Movie Review - Alien: Romulus

August 27, 2024

By Bessy ADUT

This weekend I had a chance to see Alien: Romulus. I have been a fan of Alien ever since I was a kid and I followed the sequels. Admittedly, the original is the best one of the series and I really love this meme:

Before I get into the movie analysis, I have a few words to say in terms of sequels and franchise movies in general; some may agree or respectfully disagree with me:

It’s a hilarious read really however that is my personal favorite. This science fiction/horror film was directed by Ridley Scott who is well known with Blade Runner. At the time, it was a very original movie. The screenplay was like nothing out there. However, it’s hard to say the same thing for the following series. That is the problem with sequels when a movie becomes a franchise. It starts to lack originality and repeat itself. I appreciate a sequel that honors the previous ones and stays loyal to the original, however, what I really would like to see would be a brand-new concept and movie. We keep seeing the same monsters that were created over and over again. I believe it’s time for the audience to see something fresh and original. Otherwise, I am sorry to say, with all due respect, that these kinds of movies will be easily written by Ai. Just looking at previous movies, putting it together as a new collage is something artificial intelligence can manage to do. I am not sure if they are at capacity to create something from scratch though. That’s why I would like to encourage all the writers out there to push their selves to create more original, new content.

That being said, sequels are of course loved by producers and distributors because they already have a set fan base, and they know they are going to get their money’s worth and investment’s return. The old audiences will come to theaters for nostalgia and the new audience will come to see what this fuss of the older generation was about, out of their curiosity. I believe however producers should take risks for new movies. When Lucas came up with Star Wars back in the day, it was an original movie. We need more of those.

Now back to the Alien: Romulus...

This latest sequel of Alien is the 9th installment of the Alien franchise! Yes, since the original Alien (1979), 8 more of them have been made. The film was directed by Fede Álvarez, who is a young director with a few more horror movies under his belt -Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead- and co-written by Rodo Sayagues. They worked together as a creative team before too.

There is a lot of young new talent in the movie, starring Cailee Spaeny who did a wonderful performance as a newcomer, David Jonsson (alma matter RADA), a great job playing an android, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu all were a great cast ensemble. We follow them on screen as these young space colonists pursue better life conditions, they encounter hostile creatures while hunting an abandoned space station.

The movie is doing well so far. It received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $129 million worldwide.

SPOILER ALERT:

This is where I am going to talk about the narrative and what happens in the story so before reading my comments any further I recommend watching the movie first. :)

We are introduced to Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) in a dystopic world, working with her adoptive brother Andy (David Jonsson) who is a reprogrammed synthetic human which is an android. It seems like Rain has done her duties and the time comes for her release, however, she is denied her freedom and her contract is forcibly extended by Weyland-Yutani. We immediately root for her. Her ex-boyfriend Tyler convinces her to join them in their escape plan. They plan on stealing a spaceship and getting out of there for a better life.

Their team includes Tyler, his pregnant sister Kay, cousin Bjorn, and Bjorn’s girlfriend Navarro, to escape the planet Yvaga. Andy’s skills in interfacing with the onboard computer system are very important for their mission. Rain is reluctant to accept the call being aware of the risks and consequences but she is convinced.

They fly the hauler Corbelan to the spacecraft, which is revealed to be the Renaissance – a Weyland-Yutani research station divided into parts Romulus and Remus which is a reference to the Roman legend of Romulus and Remus and that’s where the movie's title 'Romulus' comes from.

While they retrieve statis chambers, they accidentally revive frozen facehuggers and trigger a lockdown. Facehuggers were scary and a nice nostalgic touch ode to the previous films. They want to override the lockdown, so Rain installs a chip from a damaged android, Rook, into Andy, which grants him access to the station, however, it also updates his thought processing and general efficiency. That also changes his “prime directive” and makes him loyal to the company, aka, Weyland-Yutani. That is a common problem with robots and androids in science fiction novels and movies. Once the directive changes, there the trouble begins.

From then on one tickling clock story, one after another is ongoing at a fast pace. A lot of ticking clock subplots are entangled into each other within one big plot: the big escape. This time ticking makes adrenalin high and exciting for the young audience. Action scenes follow one another. The special FX being less CGI is impressive as well.

Our group escapes the chamber, a facehugger grabs Navarro. When Rain reactivates Rook, it turns out that the station’s crew was killed by Xenomorph and its clones. A chestburster emerges from Navarro and kills her.

Later on, they encounter more life-threatening dangers on their way. Rain and Tyler manage to go to the bay while they avoid the facehuggers, Kay manages to escape the Corbelan but she is followed by a xenomorph who tries to lure others into a trap, this was a hard scene to watch and makes us dislike Andy for a moment because he refuses to unlock the door. However his intentions are good, he doesn’t want to put Rain and Tyler at risk. We helplessly see Kay getting injured and being dragged away, and then we see them finding the “Prometheus fire” which is worth looking into mythology to find out what that means, which is made to perfect humans. They arm themselves but they are aware not to use them because the blood would cause an explosive decompression which is a great conflict in terms of screenplay terms. It adds to our excitement.

Finally, Rain and Tyler manage to save Kay from the cocoon, however, Tyler gets killed and Andy gets incapacitated. Kay injects herself with the compound as they are on the run.

Rain comes back to the Romulus to remove Andy’s control chip, that way Andy’s loyalty to Rain is restored. They manage to shoot xenomorphs as they keep the blood away from the body. There is always a way around problems. Rain and Andy make their way back to Corbelan right before the station crashes into the rings and destroys Rook. More adrenalin!

Of course, the movie would not end without giving birth to a teeth-grinding alien monster. As soon as this hybrid baby is born, it kills Kay and injures Andy. Rain is able to eject the creature into Jackson’s rings. Rain places Andy into a chamber and does her logging of their hopeful arrival at Yvaga and enters statis herself. And the movie ends with a ‘to be continued’ feel till the next sequel.

A whole lot of action! However, so much action gets overwhelming at times. It is also a story we have seen in many different formats before. However, I would still recommend Alien fans or science fiction/horror fans to see the movie to form their own opinion on it while watching it with some guilty pleasure.

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Movie Review - Alien: Romulus

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