ALIEN HORROR SUMMER - ALIEN: ROMULUS (2024) MOVIE REVIEW
Fede Alvarez steps into the director’s chair after years looking for the best path forward for the famed horror franchise, at first playing the hits from across the wide ranging horror filmography, but builds to creating something wholly new...and terrifying.
by Nate Lemann
The “Alien” franchise has been a bit lost this new century. Following the end of Sigourney Weaver’s run as Ripley (or as a clone of her) in “Alien: Resurrection”, the question became what to do with the valuable horror property. At first, an attempted crossover with the other Fox property “Predator” yielded mixed to awful results. After it became clear “Predator” was going in their own direction with “Predators” in 2010, Ridley Scott made his triumphant return to the franchise that put him on the map all those years ago. However, his first two chapters in the planned “David” trilogy were not the barnstorming blockbusters they were hoping for (though are far better films than initial reception painted them as, with “Covenant” really a forgotten masterpiece). Following the last film in 2017, Fox and eventually Disney put the brakes on further projects, looking for the right path forward for the valuable property. Neill Blomkamp was attached for a point with a project that would've brought back Weaver, but that fizzled. Popular video games caused speculation of loose film adaptations of the gaming stories. Noah Hawley of “Fargo” TV show fame is still moving forward with a more contemporary, Earth-set story that should be arriving next year on FX. But this franchise needed a new cinematic interpretation and a fresh voice to carry the torch for Scott:
Enter Fede Alvarez: the Uruguayan director of 2013’s “Evil Dead” and 2016's “Don’t Breathe” had built up a reputation as a really tactile and visceral horror director, knowing how to build elaborate and practical set pieces that this franchise felt like a needed return to. Under the blessing and guidance of Scott as a producer, Alvarez has crafted a love letter to the two original films but surprisingly has some nods to the less heralded entries of the franchise.
This story picks up on the mining colony of Jackson’s Star, a Weyland-Yutani outpost that is almost like the prison planet from "Alien3": the harsh conditions on the world are killing off miners at rapid clips and the price/hours needed to get off world keeps going up. We meet Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her “brother” Andy (David Jonsson), a repurposed, malfunctioning synthetic whose only directive is to do what is best for Rain. Rain is contacted by former flame Tyler (Archie Renaux) and his band of space pirates: his sweet sister Kay (Isabela Merced), his synthetic-hating cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and his badass pilot girlfriend Navarro (Aileen Wu). They intercepted a reading that derelict company space station will crash into the planet's asteroid belt in 36 hours; if they can use Andy’s synthetic clearance to enter and steal some cyro-pods and fuel, they can make the nine-year trek to the promised world of Yvaga.
MILD SPOILERS FROM HERE ON
Once they reach the derelict station, they find that it is a science outpost with duel stations called Romulus and Remus (after the ancient Roman legend of the founding of the empire). It is completely empty but they find enough cryo-pods, but need to go searching for enough fuel for the long journey. They enter into a slightly submerged room and steal some canisters of cryo-fuel…though the fuel was needed to keep certain facehugger specimens in cryo-stasis. The early scenes as the crew is hunted in the water by these creatures is unbearably tense. Suffice it to say, not everyone gets out without getting a bug to the face.
Not to spoil much further, the rest of the film becomes about getting off the station as soon as possible, not only to avoid the typical alien mayhem but also because the station’s trajectory to impact the asteroid belt has been accelerated to an hour. They need to get off quick. Alvarez’s story really becomes a mix of “Alien” in the more intimate horror but does get moments for more of the bombast of sequel “Aliens” as well (a zero-G sequence in the back half was one of the real highlights). The film does the odd thing of bringing back an old character from the franchise (to mild success in my opinion), showing the work the station was doing before things went horribly wrong (it turns out they secured the specimen that Ripley jettisoned out of the airlock in the first movie; and it wasn't all that dead...). In those moments, the film gets more into Scott’s David trilogy mythos and in my opinion, really nails the heady ideas of those prequels with the survivalist carnage of the first two films. It finally feels like we have a good understanding of what purpose the Company wanted to use the Aliens for (not what you will expect).
The young cast is very good in this. Spaeny is becoming a star and while this isn’t the showiest role for the young ingenue, she does get to show off her blockbuster action bonafides here. Merced is the other real human standout, going through some literal hellishly wicked torture but with a real survivor strength. Jonsson is the standout (as the synthetics in these movies typically get to be). He plays Andy as a bumbling sweetheart, a real innocent who has some tragic news coming his way about their planned journey. He also gets a great turn when he gets upgraded to help better fight this new threat. It’s almost like he got to the play the duel Fassbender role from "Covenant" in one body. Really inspired work from the rising young actor.
The special effects in this film are out of this world: reason being is everything is mostly practical. The sets are amazing, harkening back to those retro-futuristic designs from the first two films. The creatures for the most part look practical and it really shows on screen how tactile and intense filming must’ve been. The ship sequences are also real works of beauty. Alvarez updates the tone and lighting feel and to great effect. Scott, who is still a producer here, should be proud of their choice of succession.
The two points of main controversy are the aforementioned cameo role and the final third. On the former, I would say I am mixed if it worked or if it was necessary for the story, feeling a bit craven in its execution, though mileage on that may vary (important to note based on an interview with Alvarez that permission from the estate was given and this inclusion appeared to be something the late actor would've wanted to do if the opportunity was presented to them). On the latter, I think Alvarez hit a home run in the final act, creating something wholly new and utterly terrifying. It will mess with you in very fun and exciting ways. It even feels like the mix between heady themes from the prequels and the visceral carnage of the early films that Scott was going for with his 2010s entries. I for one immensely enjoyed the swing for the fences and think that level of risk-taking is sorely missed in mainstream blockbusters. It must be remembered that this franchise was built on taking big risks, with the original film's chestburster scene being one of the most controversial movie moments at the time but something that was stood up to the test of time. If you've seen "Don't Breathe", you know Alvarez knows how to push the boundaries on what is safe and what is daring, and he's done so again in this spectacular climax (for eagle-eyed fans, there is a haunting shot from the ending that is beautifully foreshadowed when you observe some of the classical artwork adorning the space station).
Is this better than "Alien"? No, but that film is as close to perfect as it gets. Alvarez wisely honors what came before but finds a new way to evolve the franchise and introduce new concepts for young filmmakers to play with, the way the originals inspired Alvarez to create his own story.
Lastly, I think Disney, for all their faults and controversy, has really done right by some of these legacy Sci-Fi properties from this film to the new "Apes" movie to 2022's "Prey". Let's hope they continue to do right by these properties for many years to come.
ALIEN SUMMER RANKING: We will be preapring a wrap up article on "Alien Horror Summer" and will show where this film now falls in the rankings, as well as some much overdue awards for this great genre of filmmaking. Stay tuned for that later this week...
FINAL RANKING: 4.5/5 Stars (Propulsive sci-fi thriller that pays homage to what came before while blazing its own new path)
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