Review by Tim Robins
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
It is claimed that Alien: Romulus is set between Alien and Aliens, but the film has the feel of the dreaded ‘requal’ – part reboot, part sequel, aimed squarely at a younger than adult audience, reflected in its young characters and with a cabin-in-the-dark-forest-plot.
Director Fede Álvarez was responsible for the revisioning of Sam Rami’s The Evil Dead (2013) and here he pulls the same trick of incorporating old thrills with the veneer of something new. This time, a group of downtrodden young adults try to escape their onerous and ever-expanding contract with the Weyland-Yutani by occupying a derelict space station found orbiting their planet.
Unfortunately… Well, I’m sure you can imagine what happens when they get there…
Alien: Romulus is heavy on atmosphere and quickly establishes the oppressive world of “Jackson’s Star” as a murky, toxic, mining colony. There are nods to Blade Runner in some of the set design. Here, we meet the film’s fodder du jour, including Rain Carridine (Cailee Spaeny), who looks remarkably like Sigourney Weaver in a few shots, and her loyal synthetic, Andy (David Jonsson) whose paternalistic prime directive is to protect Carridine – no matter what. The rest of the girl-guy gang are cousins, ex boy and girlfriends or brothers or sisters.
The focus of attention tends to be on Carridine and Andy, but I disagree with critics complaining that the ensemble cast aren’t as fleshed out. They are distinct enough to make out who’s being menaced and by what. The bigger problem is making out where they are on board the space station. The station is divided into two sections named ‘Romulus’ and ‘Remus’, after the two twins who founded Rome . The script’s choice of names may well be a nod to Ridley Scott’s fascinating sci-fi series, Raised by Wolves (2020-2022).
Among the flashing lights, sprays of water, steam and sparks and sudden cuts I just lost track of where everyone was, although the director does his best to indicate which section of the ship everyone is in, let alone where the alien menace is lurking. Somehow, there are aliens in various stages of their life cycle, which in itself has become confused over preceding films – eggs, face huggers, chest bursters, embryo’s , gooey-wall webs are all here and tubes of black goo thrown in for good measure.
The most controversial addition to the cast has proved to be the Ian Holm look-a-like synthetic, courtesy of prosthetics and CGI. Contrary to claims, the CGI is a good rendering of Holm’s face in his younger years when he appeared as ‘Ash’ in Alien. I’m sure the difficulty is that we know the actor is dead. It doesn’t help that there is an actual actor beneath the animation, so the synthetic’s body is unconvincingly propped up on a console seemingly to allow the actor’s real body to be hidden from view. Otherwise, the effects are better. Alvarez certainly knows how to create an atmosphere, even in the depths of space.
There is plenty of fun to be had among the jump scares, gorey revelations and alien viscera, but I grew tired of the attempt to integrate everything we know about the “Alien” universe and everything we’ve pretty much already seen into what could have been just a scary movie in space. The final creature wasn’t well realised by any stretch of the imagination, no amount of steam and shadows could hide how much the franchise lost when it kicked HR Giger into touch – and now it’s too late to get him back (Giger died in 2014).
I didn’t see Alien when it was first released in 1979. It sounded too gruesome, so I decided to wait and saw John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) instead. I don’t regret it, The Thing never looked like a man in a suit, the way the alien always has. James Cameron’s take on the aliens remains the best, though there are scenes in Alien: Romulus that try to recapture his writhing horde of exoskeletal xenomorphs.
Perhaps the best way to think of the Xenomorph saga is as a modern day equivalent of Universal’s 1930s – 40s’ treatment of The Frankenstein Monster or The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Look! they’re back and this time fighting Albert and Costello! How I’d love to see Albert and Costello meet The Predator.
As the various graphic novels have shown, The Xenomorphs can certainly work in multiple stories but regurgitating Scott’s convoluted mythology, and serving up warmed up seen-that-and-done-it-before scenarios, just isn’t a promising way forward.
Tim Robins
Alien: Romulus is in cinemas now
Coming Soon from Marvel, launching 16th October 2024: Alien: Romulus #1 written by Zac Thompson, with art by Daniel Picciotto | Information here on the official Marvel website
Following the release of Alien: Romulus, Marvel Comics presents an all-new story revealing secrets of the film’s legendary antagonists! How did Xenomorphs find Rain, Andy and their scavenger crew? Familiar faces lurk in the shadows – and this issue shines light on them all! Horror master Zac Thompson (Absolute Carnage, X-Men) and rising star Daniel Picciotto (Ghost Rider, X-Force) collaborate directly with filmmakers for this must-have collector’s item!
• Marvel: ‘Alien: Romulus’ Prelude Tie-in Comic Sheds Light on the Film’s Main Threat
• Fangoria: Fede Álvarez Already Has ‘Ideas’ For An ALIEN: ROMULUS Sequel
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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