After 7 years since the last installment (Alien: Covenant, 2017) we have now returned to everybody’s favorite slimy space creature with the newest and overall seventh entry in the series, Alien: Romulus. Chronology Romulus takes place in between Ridley Scott’s original (Alien, 1979) and James Cameron’s follow-up (Aliens, 1986), this time at the helm of Fede Alverez (Evil Dead, 2013 & Don’t Breathe, 2016). Here we have another group of space colonists aboard a mysterious spaceship that may just be infested with a deadly species waiting to strike them at any given second. Sound familiar yet? Because it most certainly is, maybe a little bit too familiar.
There is definitely a whole lot to praise about this new entry. First off, let’s just officially establish that Cailee Spaeny is not only stupendous in this movie, but is in all likelihood a near future superstar. A face such as hers should never see unemployment. David Johnson was also a major highlight of this film alongside Spaeny (probably the best written character in the film) and Isabela Merced is quite impeccable. As far as the rest of the cast goes, I personally found them to be very disposable.
Fede Alvarez is without question a very talented director, he has crafted an excellent and stylish entry into this universe. From a technical standpoint, it’s a marvelous achievement. The detailed (and tangible) set design and practical effects are a feast to the eyes. I mean, c’mon with that retro-futuristic technology. So good! It’s really an amalgamation of respect, skill, and love for the art of filmmaking, probably has the best sound design of any other film in the series. The animatronic xenomorph also looks spectacular making the terrifying life form feel real once again!
Alien: Romulus does for ‘Alien’ what ‘Force Awakens’ did for ‘Star Wars’ playing like a compilation album of the series greatest hits. It captures the look and feel of the original films. Which is exactly the problem with this film. It lacks its own individuality. Don’t get me wrong, Fede really does nail the tone and tension that worked in previous films and there are a couple of sequences in here that are quite impressive with a different spin, but this movie feels compelled to overshadow that new spin with very obvious and borderline cringe inducing callbacks and references from other films in this franchise. When Romulus even attempts to create something new (which it almost succeeds at), it immediately steps on itself with more needless fan service. It's only true goal is to see how quickly it can get to another reference drop for the crowd.
Not trying to sound like a total downer here because I believe when I say I was full of hope for this movie, but if anyone expects this film to be as brutal, mean, or vicious as Fede’s Evil Dead movie it would be wise to tamper any of those expectations. Except for a couple gnarly images the majority feels played out too safe and pedestrian. Whether this is all a byproduct of the Disney acquisition or the writer's own insecurities, we’ll never really know, but it’s a sad day when the Alien series turns into the MCU and regurgitates iconic lines then awkwardly pauses for some applause. It’s a movie that’s so focused on being a “love letter” it has no motivation to be interesting itself or establish an identity of its own. Inherently, is this a bad thing? Plenty of films have rehashed previous iterations, yet few have done so with such sinister execution. The digital exhumation in Romulus is not only a constant eye sore (it's appalling how often we see it), but it's also pointless, serving only to make audiences perk up in their chair a bit.
I was really hoping that the Alien franchise would be taking the same route that the Predator franchise is now going into with “Prey”. That movie is the perfect example of going back to the basics of a series while adding something fresh. The anachronism of that movie, the time period, different types of protagonists and never getting bogged down in callbacks and fan service. There are “nods” to some props that are used, but you still feel like you’re watching a real independent story that happened in that universe. So fingers crossed that they try that approach for another installment.
Aside from the bombarded use of fan service and tamed violence for a horror picture there is one MAJOR issue I do have with this, but I cannot go into much depth because it is a massive spoiler. All I will say is that it involves a character that pops up later on and it immediately took me out of the story and just could not lock back in. The audience already knows it’s an Alien movie, you absolutely DID NOT need to have that character play such a major role. If that was going to be the angle, it should have been Michael Fassbender’s David. Even though I found myself eye rolling here and there I didn’t outright loathe this movie, as stated before there is a lot to praise about this. Romulus is also the first Alien movie to capitalize on the innate viciousness of the facehugger which made for some very fun scenes. It has a decent third act (when it finally decides to be its own thing) and Fede is really talented at constructing an atmosphere— even if it feels like a cheap imitation of Cameron and Scott. The great Martin Scorsese once described Marvel films as “theme park rides” and I couldn’t help shake that feeling while watching Romulus. Some great moments that were indeed thrilling, but by the end I felt empty. At least Prometheus and Covenant had something to say and were invested in exploring some interesting ideas about creation and what defines us as human. So anyways Disney, can you now let Sir Ridley Scott make his next and final prequel film already?
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