With: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu
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Written by: Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues
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Directed by: Fede Alvarez
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MPAA Rating: R for bloody violent content and language
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Running Time: 119
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Date: 08/16/2024
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Space Scuttle
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
After a couple of science-fictiony entries full of big ideas, the long-running Alien franchise now returns to pure horror with Fede Alvarez's ruthlessly gripping, brutally intense, and refreshingly simple Alien: Romulus.
Rain (Cailee Spaeny) and her "brother," synthetic being Andy (David Jonsson), live and work in a mining colony, vainly hoping to rack up enough hours to earn their freedom. They are approached by Tyler (Archie Renaux) and his crew, Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Navarro (Aileen Wu), with a proposition.
They have discovered a decommissioned ship drifting above the planet, with cryo-pods in it. If they can steal them, they will be able to escape, surviving through the nine years it will take to get to the nearest habitable system. They need Andy to access to the ship's computer to be able to get in.
They find the pods, but the devices are low on fuel. They successfully track down more fuel, unfortunately, they discover that it was being used to keep something in a deep freeze. And they have now awakened it.
Director Alvarez, who successfully rebooted the Evil Dead franchise, and whose Don't Breathe was a clever use of limited space, Alien: Romulus takes things back to basics. There are no scientists or philosophers, no trained space explorers or soldiers, just regular folks who are trying to get out of a bad situation.
Alvarez gets things moving well before the aliens appear, with an astonishing use of visual FX, giving us the most visceral vision of the perils of outer space since Gravity. The movie spends time on Rain and Andy, exploring their peculiar but loving relationship; when Andy is installed with a new chip to give him access to the special alien room, he changes, and Rain looks at him with suspicion ("Andy, are you there?").
The themes of the original films (Alien and Aliens) come back into play, with an evil corporation that is only interested in finding ways of exploiting the aliens and their power for profit (no matter the cost in human life), but the focus here is on survival.
The sharp screenplay uses the familiar elements ("the face-hugger," "the chest-burster"), but keeps them fresh. It keeps upping the ante, with bigger and bigger shocks and challenges as the clock runs down. Alien: Romulus easily ranks with the best of this series.
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