There’s a scene in Alien: Romulus where a young woman is being terrorized by a blood thirsty Facehugger. The moment is accompanied by a hypnotic tune matching the iconic Alien theme, the sound effects that date all the way back to the first Alien trailer. It’s arguably louder, faster, and more intense than you’ve ever heard it, and that is emblematic of the project as a whole. Alien: Romulus is, as George Lucas once described The Force Awakens, a retro movie. A film that is celebratory of everything that has made the Alien franchise a pop culture mainstay, but one whose depth is very much skin deep, offering plenty of thrills but lacking in thoughts.
The movie begins with ominous foreshadowing before we’re introduced to Rain (Cailee Spaeny), a lowly grunt worker for a mining colony. She gets screwed over by her superiors, forcing her into a dilemma that could be potentially solved by joining up with an eclectic group of outsiders, who have plans to raid an abandoned spacecraft in hopes of making it to the planet Yvaga, and possible freedom. Doesn’t take a genius to see what trouble they might find in this plan, but it also acts as a reference to the plot for one of director Fede Álvarez’s other features, Don’t Breathe (2016). What’s novel about this setup is how it acts in contrast with the typical setup for most of the other Alien films. Usually, we’re following seasoned professionals who have direct contact with Weyland Yutani, the shady corporation that is often the foil in these movies. However, Rain and company are somewhat removed from that access – they remain cogs in the wheel, but they’re much lower on the totem pole, hence why they have to steal their means for travel in the first place.
Álvarez’s typical blend of reimaging classic elements is starting to take the form of a playbook. He directed the remake of Evil Dead (2013) to grisly results, taking the material more seriously and introducing more gore and carnage than the franchise had ever seen. Romulus may not be the most violent of the series – that’s a toss-up, but it goes for the throat while being reliant on iconic imagery that has already been established. The goal of these reboots from the Fede Álvarez canon is not necessarily to create wholly new concepts but to give you what you know and enjoy from these movies, just in larger doses. So, instead of a couple of Facehuggers, the characters are forced to run from dozens of them at once. You know androids from the previous installments, so get ready for more android hijinks to transparently spring the plot along. Including one android that uses the likeness of Ash (the late Ian Holm), and the special effect is actually quite hideous, and I disliked when it was on screen.
The Xenomorph, a mutation of arrogant alien experimentation, is photographed as a vicious misanthropic demon, and it looks as gorgeous and terrifying as usual. Ironically, given that Álvarez is the “more is more” guy, the movie is so stuffed that the Xenomorph is the one creature that gets short-changed for screen time. I’d expect that a movie like this – from this filmmaker – would double down on the Xenomorph and give us a whole hive of them. But I guess it would then be treading on Aliens (1986) territory, and you’re going to come up short in that comparison.
The production design is quite excellent, and exemplifies how influential the Alien films were. As much as the photorealism in Romulus seems reminiscent of titles from Denis Villeneuve, you also have to remember that Villeneuve and filmmakers like him are heavily inspired by Alien itself. So it comes full circle, but not always in organic ways. While the cinematography and effects are superbly rendered, the script itself often becomes too preoccupied with signaling to the past. Including a 3rd act one liner that’s essentially a shameless callback, and the line reading isn’t even good, to top it off.
If anything, Romulus is too weighed down by Easter eggs and references, but it’s at its best when forging new ground with these current characters. The movie very much feels like what if Alien was turned into an anime on Toonami, and that’s going to be a flavor that works for you or it doesn’t. I think it’s an aesthetic and vibe that gives the movie character beyond just being a hollow pastiche of previous works. It’s that identity as a pastiche that I believe limits the movie’s ambitions, but the film’s floor is that of still offering an abundance of frightful images, unnerving sequences, and explosive action scenes. The characters are likable enough, even if the script isn’t giving them much depth – the extent of the acting activity is a test of how fucking stressed out each actor can make themselves appear, moreso than anything particularly weighty or moving happening within their character.
However, the film does attempt to establish a strong relationship between Rain and her adopted android sibling Andy (David Jonsson). While this tandem sometimes borders too closely to a “Rain Man” dynamic, the actors make the chemistry and the idea that they care for each other work, for the most part. It’s not surprising that Spaeny, who’s rapidly rising in Hollywood, carries so much of the workload of the film, including having the coolest action moments in the film. It’s probably the most anime thing you can see in live action, having this tiny woman carry a machine gun that looks big enough to take down a kaiju.
Yet, while Romulus does a good cosplay of the best alien films, including some of the relationship dynamics, what’s missing and what’s apparently difficult is to make things personal between the characters and the Xenomorph. The ingredients are there to establish that conflict, but the film juggles so many ideas and Easter eggs than it can be hard to keep focus, including a controversial 3rd act that takes the movie in a wild direction. But ultimately, as far as Alien films go, Romulus is firmly in the middle of the pack. It is not as risky and frankly stupid as the franchise’s lowest entries and not as inventive or emotionally resonant as the franchise’s best. It’s comfort food, entertaining comfort food, although you’d hope it would wish to be more.
