by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $14.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu
Intro:
… when it’s allowed to be its own beast, it’s taut, tense and gorgeous to behold.
There are a lot of film franchises that seem to exist solely to recapture the glory of their early entries. The Terminator films, Ghostbusters, Star Wars and – yes – the Alien movies. Arguably, the series peaked in 1979 with Ridley Scott’s Alien, but there are also plenty who rate James Cameron’s more action packed 1986 entry, Aliens. Since then, however, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. David Fincher’s stylish 1992 entry Alien 3 was visually interesting but messy and inconsistent. 1997’s Alien Resurrection was more quintessentially ‘90s than a metal band with a DJ, and the less said about the two Alien vs. Predator films (2004 and 2007 respectively) the better. Ridley Scott himself returned in 2012 with the divisive but ambitious Prometheus and then followed that up with the ungainly but gory Alien: Covenant in 2017.
None of them came close to those first two films.
The latest attempt to recapture the magic comes in the form of Alien: Romulus, from director Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead (2013), Don’t Breathe). Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, Romulus is the story of Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) and her quasi brother, synthetic person, Andy (David Jonsson). Rain desperately wants to escape the sunless hellscape of her homeworld, a grim place that seems designed to grind its population down in the mines, squeezing every ounce of life and hope out of them. This need to flee is why she listens to the pitch of her mate, Tyler (Archie Renaux), who has a harebrained scheme to scavenge some cryo beds from a derelict space station. Seizing the chance to escape her oppressive existence, Rain agrees, and a group of young people embark on a mission that will change everything but possibly not in the ways they hope.
There’s a lot to like about Alien: Romulus. The setting and worldbuilding in the first half an hour or so is vivid and effective, showcasing a believable and grim dystopia. Cailee Spaeny is a likable lead and David Jonsson gives a fascinating performance as a synthetic who learns much over the 119 minute runtime. Fede Álvarez’s direction also brings the series firmly back into survival horror territory, with an aesthetic that will remind gamers in the know of the excellent Alien: Isolation from developers Creative Assembly. Also, once the shenanigans truly kick off, the action is vivid, fast paced and brutal.
Unfortunately, Alien: Romulus also does a couple of things extremely wrong. The most egregious of these is to bring back Ian Holm’s sociopathic synthetic, Rook, or at least another version of him. Those of you with sharp memories may remember that Mr. Holm is, in fact, a deceased person, so his inclusion smacks both of nostalgia bait and deeply uncomfortable disrespect for the dead. However, even if you ignore the moral objections to Holm’s inclusion, his physical presence on screen is so dodgy looking, unconvincing and steeped in uncanny valley weirdness, it will throw off all but the most forgiving of audience members. Just cast a new actor as a synthetic, you artless ghouls! This and a few jarring nods and callbacks make Romulus feel weirdly beholden to the franchise, when it’s absolutely at its best when it does its own thing.
The other problem is the script which, in the third act particularly, has a bunch of characters do stunningly stupid and/or unmotivated things and turns the action into something more akin to Alien Resurrection than the original Alien. It’s not bad per se, just a little jarring considering the much more deliberate pace and building of tension that had occurred previously.
Alien: Romulus isn’t a perfect organism. The script has issues and the heavy-handed inclusion of connective tissue to older entries flat out sucks. However, when it’s allowed to be its own beast, it’s taut, tense and gorgeous to behold. Those who want their Alien flicks to lean into horror will be eating well and there’s more than enough to recommend it, even while lamenting those missteps that prevent it from achieving unqualified greatness.
