Alien: Romulus Gets the Job Done, But at What Cost?

As someone who has spent countless hours immersed in the rich tapestry of the Alien universe, I can’t help but feel like I’m whispering to the screen, urging the filmmakers to unlock the full potential that lies within these iconic characters and the haunting world they inhabit. Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, while sporadically entertaining, seems to be more of a genre exercise than a passionate love letter to the franchise.

In the movie “Alien: Covenant” (2017), Michael Fassbender’s character David subtly told his counterpart Walter, “There’s greatness within you,” hinting at ambition, intelligence, and sophistication – even cruelty. This is how I felt about “Alien: Romulus,” directed by Fede Álvarez. It was designed to deliver genre excitement and keep the franchise going so that Fox, now owned by Disney, can produce more Alien films. It will indeed achieve its goal, but at what expense?

The movie titled “Romulus” is set following the events of Scott’s initial “Alien” (1979), and it seems to have been influenced by his earlier work, “Blade Runner” (1982). It opens in a gloomy, rainy, overpopulated space mining facility called Jackson’s Star, where we are introduced to the characters of young Rain Carradine (played by Cailee Spaeny) and her adoptive android brother, Andy (David Jonsson). Upon discovering that her mining contract has been cruelly extended by the dominant Weyland-Yutani corporation, Rain decides to travel with her former lover Tyler (Archie Renaux) and his companions to an abandoned space station orbiting above. Their aim is to retrieve some cryo-pods from this derelict station, hoping they can use them to escape to the distant planet of Yvaga, free from Weyland-Yutani’s grasp. However, as it turns out, there was a valid reason for the decommissioning of that space station, and so our adventure begins.

As a movie connoisseur, I must confess that while the film “Romulus” offers several chilling moments of suspense, it grapples with the same predicament that has plagued every Alien movie since James Cameron’s “Aliens” (1986): the challenge of rekindling the awe and terror evoked by the series’ iconic xenomorph, designed by H.R. Giger. The xenomorph – a monstrous amalgamation of tentacles, skeletal structures, teeth, bone, tails, and claws – delved into primal, subconscious fears in viewers, leaving an indelible mark on the horror genre.

Romulus’ job is to provide us with something substantial and substantial, and since it follows the original movie, it appears as if there’s a reset happening. Does it satisfy? The aliens in this one are mostly hollow figures with minimal traces of the uncomfortable brutality from the first film or the swift, multiplying dread of the second. As a fan of tech, Álvarez seems more focused on the xenomorph’s acidic blood, which can effortlessly dissolve spaceships and people with impressive ease.

What works best in the film, and which I wish it featured more of, is the tender bond between Rain and Andy. We’re told that her father found Andy in a trash heap and fixed him, reprogramming him with one directive: to keep Rain safe. Bullied by others, the android talks awkwardly and doesn’t understand the world around him; he makes lousy dad jokes because, well, her dad programmed those, too. This broken cyborg is totally dependent on his human, but the situation is reversed and complicated once they’re in orbit and Andy plugs into the space station’s operating system. But their relationship also gets somewhat lost amid the utilitarian space-horror histrionics of the film’s second half, as everything devolves into screaming, running, and dying, and the film loses its urgency. It all builds to a climax so incoherent that I bonded with total strangers after my public screening as we tried to figure out just what the hell had happened.

In the second part, there’s another element that I can’t avoid mentioning, but it might spoil the surprise for some. (While some critics have been asked to keep this a secret, I’m not convinced it significantly enhances the atmosphere or plot.) Upon reaching the space station, our protagonists encounter a gruesome sight – the jelly-like, bubbly, and slimy remnants of the science officer character Rook. This role is portrayed by Daniel Betts, but his face has been digitally altered to resemble the late Ian Holm, who played Ash in the original film’s Nostromo. Holm passed away four years ago, yet his estate is acknowledged in the movie’s end credits, suggesting that Disney obtained permission for this alteration, though some may still question its suitability.

The focus isn’t mainly on whether digital resurrection of characters like Holm in the movie is acceptable, but rather if it provides any substantial contribution to the film. Firstly, the special effects used to reanimate Holm appear unconvincing, making his presence more of a distraction than an enhancement. With numerous distinct android models already existing within the Alien universe, there seems little reason to resurrect a deceased actor to portray another version of an old model. This appears as raw, unnecessary fan service in a movie that is already heavily saturated with it, even featuring characters quoting lines from both Alien and Aliens. Narratively, Ash was famously revealed as the antagonist in the original film, and having the same actor return as a similar character diminishes any suspense regarding this new character’s intentions. This decision seems questionable on multiple fronts and may ultimately be the only notable aspect of this film. Alien: Romulus is entertaining enough but also forgettable – something I can’t recall saying about any other Alien film, regardless of quality.

2024-08-16 20:53

Alien: Romulus Gets the Job Done, But at What Cost?

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