The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C+
After the debacle of Alien: Covenant, I had completely written off the Alien franchise and didn’t pay much attention to the development of this latest entry. Despite its longevity, this is a series that has purely lived off the quality of its first two entries for a long, long time. The good news is that Alien: Romulus is, not counting Prometheus, easily the best Alien movie in a couple of decades. The bad news is that that is a pretty low bar. While Romulus is a well made and admirable attempt to return the series to its roots, the script is underwhelming and, much like other recent legacy sequels, frustratingly beholden to nostalgic elements from the franchise’s glory days.
Romulus is set between the events of Alien and Aliens and finally answers a question that absolutely nobody has been asking since 1979: What happened to the original alien after Sigourney Weaver blasted it out of the air lock of the Nostromo? Apparently, it was picked up by a probe and brought to a research ship. Some time later, our gang of lead characters hear of a derelict ship floating through space and see it as an opportunity to loot some equipment and punch a ticket to a better life. Unfortunately, it is the same ship that picked up the original alien and, well, then an Alien movie happens.
Director Fede Álvarez (who made Don’t Breathe and the 2013 Evil Dead) has certainly made a gorgeously designed film. The set designs are damn near perfect, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere and an aesthetic that combines the suitable grunginess of a well-used vessel with the scientific visage of a research facility. The production design admirably looks like something that would exist between the events of Alien and Aliens and the filmmakers clearly took great care in crafting something that makes sense in the continuity of the franchise. The aliens themselves also look fantastic, as the film’s emphasis on practical effects brings the creatures back to their horrifying roots. This is easily the best that the aliens have looked since at least Alien: Resurrection and, thankfully, they no longer look like the ridiculous cartoon characters that they were in Alien: Covenant. This is, first and foremost, a return to pure horror for the franchise and made by people with a clear love for the franchise and the genre.
Too bad the script wasn’t crafted with nearly as much care. One of the greatest strengths of both Alien and Aliens is the quality of the characters. While Ripley gets most of the attention, the supporting characters in both films are well-developed and sympathetic, creating genuine suspense when the threat is introduced. Not so much in Alien: Romulus. Here we have such memorable characters as Main Girl, Other Girl, Asian Other Girl, Android Guy, Angry Guy and, who could forget, Other Guy. Referring to them as two-dimensional characters would be an insult to the second dimension, as they exist purely as obvious cannon fodder. This removes most of the film’s suspense as most of them might as well have a “Kill Me” sign taped to their back. That isn’t a knock on the performances, as lead actress Cailee Spaeny is quite talented; I’m still surprised she didn’t get an Oscar nod for last year’s Priscilla. I’m not as familiar with the rest of the cast, but there isn’t much to judge them on here. The script just doesn’t give them much to work with.
It feels like Fede Álvarez was torn between taking the series in a new direction and delivering the studio’s requirements for a legacy sequel. The setup and structure of Romulus are very similar to the original Alien with lead character Rain serving as our Ripley equivalent. Much of the first two acts are safe reconfigurations of old material, but the formula itself doesn’t bother me that much. But if you are one of my regular readers (and I really appreciate both of you), you will know that I absolutely loathe nostalgia porn and that is where Romulus really lost me in the last act. Entire sequences from Alien are recreated and, most egregiously, the most famous line from the series is repeated and done so in a way that makes absolutely no sense in context. One guy in my theater clapped when the line was said and I wanted to punch that man in the face. Stop applauding things just because they remind you of other things. It’s frigging pathetic and it needs to stop.
On the other hand, the film does have some interesting material when it isn’t trying to recreate moments from other movies. There is a particularly great sequence involving the alien’s acid blood in zero gravity that is one of the most creative scenes in recent memory. The film also takes some wild swings near the end with a new version of the alien that will likely be a divisive point for fans of the franchise, but at least represents an attempt to introduce something new to the lore. Of course, Romulus takes place before Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, so this development can’t really go anywhere. But, still, points for trying something.
I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. The overall look and tone are a return to the series’ roots and there are a few great moments, but those moments are hampered by the script’s emphasis on nostalgia points over character development. If you are looking for a fun, scary trip to the theater, then you could do far worse than Alien: Romulus, but I have little desire to ever watch this again when I could just rewatch Alien and Aliens for the hundredth time instead.
Image by: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien%3A_Romulus#/media/File:Alien_Romulus_2024_(poster).jpg
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