Alien Romulus promised to bring the franchise back to its terrifying roots, and, well… it definitely brought something back. The latest installment feels like the Alien you remember—but only if your memory is as fuzzy as a VHS tape left in your RCA TV-VCR combo that’s been gathering dust in the attic since 1996.
The first two Alien films are two of my all time favorites, I even liked the much maligned Alien 3, Resurrection should have been left buried, Prometheus had some quality moments and Covenant was, well, straight-up dreadful. And yet the scrappy little franchise refuses to give up and like a wounded lover hoping that it won’t let me down again, I keep coming back to give every new film a chance just because I love the IP so much. So while Alien: Romulus is a return to the classic Alien formula, it doesn’t do anything new to push that formula in a different direction. It doesn’t fail as hard as the previous films did and is a competent film overall. But enough of preamble, let’s dive deeper into what did and didn’t work for Alien: Romulus.
Story: Same As It Ever Was
Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, Romulus is fan service at it’s best, and worst. From the moment these misfit “space marines” (aka morons) set out of search the derelict spacecraft to nab its cryotubes, you know you’re in for a wild ride where absolutely nothing could go wrong (spoiler: everything goes wrong). This crew of angsty teens who look like they just graduated high school, ignore all safety protocols and soon find themselves stumbling into a hive of facehuggers. And we all know what happens when the huggers appear: their future brother and sister Xenomorphs aren’t far behind, ready to eat your face off.
Director Fede Álvarez seemed to think the only way to make this film is to use literally every iconic shot from the first two films, with a few from Alien 3 sprinkled in for good measure. While it was nice to see, it’s lazy filmmaking that hinges too much on viewers nostalgia. What about all the newbies that’s never seen any Alien film? All these “homages” will be totally lost on them. I did appreciate it at first, but I soon got sick of it after about 10 minutes with my brain constantly saying “that shot is from Alien, that’s from Aliens, that’s from blah blah…” It all felt shoehorned in and came off more as a distraction to viewers who’ve seen the first two films countless times.
Romulus does have some cool action sequences that I enjoyed, beyond every situation being ripped from a superior moment from Alien/Aliens. One particular sequence involving acid alien blood in zero gravity was rather innovative and felt very much like sequence in a video game like Dead Space. Being a huge gaming nerd I could definitely see lots of video game inspiration throughout the film. Though overall, they played it safe, too safe in my opinion, and basically just remade the earlier films. It could be argued that the hard deviation from the classics could be part of the reason the sequels weren’t received as well. In the end every Alien film is (unfairly) compared to the first two, essentially setting up the entire franchise to fail based on that alone. Babbling aside though, Romulus is solid Alien movie, and an enjoyable movie in general.
Though I do have to take a moment to go on a tangent about this one particular point, because, Romulus has committed to worst sin of all: failing miserably at using their classic quotes. There’s a scene in the last act where the android Andy blows a Xeno’s head off with a machine gun, then precedes to say the iconic Ripley quote from Aliens: “Get away from her you bitch!” and oh my GOD does it fail hard. Quote recycling is an unfortunate trope in sequel/prequel films, and they never come close to the impact of hearing classics like “I’ll be back” or “Stay frosty” for the first time. Canonically, it doesn’t even make sense for Andy to say that considering this takes place before the 1986 film. Plus why would an Android, even after the personality upgrade, say anything like that? It was the most contrived moment in the entire film and it fell flatter than a Xeno’s head getting crushed under an armored personnel carrier.
Cast: The Usual Suspects
I can see the film executive meeting now: timid female protagonist that eventually turns badass? Check. Android that doesn’t seem to know what side they’re on? Check. Annoying frantic character that you know will die the second they’re seen on screen? Check. The cast of Romulus is about as boringly basic as you can get with the classic archetypes, with the “highlight” being the new protagonist Rain Carradine. Imagine the 1979 Ripley, but with no personality at all and seems to have only been hired because she’s cute, thus unassuming.
Then we have Andy, the “brilliantly” named android companion to Rain, who ended up being the most interesting character in the film after receiving a personality upgrade to become actually useful. The rest of the cast ticks off every requirement for films these days: Tylor, the overconfident dude that they really want you to like but he just doesn’t pull it off. His buddy Bjorn who’s just a dick to everyone for no reason and you’re relieved when he dies. Then Navarro, the token bald Asian non-binary/lesbian with an attitude, because every film has to have one of those now. Lastly there’s the pregnant princess Kay, who you know is going to get killed in some awful way the second you meet her.
The main issue with the cast is none of these characters are likable at all. Rain, played competently by Cailee Spaeny, who is somewhat likable, mainly because the actress has one of those underdog faces that makes you want to root for her regardless. Of course she lives in the end, but they never gave us to a reason to like or care about the other characters at all, so found them very annoying and, frankly, couldn’t wait for them to die.
Visuals: In With Old
Director Fede Alvarez and his visual effects team recreated a lot of the designs in the original films by expertly combining advanced CGI with innovative practical techniques to create chillingly lifelike xenomorphs. The VFX work drew on the expertise of studios like Legacy Effects, Tippett Studio, and Wētā FX, which collaborated to fuse animatronics, puppetry, and digital technology. This blend brought both intensity and authenticity to the screen, delivering a viewing experience that captured the visceral horror and complexity of the xenomorphs, who’s new design harkens back to the 1979 style, but with some, what I feel are unnecessary, tweaks. To that I say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Every Alien film has a slightly different version of the Xeno, but I always felt that was pointless considering we hardly ever get a good look at them, which is part of what makes them so terrifying. And to that point, there were a little too many close ups, as if the creators wanted to show it off their amazing work. Less is always more when it comes to eliciting scares from the audience. Up close the animatronic work made the Xeno look robotic, and their rubbery white colored jowls took away from their realism.
A Xeno redesign should be for practical reasons as they can adapt to any environment, though I found these versions were too “sexy” to be scary. Their faces were altered to almost be attractive, complete with chiseled jaws and bad attitude. The most shocking moment isn’t the second constant face hugger attacks, but the eventual revelation that Romulus somehow made the xenomorphs relatable? I was rooting for them by the end because, in reality, they’re just protecting their territory, and the characters sucked so much I didn’t care they died (did I mention the characters suck?).
Conclusion:
Alien Romulus delivers on all fronts: action, horror, some, mostly unintentional comedy and a rollercoaster of questionable decisions. If you love the franchise, you’ll either laugh, cry, hurl (Wayne’s World)… or all of the above, preferably in that order.
Rating: 3.5/5. Alien Romulus feels more like a remake of the original films starring the cast of Saved By The Bell. It does have some exciting moments, but lacks anything original. Recommended for a movie night with friends, some drinks, snacks and lots of Mystery Science Theater-like commentary.
Keep writing,
Tim
aucoinink.com
