Movie Review Shocking Alien Romulus

When Ridley Scott released “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” the primary criticism directed towards them was that they fell short of the sci-fi thrills found in “Alien” and “Aliens,” two of the greatest movies ever made. Fede Alvarez’s “Alien: Romulus,” which features so many references to the entire series—including Fincher’s “Alien 3” and William Gibson’s unproduced script for that movie, as well as the prequels—that at times they feel like extra weight on this spaceship—will satisfy anyone who dislikes those films for having too much philosophy and not enough acidic alien spit. Fortunately, Alvarez’s command of timing and setting, together with his evident passion for this series, manage to keep “Romulus” afloat. It’s seductive, slimy, and entertaining. Additionally, it lacks the ambition of other of the critically acclaimed films in this series. Everything is beyond our reach.

It’s evident that Alvarez is returning to the fundamentals of Scott’s debut picture, which is a positive development. The crew of interplanetary blue-collar laborers is reintroduced to us, this time under the direction of a heroine who we know will have to discover hidden reserves of bravery inside herself. Here, the character is Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny from “Civil War”), a woman who finds out that she has spent enough time in a mine on a planet that never receives sunlight, only to discover that the rules have changed and she won’t be able to leave it for over ten more years. As she and her pals lament her dead future, she learns that they are planning to invade a space station they have found drifting above Earth. Embark on the journey, get the necessary cryopods, and awaken in a different galaxy. What might go incorrectly? It’s a question that Weyland-Yutani consistently answers poorly.

Rain is accompanied closely on this journey by Andy (David Jonsson of “Rye Lane”), a synthetic whose goal is to treat Rain like a brother, and she treats him in return with equal affection. Andy’s decisions, which should be driven by programming rather than human emotion, become some of the most intriguing in the movie. This is consistent with the trend of using androids to pose some of the most difficult moral problems in the “Alien” films. Without giving anything away, Andy’s goal shifts when the crew arrives at the space station and realizes they’re not alone. The other tourists who will discover what a Facehugger is the hard way are portrayed by Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu.

“Romulus” has an almost wonderfully simple premise, forgoing the intricate storylines of the prequels. Five humans and a synthetic find themselves on a space station that is home to some incredibly effective killing machines, and they must battle to get off. That is all there is to it. World-building and set pieces are the main focus for Alvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues because of the limited plot. Some of the greatest production design in a successful science fiction film in a very long time, created by Naaman Marshall (who worked on “The Dark Knight” and “The Prestige”), can be found in this film. Much like in the original, it seems as though the area these folks are in has been lived in—and died in—before rather than being a sterile set. In a movie like this, it’s difficult to emphasize how important that is. People in danger might make us feel as though their situation is genuine when we believe they are in actual, three-dimensional locations with distinct histories. On Romulus and Remus, the two sections of the space station where nearly all of this movie is situated, Alvarez and his crew have built a fantastic environment. Although it isn’t nearly as masterfully cramped as the first movie, it’s still quite good, and it shows how much Alvarez knows about why the first movie is still regarded as a classic.

He is skilled at setting up a sequence as well. It’s difficult to choose a favorite moment in this movie—the elevator sequence, the corridor run with an army of Facehuggers, or the ridiculous ending scenes, which are probably going to be the most controversial. (I wish the movie had included more of those kinds of dramatic turns before the last fifteen minutes.) In my opinion, the “crazy twist,” without giving anything away, fits in with the tradition of a series that has always included body horror themes. Cinematographer Galo Olivares pays homage to previous imagery from this series while also giving the film a sweaty, dark, and ominous visual palette of its own. Editor Jake Roberts (“Hell or High Water”) does amazing work here as well, knowing just how to cut this film to increase suspense.

Whether it’s Michael Fassbender or Sigourney Weaver, performance has always been a key component of this series, and Spaeny and Jonsson deliver excellent performances. Rain’s fear is subtly conveyed to us by the “Priscilla” star, who takes a very physical turn. Her portrayal of Rain, who has always been compelled to “get the job done,” is devoid of any histrionics; instead, she plays Rain as someone who will do it now. People will almost definitely react to Jonsson’s outstanding performance, even though Spaeny’s effort is probably underappreciated. Jonsson is an actor who knows how to use his expressive face to its fullest potential. Once more, Jonsson excels at every step in Andy’s path, which is possibly the most noteworthy of them all.

With all of these fantastic “Romulus” puzzle pieces, it’s unfortunate that Alvarez and crew felt compelled to frequently revert to fan service with phrases and easter eggs that seem unduly contrived for our contemporary referential culture. I won’t give away any major plot points, but there is one huge error involving the first movie that will almost definitely be made fun of on social media by the end of the weekend: some clumsy CGI that appears to be more artificial intelligence than real. It’s startling to see a major portion of a movie that is so obviously animated in a movie that so obviously prioritizes actual effects. This isn’t justified in any way. Instead of using so much CGI shine to make the character look like something out of a Robert Zemeckis mo-cap film, the character should have been rendered differently, or at the very least as an animatronic.

Aliens 1 is infamous for being a haunted home film set in space. It’s a single spot where there’s an alien rather than a ghost. When it works at its best, “Alien: Romulus” recognizes this and tries to duplicate every component of this tried-and-true recipe. Like the characters in a haunted house or on a spaceship, we want to feel imprisoned and wonder how they may ever escape a more intense nightmare that is consuming their every minute. And we do throughout the most of the movie. Since it has such excellent production value and is so stylistically tied to earlier movies, I believe that the obvious references just serve to exacerbate the blatantly annoying similarities. It need not be a “Alien” film—perhaps even the one that fans have been waiting for for nearly forty years.