You don’t need to see the six films in the ‘Alien’ franchise to understand the story but ‘Alien: Romulus’ takes its time to pay tribute to the first four films in the franchise that a quick watch of those films would be a pleasant treat before catching this installment. Directed and written by Fede Alvarez and co-written with Rodo Sayagues, ‘Alien: Romulus’ is a classic creature feature that takes its time to set up the dramatic situation before it starts delivering on its promise of thrills and spills. It makes full use of its science fiction and horror genre to deliver a story that still manages to stay true to the essence of the franchise’s underlying message that capitalism, in the form of the megacorporation known as Weyland-Yutani Corp, is still our biggest threat, even in the face of one of the most terrifying creatures ever created on fiction.
The film follows the story of Rain, played by the versatile Cailee Spaeny, who has transformed after such breakout performance in ‘Civil War’ and ‘Priscilla.’ Rain is trapped in a mining colony, trying to finish off her contract with the corporation so that she can leave and move to a planet where she can actually see the sun. The mining colony is an unforgiving place that has taken the lives of her parents, and she now lives with her “brother,” the busted synthetic Andy, played excellently by David Jonsson. When she discovers that her contract has been extended, she decides to take an offer by an old friend, Tyler (Archie Renaux) to fly to space to hijack an abandoned ship floating in orbit around the planet. The ship contains cryogenic sleep pods that will allow Tyler, Rain, and the rest of their crew to make it to a more hospitable planet several lightyears away.
Everything goes according to plan until they discover that the ship is not just a ship but a space station and that something very bad happened inside leaving the whole crew dead. As they reboot and repower the space station, a vessel so big its partitioned into two areas and called Romulus and Remus, they end up waking the alien lifeforms that the ship has been carrying all this time.
With the alien lifeforms known as xenomorphs now awakened, Tyler, Rain, Andy, and the rest of the crew are now trying to escape with their lives.
Alvarez takes his time to let us get to know the characters: to imply the possibility that Rain and Tyler may have had a relationship before; the reason why Bjorn (Spike Fearn), one of Tyler’s crew, hates synthetics and treats Andy badly; that Tyler’s sister, Kay (Isabela Merced), has a secret of her own; and the nature of the bond between Rain and Andy and why she calls him her brother.
In fact, it is Rain and Andy’s relationship that serves as the heart and soul of the film. The moment the xenomorphs are awakened and are out for the kill, the story becomes one big chase sequence, the crew just trying to survive but what keeps it from becoming just shlock is that Rain and Andy’s relationship turns complex as realizations are discovered in the attempts to survive. This becomes the emotional core of the film and by questioning the humanity of an AI and our ability to empathize with it adds another dimension to the film and widens the scope of the film’s genre.
On the horror side of things, Alvarez knows exactly how to set up a scene, how to use his framing to create tension and fear. He pays wonderful tribute to Ridley Scott’s mise-en-scene in ‘Alien’ with the way he sets up his horror sequences while taking cues from James Cameron’s ‘Aliens’ when the film goes full-on action mode. From David Fincher in ‘Alien 3,’ he manages to adopt the sense of claustrophobia in the setting and the weirdness of Jean-Pierre Jeunet of ‘Alien: Resurrection.’
While managing to pay homage to the films prior, Alvarez goes a little crazy in the last twenty minutes of the film, throwing in the kitchen sink and creating dramatic situations that are so big that they feel somewhat ludicrous already but the steady build up to this was so well-paced that it feels earned. The fact that it gets weird, much like Jeunet’s installment in the franchise, bordering on campy, feels right and not out of place.
‘Alien: Romulus’ is an enjoyable addition to the franchise that truly respects and honors the idea of the xenomorph while staying true to its goal to question the ways by which capitalism, in the form of mega corporations, would choose technology and profit over human lives. That is still embedded in the DNA of this film and I’m all for it. If this film manages to get people to watch the older films in the process, then that’s the added bonus. As a sci-fi horror film, ‘Alien: Romulus’ does the job and then some.
My Rating:
Alien: Romulus is now showing! Check showtimes and buy tickets here.
