Alien: Romulus
Director: Fede Álvarez
Screenwriters: Fede Álvarez, Rodo Sayagues, Dan O’Bannon
Cinematographer: Galo Olivares
Production Companies: Scott Free Productions, Brandywine Productions, TSG Entertainment
Distributors: 20th Century Studios
Release Date: 16 August 2024
Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes
MPA Rating: R
Availability: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
Synopsis
The normally silent vacuum of space is once again filled with the screams of unsuspecting victims who have aliens bursting out of their chests in Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus. Set between the first two films of the Alien franchise, the story focuses on Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), a young woman living on the desolate Weyland-Yutani worker colony Jackson’s Star with her android / adoptee brother Andy (David Jonsson). When the opportunity arises for Rain to join a group of other young adults in high jacking a derelict Weyland-Yutani ship and use it to travel to a better world, she hesitantly agrees. However, things quickly go awry once the crew enters the ship and unleashes the xenomorph horrors that had been lying dormant.
Analysis
Alien: Romulus sets up an intriguing movie during its first act. The film does great setup on the character front: you meet a compelling protagonist in Rain, a both sympathetic and slightly disturbing artificial person in Andy, and what feels like a genuine motley crew of impulsive young adults. It seems like the film will explore multiple interesting themes such as familial bonds, worker exploitation, and interactions between man and machine. Last but not least, the film effectively establishes a suspenseful atmosphere for the derelict Weyland-Yutani ship as well. The ship’s silence is deeply unsettling, and the viewer only tenses up more as the crew slowly investigates the seemingly vessel due to an understanding that the group is already in terrible danger, they just haven’t discovered it yet.
However, once the main section of the plot begins, any potential interesting ideas are discarded in favor of mimicking elements from past Alien films. Bisected android tells the crew key facts about the alien creature, and betrays said crew? Seen in Alien (in fact, the android in this film is a copy of the android from the first film, who was also bisected). Brunette badass goes solo into an alien hive to save someone with whom they have a familial bond, relying on the brief gun tutorial she received earlier from a romantic interest? Aliens had that. Alien sneaks undetected onto said brunette badass’s getaway ship, only to then be killed by the brunette who ejects the creature into space? You can see that in Alien, Aliens, Alien: Resurrection, and Alien: Covenant. When the movie isn’t simply lifting elements from previous Alien scripts, it’s instead presenting amplified versions of previous plot points. You therefore have scenes like droves of face-huggers chasing the crew down a hallway, the female protagonist mowing down wave after wave of aliens with a colonial marine rifle, and an absolutely insane final act that plays as an attempt to give closure to an unresolved plot thread from Prometheus. So, from a story perspective, the movie collapses by taking elements from previous films, exaggerating some of these elements, and trying to make these hobbled-together storylines harmonize with one another. What you’re left with is a montage of Alien’s greatest hits rather than a cohesive narrative.
That’s not to say that there aren’t things to enjoy about the film. For one, it’s incredibly entertaining: there are various great action set pieces that offer a thrilling combination of spectacle and suspense. The film’s use of both visual and practical effects makes the film’s environments feel futuristic yet still grounded (plus a practically-done alien is always a sight for sore eyes). The movie has a surprisingly large amount of heart as well – albeit slightly underdeveloped – in the emotional bond between Rain and Andy, and the viewer can’t help but become invested in their relationship. While I don’t think these elements do enough to save an unruly mess of a plot, they give enough of a reason to watch the film.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Alien: Romulus is basically a blended version of all previous Alien movies, haphazardly wrapped into one feature-length film. The movie may not give longtime fans of the franchise anything new to appreciate, but there’s at least enough there there to justify a watch. I just wish 20th Century Studios would put this franchise to rest at this point. Or more fittingly, eject it into outer space.