med på å gjøre denne filmen til et mesterverk (jeg var sperrevakt)

Veldig bra komediefilm, med en skurk som er djup og relaterbar

Review by Daniel Staud ★★★½

“I breath war!”

And other genre bending exclamation are found in this film. This is a solid WW2 film where the tone shifts as many times as the gold changes transport methods. 

All in all, a pretty good transport tycoon adaptation set in WW2

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• News Releases

World War II drama `Gold Run' is Viaplay's first Norwegian original film

• Feature-length film stars Jon Øigarden (`Exit'), Sven Nordin (`Wisting') and Axel Bøyum (`Delete Me')
• `Gold Run' is the first Viaplay Original film from Norway
• Viaplay to premiere at least 60 Originals in 2022

The first-ever Norwegian Viaplay Original film will be the World War II drama `Gold Run', based on the extraordinary true story of a group of unlikely resistance fighters who smuggled Norway's gold reserves out of the country ahead of invading Nazi forces. Jon Øigarden (`Exit'), Sven Nordin (`Wisting') and Axel Bøyum (`Delete Me') lead an all-star Norwegian cast in the ambitious feature-length production, which will begin filming in early 2022 with exclusive premiere on Viaplay later in the year.

On 9 April 1940, German soldiers entered Oslo to seize three targets: the country's king, government and gold. In just a few chaotic hours, parliamentary secretary Fredrik Haslund (Jon Øigarden) assembled an improbable team, consisting of his sister Nini, bank staff, truck drivers and the famous poet Nordahl Grieg, to carry out a highly dangerous, top-secret mission - moving 50 tonnes of gold across the country to reach an Allied shipping convoy.

Filippa Wallestam, NENT Group Chief Content Officer: "How did a diverse group with zero military experience defy an occupation and help shape a nation's destiny? `Gold Run' is based on an incredible story with global appeal and will offer drama, tension and even a touch of humour. Viewers around the world can expect our first Norwegian Viaplay Original film to deliver entertainment gold from start to finish."

Jon Øigarden: "I loved my role immediately. This is a man who isn't a traditional war hero in any way, just a regular politician taking on an enormous task. The film sets itself apart from others in the genre by balancing seriousness with lighter moments, and by telling its story with a glint in the eye."

`Gold Run' (Norwegian title: `Gulltransporten') will be directed by the award-winning Hallvard Bræin (`Børning'; `The Giant') and is produced by Jørgen Storm Rosenberg and Kjetil Omberg at 74 Entertainment, with Tanya Nanette Badendyck as executive producer for Viaplay.

Recent Norwegian Viaplay Originals include the hit series `Pørni', `Furia' and `Wisting', which has been shown on the UK's BBC Four and Sundance Now in the US and acclaimed by The Guardian as "the best Nord-noir ever".

About Viaplay Originals

At least 60 Viaplay Originals are set to premiere in 2022. In the past three months, ` Kin '; `The Trick'; `Sort Of'; ` Red Election '; ` Suedi '; ` Furia '; season two of ` The Truth Will Out '; ` Close to Me '; ` Two Sisters '; season two of ` Face to Face '; `Threesome'; and ` A Class Apart ' have premiered on Viaplay.

Recently announced Originals include ` Billy the Kid '; ` Last Light '; ` Cell 8 '; ` Elvira '; ` North Sea Connection '; ` Limbo '; ` Litvinenko '; ` Karma and Jonar '; ` Ronja '; ` Ida Takes Charge '; season two of ` The Machinery '; ` The Prize of Silence '; ` The Uninhabitable Earth '; ` Polish Murderesses ', ` Black Dog ' and ` Freedom of the Swallow '; season two of ` Partisan '; season three of ` Honour '; seasons three and four of ` Hammarvik '; `The Holiday'; seasons two and three of ` Pørni '; ` Hilma '; ` Sisterhood '; ` Who Shot Otto Mueller? '; a biopic of Börje Salming ; ` Fadime '; ` Taylor's Island '; ` What about Monica '; ` Trom '; ` THE KINGDOM EXODUS '; ` Made in Oslo '; ` Estonia: The Last Wave '; season two of ` Stella Blómkvist '; season two of ` Wisting '; ` The Box '; ` The Swarm '; ` Harmonica '; ` Perfect People '; and ` Margeaux '.

Two major English-language films will be produced for Viaplay every year. NENT Group has also established a UK-based joint venture with  FilmNation Entertainment  and invested in US studio  Picturestart .

NOTES TO EDITORS

Nordic Entertainment Group AB (publ) (NENT Group)'s Viaplay streaming service is available in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Viaplay will launch in the US in 2021 and the Netherlands and the UK in 2022, followed by Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland by the end of 2023. We operate streaming services, TV channels, radio stations and production companies, and our purpose is to tell stories, touch lives and expand worlds. Headquartered in Stockholm with a global perspective, NENT Group is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (`NENT B').

Contact us: [email protected] (or Nicholas Smith, Senior Communications Manager: +46 73 699 1700) [email protected] (or Matthew Hooper, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer: +44 7768 440 414)

Download high-resolution photos: Flickr

Follow us: nentgroup.com / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram

Data protection: To read more about NENT Group and data protection, click here

• News release as PDF
• Jon Øigarden Photo Alen Grujic 74 Entertainment
• Filippa Wallestam NENT Group Photo Peter Knutson

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Movie's ratings

• Kinorium 6.2 100+
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Gulltransporten (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Different stars.

• 1 Christian Wibe Fredrik Haslund 1:23
• 2 Christian Wibe 9. April 1940 2:03
• 3 Christian Wibe Norske stats gullbeholdning 3:39
• 4 Christian Wibe Invasjon 3:19
• 5 Christian Wibe Oppdraget 2:27
• 6 Christian Wibe Gulltransporten 3:00
• 7 Christian Wibe Åndalsnes 2:10
• 8 Christian Wibe Otta 1:32
• 9 Christian Wibe Molde 3:34
• 10 Christian Wibe Stillheten snart over 4:52
• 11 Christian Wibe En Oliven 2:39
• 12 Christian Wibe Fergeskvis 3:14
• 13 Christian Wibe Kongen 2:03
• 14 Christian Wibe Messerschmitt Bf109 4:52
• 15 Christian Wibe Ingvar 1:44
• 16 Christian Wibe Frøya 2:44
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In 1940, the Germans invaded Norway with clear goals of controlling the king, the government, the coast, the iron ore and the Norwegian gold reserves. At the same time, a group of resistance fighters was given an important mission.

Gold Run - Cast

Sven Nordin

Anatole Taubman

Gard Eidsvold

Thorbjørn Harr

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Run: The tense thriller you’ll immediately want to add to your Netflix watchlist

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Netflix is about to release its latest must-see movie.

April is yet another busy month for the streaming service, with a crowded list of original film and TV shows set to arrive over the next 30 days.

One of these looks set to become another word-of-mouth hit for Netflix, especially considering it was meant to be released in cinemas in 2020, but was delayed because of the pandemic.

The film, titled Run , is a tense thriller following a teenager whose overprotective mother ( Sarah Paulson ) keeps her locked away from the outside world.

In the film, the lead character – played by 20-year-old Kiera Allen – uses a wheelchair, and her mother exploits this fact to justify shutting her inside.

Directed and co-written by Aneesh Chaganty, Run ’s cancelled theatrical release saw it picked up by Hulu in the US.

After being released there in November 2020, it swiftly became the American subscription service’s most successful original film to date.

Netflix, clearly hoping to capitalise on this, has now decided to release the film in the UK.

• Every movie and TV show coming to Netflix this month
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Run  is said to be the first thriller in 70 years to feature a real-life wheelchair user.

The film has been praised by critics for its taut runtime of 90 minutes, and has been described as “breathless”, “enjoyable” and by Entertainment Weekly as “a brittle, nasty bit of fun”.

Chaganty’s previous film was the acclaimed thriller Searching , starring John Cho.

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‘Jackpot!’ Review: Dystopia, Hollywood Style

Awkwafina and John Cena star in a fitfully funny near-future comedy with strangely mixed metaphors.

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By Alissa Wilkinson

In the near future, things are not very different. People wear the same clothes as we do, ride the bus to work, call each other on cellphones and stay in terrible Airbnbs run by hosts from hell. In the near future, everything is still expensive. And if you want to be an actor, you move to Los Angeles.

Yet a few things have changed. Following the Great Depression of 2026, the government of California — as desperate for money as its people are — instituted a Grand Lottery in which one citizen of Los Angeles wins some huge sum. Sounds great, but unfortunately whoever wrote the law seems to be a fan of “The Purge.” Until sundown on Lottery Day, anyone who successfully kills the lottery winner (all weapons allowed except guns) gets the winnings. After sundown, murder becomes illegal again, until next year.

Somehow the Michigander Katie (Awkwafina) missed this news, and thus had the bad fortune to arrive in Los Angeles to pursue her dream of acting the night before Lottery Day 2030. She, of course, accidentally wins the $3.6 billion jackpot while at an audition. Suddenly, everyone is after her, and the only person she can maybe trust is a “freelance protector” named Noel (John Cena, who may be Hollywood’s most dependably funny actor). He’ll get her safely to sundown. Probably.

This is quite the dystopian view of the future, though other movies have proposed that within a few decades, we’ll resort to state-sanctioned violence to secure our daily bread. In the world of Boots Riley’s comedy “ Sorry to Bother You ,” for instance, game show contestants beat themselves to a pulp to collect money and pay off their debts. Or, of course, there’s “ Squid Game .”

More dystopian, though, is the sense that in this version of the near future, nobody is capable of relating to anyone except through money. Only hours into her new L.A. life, Katie tells off a man (Adam Ray) who’s complaining loudly about his young daughter’s failure to get acting jobs that will line his pockets — as his daughter sits right next to him. Moments later, Katie meets a kind older woman (Becky Ann Baker) who wishes her luck, and then, quietly, swipes Katie’s watch.

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Alien: Romulus

While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

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• Trivia Director Fede Alvarez sought out the special effects crew from Aliens (1986) to work on the creatures. Physical sets, practical creatures, and miniatures were used wherever possible to help ground later VFX work.
• Goofs When the characters first enter the space station, the artificial gravity briefly turns on and then off again. Shortly thereafter, they enter a room where several objects are hovering in mid-air. If the objects had momentum immediately after the gravity switched off they should be moving on a trajectory, and if not they should still be against the floor. Either way, they should not be unmoving several feet off the floor.

Andy : The solution for a claustrophobic astronaut is to give him more space.

• Crazy credits The 20th Century Studios fanfare freezes and turns ominous, as in Alien³ (1992) , leading into the film's opening scene. The logo itself suffers a burst of static and turns green.
• Connections Featured in Nerdrotic: The Acolyte: Force is Female CONFIRMED? The Death of Theaters - The Real BBC @MauLer @HeelvsBabyface (2024)
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Alien: Romulus review: This 'clever, gripping and sometimes awe-inspiring' chiller is the best Alien film in decades

Since the first two films in the 1980s, the sci-fi horror series has been a very mixed bag. But this latest gets back to basics, and makes for a superbly scary monster movie.

There have already been eight Alien films, including the two Alien vs Predator spin-offs, but if you add up the Alien films which are genuinely good, that number gets much, much smaller. The series is notorious for sequels and prequels that were compromised by personality clashes and studio interference, and even the last two, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant , ended up being derivative and pretentious muddles, despite being made by the director of the peerless 1979 original, Ridley Scott.

Now, though, the total of genuinely good Alien films has gone up by one. Fede Álvarez, the Uruguayan director of Don't Breathe and 2013's remake of The Evil Dead, has triumphed with a clever, gripping and sometimes awe-inspiring sci-fi chiller, which takes the series back to its nerve-racking monster-movie roots while injecting it with some new blood – some new acid blood, you might say.

He has set Alien: Romulus between the events of Scott's Alien and James Cameron's Aliens, and he takes care to recreate the retro-futuristic atmosphere of those films. In particular, he sticks to their weathered industrial aesthetic, with its low lighting, its jets of steam and its scratched and dented machinery, most of which gets jammed so often that it's amazing anyone from Earth ever made it past the Moon. He also brings back the rumblings of anti-corporate sentiment, and uses characters who seem like ordinary people rather than pre-ordained action heroes, while he and his co-writer, Rodo Sayagues, have fashioned a fast-moving, sort-of logical plot that is refreshingly short of the "why are those idiots doing that?" moments that spoilt Prometheus and Covenant. Wisely, he doesn't attempt to shoehorn in Sigourney Weaver, although a surprise guest appearance by someone who appeared in an early Alien film will delight some fans of the series while upsetting others.

The main characters are a group of twentysomething colonists who are stuck in dead-end mining jobs on a grey and grimy planet that never has any sunlight. The actors include Archie Renaux, Isabella Merced, Aileen Wu and Spike Fearn, but the only characters anyone will care about are the orphaned Rain, played with steely grace by Cailee Spaeny ( Priscilla ), and her awkward adoptive brother Andy, played with exquisite nuance by David Jonsson (Rye Lane). These downtrodden workers have to labour away for years before they are eventually allowed to travel to the verdant planet Rain has been dreaming of, but one of them has a better idea. They have detected an abandoned spaceship in orbit just above them, so if they can fly up to it in their own shuttle craft, they should be able to salvage its cryogenic pods, put themselves into suspended animation and zoom off to their dreamworld before the colony's authorities catch up with them.

ALIEN: ROMULUS

Director: Fede Álvarez

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, Maya Hawke, Archie Renaux, Isabella Merced

Run time: 1hr 59m

After setting off, the first thing these young rebels discover is that the abandoned spaceship is actually a space station. The second thing they discover is that it's abandoned because, you guessed it, its crew was wiped out by spiky-tailed, long-clawed, cucumber-headed xenomorphs. Soon it will be Rain's turn to be chased along metal corridors by these monsters, but that's not her only problem. There are fuel supplies and law-enforcement officials to worry about, and the space station is drifting towards an asteroid belt which will rip it to shreds in a matter of hours. As in all the best ticking-clock thrillers, the characters have a limited amount of time to complete their mission, and then that time suddenly gets a lot more limited.

It feels like a missed opportunity not to have the creatures wreaking havoc in the colony itself, considering how expansive and detailed that dingy setting is. But Alien: Romulus delivers the goods as a creepy haunted-house-in-space film with some crafty twists, hold-your-breath suspense and popcorn-dropping scares. Relying on practical rather than digital effects, Álvarez makes the xenomorphs as nightmarish as they ever have been. He is sensible enough to keep them hidden for most of the running time, skilfully building tension with muffled clangs and glimpsed silhouettes, but whenever the monsters do emerge from the shadows, he makes repulsive use of the icky slime and squelchy, birth-related imagery which have become the series' trademarks.

In fact, my main complaint about Alien: Romulus is that the aliens aren't in it enough. Determined to pay loving homage to several of the franchise's previous films, Álvarez can't resist dropping in concepts and plot strands from all over the series, and, among all those, the iconic xenomorphs are slightly under-used. It's also easy to lose track of which characters are still alive, which spacecraft they're in, and what the rules are concerning room temperature and artificial gravity. The stripped-back simplicity of Scott's first Alien film still hasn't been matched by any of its successors, whether or not they're directed by Scott himself.

Alien: Romulus beats most of the competition, though. Bloated by two or three elements too many, it isn't a "perfect organism", to use the phrase coined by Ian Holm's android character in Alien, but it's as close to perfect as any entry in the series since Aliens in 1986.

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