Alien Romulus hit the big screens and from what I hear it’s getting some rave reviews. I haven’t read these rave reviews, because I’m largely an ignoramus who prefers to write opinionated pieces to assuage my own ego, but I have opinions and I’m laying them out regardless.
Alien Romulus: Fade Alverez
Director Fade Alverez inserts some well-needed horror back into the alien franchise. With a modest but solid filmography, Alverez delivers a tight script of focused story-telling and rounded characters with clear motivations and values that each come full circle. There’s blue mist, mesh girded elevators, iris door air ducts, explosions and pulse rifles with percentage count-downs, a race against the clock for survival and a non-stop hunt, everything a great alien film should have. What’s more, the story itself also introduces a few elements that were once background curiosities in the alien universe. Such as…
“Hey, how does a Xenomorph change from a little chest-burster to a full-size monster? What does that look like?” And, “hey what’s the deal with the gravity in these alien films anyway? It’s almost never mentioned but that’s a big deal, is it like Star Trek with the gravity plates? What gives?”
Well, not only are these questions fielded, but they’re handled in a way that’s relevant to the story, rather than just a fan-service cursory mention. (This is a sign of a competent writing team and a director with a consistent vision for their work. I consider that an absolute win.)
The Alien Romulus Cast
A few times, I had some ‘oh that’s the actor from…’ moments, especially if you know Cailee Speany. (I’m a fan of The Last of Us games, so that’s where the penny eventually dropped for me.) They are a small, but diverse group. Much like the original Alien film, this team work together, adding to the tension and investing the audience in their wellbeing.
Cailee Speany plays a character called Rain Carradine, an orphan whose parents died from working to death on the Wayland Yutani mining planet in the Jackson Star system. She fears she is set to suffer the same fate when the company decide she must work another 3 years. Her brother is Andy, played incredibly by David Jonsson, a company labour android discovered in the scrap by Rain’s father. Andy was programmed with one simple objective, to do what’s best for Rain.
Andy the Android
I thought Andy’s character was the more interesting of the two. Sometimes, he tells Rain puns and jokes to help her through her day, but as far as androids go, he is slightly defective and infantile. Before the crew make their daring venture to steal cryogenic units from a high-orbit science station, Rain cares for Andy almost like a child.
As the story progresses, however, we learn that Rain is considering escaping the planet and abandoning Andy because androids are illegal at their planned destination. But when the team are trapped in a cryonic lab on Romulus station, they slip Andy an update module stolen from a damaged science-officer android and install it into Andy. With the update installed, Andy is able to lift the lock-down and escape the cryonic room as face huggers attack.
The update makes significant changes to Andy’s personality, but also to his Priority One directive. No longer is he doing what is in the best interest for Rain, Andy now serves The Company. He goes from a passive character along for the ride, to a active character directing their survival and mastering his own…abilities. (How I wanted to say freedom.) It’s an amazing touch that works so brilliantly, and adds a darker motivation to the character’s dynamic.
Some Fan-Service Mentions
There is some controversy in this film, and if you’ve seen it, you know what’s coming. The appearance of the damaged science-officer android, Rook, is the same model as Ash from the first alien film. When he speaks, we hear the actor Ian Holmes, posthumously reprising his role as the deranged synthetic through the magic of CGI. (The actor performing the role is Daniel Betts, but Ian Holmes is credited for the voice and face references.) While not in itself totally terrible, I did hear that Ian Holmes’s family were consulted first, his presence in the film is surprisingly lengthy.
This is a common complaint I registered with friends and comments on various forums – personally though, I think it sort of works. Sure it’s a bit overdone, but his presence serves a purpose narratively, so for me that works.
Get away from her you…bitch?
So, the set-up is consistent with the character Andy. He gets bullied by a synth-hater who doesn’t trust him. This character is Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and he calls Andy a bitch on a few occasions. It comes full circle near the end when Andy, after having his update removed again and is Priority One restored, decides to drop down an elevator shaft to save Rain from an alien. As he falls, he guns for the Xenomorph holding Rain hostage, and blows it to pieces. Standing over the melting corpse he delivers the classic line: “Get away from her…you…bitch.” And…erm…I didn’t like it. It felt ham-fisted and unnecessary. I understand the rationale, but here’s what’s missing.
When Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) delivers this line for the first time in 1986 Aliens, it lands. Why? Because she’s just jumped into a fucking power-loader mech suit, opened a massive armoured door and taken 8 dramatic steps towards an Alien Queen to protect her adopted daughter. It’s exciting, it’s a real ‘Fuckin’ey’ moment. It freaking rocks! So no, I didn’t love it in Romulus. Andy is not a power loader, he is seeking his autonomy, it was enough to do what he did. I’d have preferred him to say one of his jokes, to be honest. Something like:
“Dad once told me never to point a gun unless I planned to use it. I always thought that was a bit overkill.”
or…
“Hey Rain, What do you call a gun that shoots salt? A-salt rifle.”
You know…something within Andy’s character.
Face Snoggers
Yeah – those spidery bastards are a constant presence in this film. Usually, in the alien films, they’re in it for a bit, somebody gets a facial, then it goes away. What Alverez instead brings these creepy bastards along for the ride. It’s not that I don’t like this, it is just creepy. Usually, a character gets hugged in rapid succession – everyone is waiting for the thing to let go, then there’s an explosive surprise. But Alverez spares us no detail here. These slippery face-pests are all over the characters, in the mouth, down the throat, smooching and slathering – it made me squirm, I’ll admit it.
This all goes right back into all the sexual tropes that made the first film work so well and ramps up the excess. The alien cocoon looks like a wall vagina, the alien head has always looked phallic, and the end scene involves an unnatural birth to a giant hybrid monster creepy beyond words.
I guess its like Freddy Kruger’s ten-foot tall grinning manakin offspring. It’s terrifying in all the right ways and from what I hear Disney wanted to axe it. Thank grief Alverez was able to salvage this insane ending.
My Impression & Conclusion
Alien Romulus is such a fun film. It hit all the aesthetic points and played with many classic scenes we know from the first films. It left us some easter eggs (like Ripley’s hook lodged into the body of the dead Xenomorph hanging in the science rooms from when Ripley blasted it from the Nostromo in the first film.) And it bridged the story between the two most iconic movies while managing to salvage the stuffy, pompous, Prometheus shitshow that came before.
The alien franchise has been walking on zombie feet for some time now. It’s left its fans deflated – not because people are just cynical now and weary of nostalgia bait. I mean, maybe that last part is the case. But I don’t think it’s cynicism. There is a thirst for a story that is told from a good angle with a strong and consistent tone. Alien has been lacking in strong, consistent tone ever since Resurrection. I mean, what the hell even was Alien vs Predator? That’s mostly a hacky comedy, I can’t even believe it exists. Alverez didn’t just pick up the story after Prometheus, he resuscitated the tension and horror and nastiness of the alien and its environment and the cast were amazing in living up to the vision.
If you like aliens, you’ll like this film. It plays all the beats and gives it a touch of goth metal. I won’t rate it, you can’t make me! I won’t do that to films or myself. This was a great experience.
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